How to deter a hawk from my ducklings?

[Miss Lydia]

You did an awesome job.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

There is a good discussion going on currently in the predator and pests forum here at BYC if anyone is interested in learning more about hawk behaviors and how to keep them from attacking your poultry.

 

[WVduckchick]

I know this isn't a hatching egg thread, but I hope its ok to rant to you guys, I'm about to order 6 silkie eggs for 23$ from a nice lady from Facebook, should I go through with it or travel 2 and 1/2 hours to collect 6 eggs for 32$?? I'm so unsure.

I'm going to PM you a name. If they are from her, I'd let her ship them to you because she packs beautifully! Its always a gamble with shipped eggs. 50% hatch is average, so if you order 6 and only hatch 3 (or less)… well, you can do the math. lol

 

[Alliesan648]

new to the forum, but i wanted to chime in and say I had a hawk fly right towards me and the chicken pop door yesterday. I was only several feet away. I assumed if I was out there it would be safe to let the chicks, who are only 4 weeks, pop their heads out and get used to the outside a little. But apparently not! thankfully they were not outside the door at that very moment. The ducklings were sitting right next to me on the ground and didn't even notice it coming.
I stood up when i saw it coming directly over the gate and yelled NO! and flailed my arms around at it. haha
Ordered some 50'X50 poultry netting to put over their entire enclosure before something bad happens.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

As I said, we have a lot of crows lately, so I'm wondering if that helped keep the hawks away for a while. But now one has found them, I guess.

As for yet another update, I've brought them into the smaller yard and they are actually sitting in the bushes. Yay! Hopefully it will work and the hawk won't be able to find them.

I'll also go and check out the predator and pests forums.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

we have a lot of crows lately,

Forgive me if somebody already mentioned this.. I'm on a tiny device right now and 50 something posts are very hard to read at the moment...
BIRD FEEDERS. Place them everywhere on your property. They will attract the blackbirds, the blackbirds will nest near a continuous food source. It will take awhile to attract scores of them but keep the feeders full, and they will stick around.
Again, sorry if I am repeating this suggestion. Hard for me to read this entire thread from start to finish.
Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

As for another update, no sign of the hawk today. I know that on Sunday it attacked, skipped Monday, and then attacked Tuesday, so I'm unsure if it'll show up Thursday or not...

But for most of the day the ducks stayed in the bushes, which I was extremely happy about. I want them to stay covered, haha. Hoping this works.

Thank you all again so much for the replies, they've been very helpful!

 

[Alliesan648]

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Forgive me if somebody already mentioned this.. I'm on a tiny device right now and 50 something posts are very hard to read at the moment...
BIRD FEEDERS. Place them everywhere on your property. They will attract the blackbirds, the blackbirds will nest near a continuous food source. It will take awhile to attract scores of them but keep the feeders full, and they will stick around.
Again, sorry if I am repeating this suggestion. Hard for me to read this entire thread from start to finish.
Good luck with your endeavor.

this is a great idea. I forgot to mention that the tree swallows that i used to begrudgingly let nest in my roof we're chasing the hawk that came at me. Good little swallows.