Hawks :(

[transformerchick]

The same thing just happened to us. I heard awful screeching from the coop/run and when I looked outside a hawk had hold of one of my silkies through the chicken wire and was attempting to feed on her right there. I sent the german shepherd out the door ahead of me and went running to the coop/run. The hawk flew up into a tree to just sit there and watch us waiting to see if we would leave so he could go back to his meal. We were lucky as my silkie had only minor damage which I was able to patch up and keep her inside for a few days. But couldn't believe that when I brought the silkie inside the house, not more than 5 minutes later the hawk was sitting right next to the run waiting for another chicken to come out (all of the chickens were inside the coop for fear of being attacked). i just can't believe the hawk was actually trying to eat and or pull the silkie through the chicken wire. We were lucky this time but I fear the awful screeching of my hens will happen again soon. This spring the hawks seem particularly hungry in our area as I have not seen this many around here before. It is awful to lose our favorite chickens this way.

 

[SOchic4]

hi everybody sorry for everyones loses yesterday i lost my favorite chicky to what we are going to blame as a "osprey", we saw a huge bird bigger than the hawks we normally see with a white belly, thats all we could see and never thought twice about it because our girls were "locked up safe" in their pen, i go out later to check and i see only 3 of our 4 girls, their water bowl knocked over and the door was opened a smidge wider at the bottom, and they are going crazy, crushing story short i searched all over our yard yelling for her sure she had somehow gotten out and was just pecking around, then i finally come across feathers, and nothing else!! i freaked it was like she had vanished then i did research online and the only 2 and 2 i could put together is she got out and the "white bellied bird" was identified online as a osprey, im beside myself, the chicken coop was my happy place and now everytime i go out there im reminded of this, horrible story aside i have A question, we have had our other 3 birds for over a year, if i would get a new baby chick and baby it until its big enough to go outside what are the chances of their being problems with the older ones getting along with the new one? i know the 3 we have miss their friend but i dont know which is more devastating trying to introduce a new chick or staying with just the 3?

 

[chickbythebay]

Ospreys only eat fish and eel, not birds! We have tons of ospreys here and never a problem from them. Good luck if you try to introduce a new bird.

 

[bumpercarr]

I thought I'd post an update on how my efforts at keeping hawks at bay are going. The scarecrow has done the trick, at least for the past 6 months. Like I posted before, this is a scareman made out of old coveralls stuffed with straw, he has a hard hat on top of his head. I don't move him everyday, usually just about once a week. Sometimes he's in the open, sometimes under a tree, but always "facing" the chicken coop. He sits in a lawn chair. We've had a really bad couple of years with drought and I know that all of the predators out there are hungry. So far though, the hawks have stayed at bay.

I did lose a 2 week old chick to a neighbor's cat yesterday....but that is another story. Snake shot in the .22 revolver sent it scurrying for home. I don't aim for the cat or dog, the noise is enough to scare them away. As long as they stay away, I won't try to harm them.

I'm not sure of the law regarding killing Hawks, but if it was a serious problem I'd probably take care of it after I tried everything else in my power to encourage the raptor to go somewhere else for its food. I've never done that and don't have any intention of doing it, but if I was going to, I wouldn't be posting it anywhere for others to see and report. Personally, my biggest problems have been cats and dogs that are either homeless or aren't staying home. So far, I've managed to scare those off.

 

[SOchic4]

idk im not sure all i know is that was the first time we ever saw a white bellied bird around here and it was a lot bigger than the hawks we have and when i researched online it said that on rare occasion an osprey will eat other birds / even rabbits i believe it said if need be, we do have a creek nearby that would draw them in and its only deep enough for tiny minnows to reside which wouldnt even be big enough for an osprey to mess with
so now my next concern with the mystery bird is if it was an osprey and that was the first sighting i wonder if it was just passing by or if it LIKELY has a nest around here? does anybody know if they usually settle down in one area and nest or anything? i hope not
thanks

 

[JTRZWestminster]

I don't have any proof of this, but my chicken mentor informed me that she began keeping goats to ward off predators. She swears that neither a hawk or fox will come any where near her hens, as she allows them to free range with a pair of goats. According to her, since she got the goats, she's never lost a single bird.

My next door neighbor has now five goats. And while they aren't near enough to guard my hens, I have to say they are pleasant neighbors as far as pets go. They don't bark (thank goodness) and they don't really have an odor.

 

[chickenlver2013]

Hi Everyone- I'm new to this forum and I guess I'm just looking for a little moral support today.  We've had our chickens for only 4 months- 2 Americaunas, a Welsummer, and a Guinea Hen that we got later, hoping she would offer a little protection for the girls.   We raised them from chicks and they've been in free range paradise for about a month or so.  Basically we started to let them free range during the day when they were full size and they were so happy.  I would check on them every couple of hours and they would come running for my handful of mealworms   Well, yesterday, my favorite girl, Lucille, was apparently taken by a hawk.  I'm  devastated.   They have two barns, tons and tons of trees, shrubbery and bushes and a coop to hide in.  We also hung aviary netting over the small horse paddock for extra protection between the barns.   I was always worried about Lucille because she was a little smaller and bolder than the others.  (She would chase the barn cats as they innocently passed by    I have everybody else locked up for now, but I don't want to do that forever.  I'm so upset about her that I feel like I should give up on the whole chicken thing- we don't really care about the eggs -we just enjoyed seeing them do their chickeny things     I'm hoping when I feel better I won't feel like giving up.  Does anyone have any suggestions about what I could do to keep away hawks, besides building a pen?   Maybe if I'm going to free-range, I just need to toughen up a little and accept that there's only so much I can do?  Thanks!

go to tractor supply or the co-op and get some plastic owls. Hawks are terrified of owls I havnt seen a hawk at all (well they still fly around here) vut when hawks see my plastic owls it doesn't take them long to leave. They book it! In nature owls attack hawks. If you get an owl (I have 2) you won't have any problem out of hawks ever again.

 

[zazouse]

Sorry hun that won't work, my chickens ain't even scared of them owls, i know i bought one with a moving head years ago ./ it looks pretty cool in the garden though.

 

[jennypie]

I have a martin colony out front and it's done nothing to the 2 hawks that are now eyeballing my free range chickens. My dog, border collie, jumps around and barks at the hawk, but this is not deterring the hawk. I have a tin chicken coop and a fenced in barren yard. I like the chickens to be able to wander around, but scared that the hawk is going to soon make off with one. The chickens are venturing out into the field, chasing grasshoppers, I'd rather they stayed close to the house though, more shrubs. Half of my land is forest and the other half is pasture. The hawk has been hanging out in the forest area. I'm thinking of making a few scarecrows and placing them around. I've got an owl somewhere... I hear him hooting in the distance. Instead of chasing the hawks I think he too is eyeballing my chickens! I don't know what to do! I've heard cd's, scarecrows, fishing line...etc. I don't own a gun, but I have heard that catching them in the live trap works. If I take the hawk and let him go about 20 miles from my house will he come back?

 

[chickenlver2013]

Sorry hun that won't work, my chickens ain't even scared of them owls, i know i bought one with a moving head years ago ./ it looks pretty cool in the garden though.

Have you held the owls up close to them? Mychickensdon't mind it setting in a post until I take it down and honey out to the ground and walk towards them They go crazy. Owls work I'm going on6 months since I've seen a hawk