Hawks!!

[mandelke86]

I walked out to my coop this afternoon to find feathers everywhere and n trace of my 2 month old barred rock chicken. That is of course till I saw a hawk eating it on the telephone pole and anther hawk circling my chicken coop. I locked them up what should I do??

 

[Yazzo]

Well, there are many anti-hawk measures that other people have more knowledge with and will advise you on - devices you can use, fence you can put over the coop, etc, but I'm going to go out on a limb and ask: do you have any ravens or crows nearby? Believe it or not, it's the ravens that keep the hawks away for me, as they are very territorial and will chase away any hawks. If so, you could lure ravens or crows over by putting out scraps for them.

Just a thought, anyways...for now, keep your chickens in a safe area unless you're supervising them, at any rate.

 

[kmollyhughes]

Do you have a little run covered for them? I knew losing some is going to happen, so I have way more chickens than we actually set out to get. You can try yard decor that moves, shiny ribbons tied around your yard, bird feeders to help bring in other birds. That's what we did and haven't seen the hawk that was stalking our flock since. Good luck, and sorry about your BR....pretty chickens.