Help!!!HAWKS!!!

[Bocktobery 10]

This is also kind of terrible, but if I ever had a hit, where a hawk killed my bird, I'd be on it faster than they could sink their talons into it. I might have lost a bird, but he looses the meal. After a while, I think they get bored with that and leave. So don't let them eat your bird, though I do feel stupid for just burying my dead chicken instead. Seems like kind of a waste, but if the raptors get to feed on your chickens its incentive to continue doing so....So I take them away before they get their happy meal mcnuggets. I'm sure after spending that much time and energy on hunting that's a real bummer for them!

 

[Susan12]

Our hawk is very persistent it's been a week and he's still hanging around.

 

[Helloworld]

I am new here, like minutes but I wanted to suggest a large mirror. One you can hold in your hand. 11x13 is great but in an emergency, I have a small handheld makeup mirror with handle. Either way, point the reflection towards any predator bird and eventually he will fly off. He may come back but if your persistent and have the sun to make a super reflection, they will leave.

Greenfire has a new breed of game chicken that looks like a pterodactyl to me but they can jump high and run fast and eat birds that attack other chickens.

 

[Folly's place]

Often the hawk will return every three days or so after scoring a meal. Don't assume it's gone too soon! This is a prime reason to have a large covered run, so when your flock is on lockdown, your birds don't go nuts in too small a space.
Planning to be out there every waking minute to prevent attacks is fantasy too.
Dogs are helpful, IF trained, and IF present every minute, and IF they even bother to notice flying predators. Dogs also need to be fenced, and are BY FAR the most expensive and time consuming method of flock protection.
Mary

 

[Helloworld]

We use geese for protection. Hawks will come to trees but have never taken a duck. We lock them up at night to keep owls from ripping duck heads off for their crop. Geese need to sleep sometime. The mirror we use for emergencies. We have Eagles and Kite Tails as well.

If you want a dog for birds, The Anatolian is your dog.

 

[llombardo]

And the more exposure your flock will have to mites and lice! Ideally, wild bird feeders should be away from places that your chickens visit.
Mary

In theory this may be correct, but in reality? Birds are going to be everywhere no matter what. When people free range, is the coop open where birds can get in to eat? I am going to say yes, which means the birds are already in close proximity anyway, so why not use them to your advantage on purpose.

 

[Folly's place]

My wild bird feeders are away from areas where my flock roams, and twice in two decades it's payed off here. Both times, a sick wren showed up at a feeder, very likely with mycoplasma gallisepticum, according to the state experts. Both times, that bird left fast, all the bird feeders came in and were bleached, and the flock was on lockdown for a couple of weeks. Also the neighbors pulled in their wild bird feeders. Fortunately, disaster averted each time.
Mary