HOW TO GET RID OF HAWKS/OWLS

[Nambroth]

Trustworthy dogs are a great deterrent, if they are near the chickens. Hawks are not in the business of getting killed by a predator (a dog) while eating their meal on the ground, and so most hawks will avoid making a kill where a potential predator is. Unless you have chicks or small bantams, north american hawk species cannot fly off with a full grown large fowl chicken, so if there is a dog around they are less likely to try for a chicken. The main problem are young, inexperienced, green-behind-the-ears hawks that don't really know what they are getting themselves into, and might try to take prey that they cannot handle.

 

[mbcmama]

Thanks guys! unfortunately we do live in a neighborhood with a mean ol HOA! i think since i get letters about grass growing in the crack of my sidewalk, a rooster would be totally out of the question!!! LOL

we do have 2 dogs, but i'm worried about them too! a chihuahua and a yorkie! i've read they are sitting prey for hawks as well. we've lived here 6 years and i've only noticed the hawks since we got the chickies, but now i'm hearing them squawking when the dogs are let out in the afternoons also.

guess i'll just keep an eye on them when i let the girls out. i'm out there with them when i let them free range anyway! my neighbors might start thinking i'm crazy when they see a broom being swung around at the hawks from over the fence, huh?

 

[centrarchid]

Even a red-tailed hawk will be reluctant to hunt around chihuahua or yorkie.

 

[AngryRooster]

Just make sure the run is secure. If they can't get chickens, they'll leave.

 

[Boichik86]

I know its illegal to trap or kill the hawks, but chinese poultry farmers have come up with a clever method of dealing with birds of prey without seriously harming them. the article comes with an amusing self explanatory pic http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pic...8616/Pictures-of-the-day-1-December-2008.html I would not use roosters, toms, ganders, cocks, etc, because they might kill the BOP if given such an advantage. I do however use roos, and toms to discourage hawks in general because they are legal in my area.

 

[Queenandking13]

Its an owl, if their prey is too heavy they will bite the head off and take it.

 

[morsekathan]

this is a great thread.

I had my first Hawk scare yesterday. our chickens aren't true free rangers if it's good weather. it not I leave the run door closed. if it's open they have a 50'x150' fenced area in a wooded lot.

Luckily my dogs were outside with me, I was "hunkered down" hood up and watching the ground on my way back to the house when my Bischon ( white cotton ball looking dog) was starting at the sky doing the stalk walk, then started barking, I looked up and a hawk was a few feet overhead circling. So I ran back towards the coop area and grabbed a shovel ( not sure what that was going to do) , eventually the hawn flew a little higher and then flew off, I'd like to think my barking Bishon played a part. I also notived the hens hang around the evergreens and other year round green trees, i'm starting to think it's a protection thing but wasn't sure until reading this thread.

so theres my input, trees and dogs to protect the chickens

I've lost my two bantams in the past week to hawks (we live in very urban suburbs in the DC area). We don't know exactly what happened to the first one, we just came home and she wasn't around. When she didn't go to bed, we looked for her and found her carcass and figured it must have been a hawk. However, for the second one, my husband heard the ladies making a lot of noise and ran out and scared off the hawk unfortunately, after the hen was killed, but before much eating happened. The worst part was that the hens were in the most covered and protected part of our yard. There are bushes for them to hid under and they can easily go under the deck and house itself. If the location of the feathers are an indication, the hen that was taken was under an azalea bush just inches from being under the deck. We know that the hawk then pulled the little bantam about 5 feet into the deepest cover of bushes to eat her. The big hens were really spooked and went deep under the house. I don't know what happened, but the hawk must have been pretty good to grab her from between the azalea branches. It was also really close to our house - within 10 feet.

So, we're really discouraged here because I thought that they were safe given how much shelter they have. The three hens left are pretty big and not white (like the bantams) so maybe that will save them? Does anyone have an opinion on this - or is this just a risk we have to take if they are to free range? We can lock them up and cover the run, but it would be a week or so project.

 

[centrarchid]

I've lost my two bantams in the past week to hawks (we live in very urban suburbs in the DC area). We don't know exactly what happened to the first one, we just came home and she wasn't around. When she didn't go to bed, we looked for her and found her carcass and figured it must have been a hawk. However, for the second one, my husband heard the ladies making a lot of noise and ran out and scared off the hawk unfortunately, after the hen was killed, but before much eating happened. The worst part was that the hens were in the most covered and protected part of our yard. There are bushes for them to hid under and they can easily go under the deck and house itself. If the location of the feathers are an indication, the hen that was taken was under an azalea bush just inches from being under the deck. We know that the hawk then pulled the little bantam about 5 feet into the deepest cover of bushes to eat her. The big hens were really spooked and went deep under the house. I don't know what happened, but the hawk must have been pretty good to grab her from between the azalea branches. It was also really close to our house - within 10 feet.

So, we're really discouraged here because I thought that they were safe given how much shelter they have. The three hens left are pretty big and not white (like the bantams) so maybe that will save them? Does anyone have an opinion on this - or is this just a risk we have to take if they are to free range? We can lock them up and cover the run, but it would be a week or so project.

morsekathan,

You do not have chickens, rather you have hens and at least some of those are bantams which makes hawk management particularly difficult. Heavy cover works for me when adult standard sized roosters are present with heavy cover and a good dog is even better. If you are operating with a hen only flock that does not fight back (as a flock) then you will have more responsibility with respect to how flock is contained where hawks cannot get at them.

 

[chickortreat]

I know its illegal to trap or kill the hawks, but chinese poultry farmers have come up with a clever method of dealing with birds of prey without seriously harming them. the article comes with an amusing self explanatory pic http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pic...8616/Pictures-of-the-day-1-December-2008.html I would not use roosters, toms, ganders, cocks, etc, because they might kill the BOP if given such an advantage. I do however use roos, and toms to discourage hawks in general because they are legal in my area.

Funny pic! But sadly, here in the good ole USA, a warrant would likely be sworn out for that chicken.....can't terrorize one of their precious BOP....

 

[Boichik86]

Tell me about it! In the US, they would have that chicken tried and hanged for even looking at an eagle/hawk the wrong way. In regards to trussing up the BOP and trowing it in with the chooks, i can't think of any better non-lethal way of discouraging BOP. If someone were discreet about it, nobody, but the hawk, would ever know. They do this in China, because like America, it is illegal to shoot/kill BOP, but unlike America, you can at least catch and harass them. I think it's brilliant. It safely keeps the BOP out of trouble, eliminates its interest in returning to human areas, and most importantly, it stops them from eating chickens. It's more or less like putting your dogs nose in a mess he made and saying NO. Only in this case, the mess pecks back. Long story short, if there is a permanent way of ridding ones self of BOP's without seriously harming them, I want to know about it, and what better way than letting your chooks help you get back? ; ) There are those less than honest individuals, whom if they ever caught a BOP in their property, would take it and lock it up in a confined area with their most aggressive roosters. Several Roos will make short work of a hawk if they can catch it in close quarters. But this is not only illegal, but also cruel and unfair. Not only are you are likely to injure/kill at least a few roos in the process, but it is cruel to pit one bird against many. But, if the BOP finds its way into the chicken house all on its own and finds that it can't get out, and is getting pummeled to death unbeknownst to the farmer, then the BOP has no one to blame but itself. There are stories of roos killing hawks and even eagles that have gotten caught in the coop.