How to deter hawks?

[WRVgirl]

We had a really close encounter with a red tail hawk that much have had a 5' wingspan.

Not only did he not care that I was standing 15' from where he dive bombed the chickens, he also didn't seem to care that I took off running towards him and screaming obscenities that would make a sailor uncomfortable.

He hit the fence line and then proceeded to try to snatch a chicken....thankfully our rooster was attempted to fight him off when I reached them. The hawk took off, circled a few times and then left, probably in search of an easier target.

I know that this is all part of owning free range chickens, and for the most part, they keep a close eye on the sky but yesterday left me with a pounding heart and bile in my throat.

I want to keep them safe, so I started researching hawk behavior and ways to possibly deter them.

All I found was information on CDs, scare tape, fake owls, installing speakers to play owl noises or crows in distress, oh and to remove the food source [chickens]. I also read that the hawks are easily spooked and don't like change [though if the hawk is hungry enough, the above points are all moot]

I feel bad cooping them up, and I can't sit outside all day and watch the skies for them, though I do peek out the window religiously during the day and go outside to check on them or give them treats.

My problem is, I don't have enough tree cover; the yard is fenced in, butu completely open. This summer, I'm planning on putting some trees and grapevines in the yard to kind of make it more difficult for hawks to have a clear landing strip....but for right now I'm kind of up the creek.

This morning, I had my neighbors two miniature horses come over....I'm hoping that the two big, constantly moving objects in the back yard will be enough movement and change to keep the hawks at bay.

I've only had two instances where hawks actually landed in my yard, the first time the hawk was much smaller and he couldn't get into the chick run, so he sat on top of it calling his friends for backup, I assume. And yesterday, where the butt face actually dive bombed the flock.

Does anyone else have ideas that have worked for them in the past?

I'm going to try to put some aluminum pans out there, but mirrors are a little too expensive to just lay out in the backyard.

 

[bower007]

Have been checking out BYC site for awhile but never joined; this particular thread gave me a reason to. I've lost 2 Orpington's in the past 2 weeks to hawks; I believe them to be probably red tail, but I'm not sure. I came home 2 weeks ago to find the first hawk on top of my hen; like WRVgirl said, I too ran at the hawk full speed yelling obscenities. When I got to her, she was already gone. Then fast forward one week to last Thursday, and one of my kids found another/same hawk on top of my 2nd Orpington; she too was also dead when he found her. It is so frustrating to raise your chickens, or any livestock for that matter, only to have a predator take away all that hard work; plus to me they're like pets. I have a fenced in run, which was not covered, until last weekend. I have now covered the entire run with aviary netting; so far, so good. I've also read about the reflective tape, not sure if it works. The woman at my local Agway has also informed me of a product called nite guard; she swears by it and it only costs $20. I just picked up two 17 week old pullets today, to bring my count back to 3 hens. From now on, I will do my best to keep the predators away. Good luck to you, whatever path you choose; keep those girls safe.

 

[WRVgirl]

Well, I'm going to go ahead and keep believing that what I read was true, because if not, I don't think I'd be able to let my chickens free range anymore....and I don't think they'd be happy if I confined them to their coop 24/7

 

[enola]

Just a friendly reminder that the 2 posts above may land your butt in jail if you get caught.

 

[wirerat123]

Where I'm from you have the right to dispatch any animal threatening your livestock. But you are required by law to report it with all birds of prey you have to dispatch. In my opinion, I'll practice preventative measures. Killing a majestic bird is just not something I care to do. But I'm not letting them kill my chickens if I can help it.

 

[Lavender Wraps]

We had a new neighbor move in next door. They have been building and erecting things like crazy. One day my husband said, "know what those things are?" On each side of their property were long metal poles with a cross bar at the top. I was not happy to hear what they were, watch roost for hawks. Oh my gosh I thought, here I am trying to watch the sky and protect my chickens and a predator lover has moved in next door. I don't hate or even dislike the Red Tail Hawks but I've lost too many chickens to them AND they ARE protected here in California. So what I've been doing is tossing out bread and fruit scraps to the chickens and the crows come in and snatch some of it. They have even make nest in two of our trees. You may ask, so what? The crows will not tolerate hawks in their area, they dive bomb them until they fly off! Now we haven't lost a chicken to the hawks since!

Another thing you can do is make a short legged platform and set it in the chicken yard, they will run under it if they spot a hawk or shadow of a large bird. All it takes is for the rooster to sound out his alarm and the hens will run for cover. We don't have a rooster so one of the senior hens sound the alarm if she suspects danger.

Hope this helps!

 

[WRVgirl]

Hey Bower!
Thanks for chiming in!
It's so hard to tell the difference between a redtail and a redshoulder hawk, redshoulder hawks are endangered and as much as I'd love to point a darn shotgun at them, I don't want to go to jail or be fined...so I'm looking for other ways to deal with them.

I'm so sorry you lost chickens. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had two attacks and lost none. The first time the hawk landed on the coop, it was the first time I ever let my English orps out! They were about 6 weeks old at the time and when I heard the hawk calling his friends, I about had heart failure.

I know that free ranging goes hand and hand with losing hens to predators, I just view my girls [and Mr. Splash] as pets, they aren't egg machines, or soup chickens, they're my little babies. And I want to protect them at all costs.

Thankfully, we don't have many hawks during the spring and summer, it's only late fall/winter when they're migrating and hungry that I've seen them flying around.

I think in the spring I'll be investing in a couple guinea fowl to be hawk deterrent, or at least hawk bait!

The thought of losing one of my girls makes me incredibly sad, they were very expensive and it took me a long time to raise them up and socialize them....I just want them to be happy, healthy and alive.

 

[Buxton Ducks]

Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up

 

[suebee]

After losing a free ranging pullet to a hawk I bought these fake crows. You can hang them or stake them. Haven't had any hawks come in the yard since.

 

[WRVgirl]

Oh, and from what I've read, the hawks [when dive bombing] hit the chicken with such force that it breaks their neck.

This makes me even sadder, but it makes it a little easier to know that most of the time, the blow is instantaneous and life ending and at least if they die, they didn't suffer.