How to deter a hawk from my ducklings?

[Soon2BChixMom]

Humans aren't always a deterrent. There is a byc rmemeber here who has a video of a hawk chasing his chickens while his back was turned cleaning the coop. Then, he realized something was up turned in just enough time to swat the hawk.
Awhile back, I was out cleaning near the chicken coop and had the chickens out in their run - it was totally open. I was out less than 20 min and a hawk was circling above me and the chickens.
Hawks arent afraid of people.
I now have good quality aviary netting over the run and it has been a good deterrent for hawks.
My dogs are spoiled house dogs. They couldn't even stand the heat yesterday and wanted back into the house after 5 min.
@Skye'sDucks that is a lot of ducklings! Very cute too. Did one hen lay all 25 eggs?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Thank you.

We may try to start transitioning my drake out there with them, since its probably about time anyways. He's fine with the babies, just like I said, its my hen I'm worried about. I don't think he could hurt her, but I don't know.

We'd also probably take the eggs once she has more, as well. I'm a little nervous eating them for the first time (if it happens in the future, which it most likely will! ha) but I know there's a time frame that we can collect the eggs.

We have built some shelters (as you can see they were actually sitting under them this afternoon) I'm thinking the hawk caught them when they were down by the creek (there's steep banks on either side) or while they were sleeping on an open area on top of the bank.



Thank you for the reply.

Yeah, I understand that...Sigh...There's only so much we can do to take care of the problem, especially since we don't have dogs.

We have built them a shelter and there's also long grass and bushes they can hide in, but I'm wondering if the hawk just caught them off guard. There was a puff of feathers and sadly some of the duckling across the bank of the creek on Sunday, so the hawk could have caught them off guard while sleeping. (It's one of their favorite places to sit around. Freaked me out when I saw them go back to the exact same spot again after we checked on them! Silly ducks)
The second time, today, there's no duckling in sight so it must have been carried off entirely.

So long story short yes, they have coverage, and really its not much better in our smaller yard. If we see the hawk again or lose another duckling I might have to see about moving them around, since I know we have more bushes in our yard...

I don't know if my hen and the ducklings are smart enough to run when the birds start squawking and freaking out in the surrounding trees, but they do go off when a hawk is nearby, but that's really the only alarm they have short of them noticing the hawk.



Ah thank you! They really do have some beautiful coloring.

Well, I only have one full grown duck out there with them, the mother. (My drake is separated, but he's WAY too big for a hawk) The rest are still barely six weeks old, although some are bigger than the others. I haven't really been able to tell which sized ducks the hawk is taking.

And I realized the hawk might start coming back when it finds out they are a food source. I don't know if they hunt at night or not? But all the attacks have happened in the afternoon/beginning of the evening. And we really can't build a full sized hutch for them to stay in during the day, plus that might be too cramped.

Your hen is definitely smart enough to run from danger. Muscovy are pretty smart. I don't want to be a downer, but a hawk can definitely take down a fully grown drake - if it does so from the right direction. The muscovy will give it a fight for sure, but if a hawk comes from behind with no warning and gets a hold of any duck - it will grab a hold with its talons and squeeze. Then it is pretty much over from there. I read a post where a hawk got a hold of a muscovy drake, the drake struggled and even ended up under a vehicle. I think it might have gotten away, but the the wounds and the squeezing was too much and it died anyway.
I think the reality is when domestic birds are free ranged, there is going to be a loss now and then.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I know they eat on site. I’ve heard cats die that way around here. If a human is very nearby they aren’t going to eat on site unless something is wrong with them.

It isn’t about being fearful; the natural instinct of wild animals is to avoid humans. If they aren’t avoiding humans they are abnormal, not normal.

I misread what you said.
There are other type of hawks other than red tailed hawks. I don't know what the largest animal a red tailed hawk (or any hawk for that matter) can carry off, but you hear of dogs being snatched by hawks as well.
I know at my house no person or dog can be out there all of the time. I don't free range either. I was addressing misconceptions. Hawks can attack or attempt to attack regardless if a person is there or not. I have read it on byc and have seen videos of it happening.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

I think I recall someone in Seattle was once attacked in broad daylight by a bird. They did a necropsy and found it was sick, starving and basically delusional.

The fences do make a big difference in some cases because raptors almost always attack, then eat off to the side or something. In our case it’d have to eat while surrounded by 20 ducks and 7 geese. I don’t think that would go well. Falcons kill basically on impact. Different raptors kill in different manners. So it’s always best to figure out what is in your area and customize your approach that way. We have owls, hawks, falcon, and eagles here. But the greatest threat for us is probably the raccoon and other mammalian predators. Eagles/owl generally prefer small mammals over birds. Red tail would go after the other smaller birds around here first because there are more of them, so it’ll be easier to catch.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Hawks do what hawks do. One ate my duck on the front porch. Small Red Tail.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Thank you all for the replies...

And I also understand that sometimes, losses happen. I can't control nature.

I know we have a fenced, smaller yard that we could let them range in during the day, I'm just unsure how well it could work. Yes, there's more bushes and better hiding places, but they don't have a lot of room to run away...So I don't know if the hawk could get through the bushes. They're thick enough, but I have no idea.

The only thing is, I don't know if the fence is high enough for the hawk to not be able to carry one of them off. We also have trees in the yard with good branches for it to also fly up there, as a possibility. But again, they're higher than the fence, so I don't know if it could carry one of them up there or not.

Someone mentioned feeding the wild birds around, and we actually have a lot of crows that like to pick at the duck food. (They came on their own accord) My mom was thinking that perhaps they were deterring hawks for a while, since we have had them occasionally before having ducks.
But I am aware that hawks will kill wild birds--I've seen it happen once. So they probably really are not doing anything at this point now that the hawk has come and found them.

And I also thank you for warning me about hawks attacking adult birds...I think we have red tails here, but I'm not 100% certain.

Thanks for the warning about humans, too. I was thinking of going out there with them as a possibility but at this point I won't.

I'll be discussing this with my mom to see if we need to put them in the smaller fenced yard or not. I mean, I have no idea how much help it could be. But I know there are a lot more denser bushes they could hide in.

I'll also see what we can do about putting up better defenses, or maybe even keeping them in a run for a while.

 

[[E]thernet]

I suggest a motion sensor light, so when the hawk flies by, the lights shines and deters the animal.

 

[PEI bound]

We had a hawk problem last summer. We covered our run with pvc deer fencing. So far so good.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

3 of my chickens were killed, I couldn't find their bodies? Does anybody know what killed them? There was a ton of feathers everywhere in my yard?

I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't do chickens but I see that someone else is helping you.


As for an update:

I've decided to let the ducks into the smaller enclosed yard during most of the day, namely the afternoon, since that's when the other two attacks happened.

Don't know if it'll help keep them safe, but I'm hoping.

 

[Michael Propst]

I did something like this in my backyard.