How to get rid of hawks?

[Sjisty]

In my experience, nothing works with the red-tailed hawk. They aren't afraid of anything. It's not legal to shoot them. We just switched to large chickens.

We had a Jersey Giant who was dust bathing. A hawk landed on the ground right in front of her. Bertha raised up out of the hollow she had made, growled at the hawk, and started to go after it! Needless to say, that day the hawk decided to eat mice or a nice rabbit! I watched it all from my kitchen window.

We only have a problem now when we have chicks, so we don't free range them until they're big.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Here are some of the things I have done.

My Australian Shepherd chases off any large birds she sees. If I say "vulture" she will scan the sky looking for them, and then chase.

I have a fully enclosed hardware cloth run for my girls when not supervised by myself and the dog.

My chickens are not scared of my dog due to training, so if they can't run to the coop they will run to her or me when scared.

I added a Buttercup and Brabanter to the flock. They are more flighty than my other girls and they really watch the sky.

My Muscovy ducks also are with my chickens and are good for watching for predators.

I only free range in the evening before sunset. I will stop free ranging soon completely as fall is hawk migration season.

I have planted thorny shrubs for the girls to hide in, but they are still small.

I also love hawks, as they are part of nature. I just try to keep my girls safe.


I almost lost my favorite to a low flying red-shouldered hawk. Luckly my dog is fast and made it pull out of the dive.

 

[dheltzel]

Guineas are very predator-aware, constantly on the lookout (they come from Africa, where they are on the menu of every carnivore). When they sound the alarm, every bird goes on high alert, it must make hunting very frustrating for the hawks because I can't remember the last time I saw any hawk larger than a kestrel. I know others in our vicinity lose birds to hawks, so I credit the guineas with keeping us hawk-free, and also tick-free. That said, guineas are not for everyone, if you have as small area or close neighbors they are probably not for you, but when they can roam over many acres on a dairy farm, they are close to perfect watchdogs because the small bands of them show up everywhere around the farm.

 

[Lilki]

Ive heard people will draw crows to their property and they chase the hawks off. I dont know how well that works however. I have many other predators so I myself invested in a guard dog.

I don't particularly want crows but I have seen them drive off two hawks. It was actually really something to witness. It's certainly not fool proof, as it only happens when the crows happen to be around.

 

[Tilly6]

I don't particularly want crows but I have seen them drive off two hawks.  It was actually really something to witness.  It's certainly not fool proof, as it only happens when the crows happen to be around.

I have seen the crows go after bald eagles, osprey and hawks. The redwing blackbirds and blue jays will mob them too. I guess there are crow decoys that might scare them when the crows are busy elsewhere, but that hawk wasn't afraid of two people and a dog walking and talking within 20 feet of it. I doubt plastic crows would work! It didn't come back yesterday, maybe it went looking for easier pickings. There's plenty af voles and rabbits it can have with my thanks.

 

[carlf]

If you use crow decoys, you have to keep moving them around every few days. If not, the hawks figure it out.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I just chased off a hawk that was sitting on the chicken fence! How can I get rid of those things? We have three of them!

Depending how large your enclosure is...I used 20lb test fishing line.

Run the line back and forth in a grid pattern above the enclosure about 6 feet or so above the ground. A hawk won't see the line when they come in for an attack. Once they hit the line, they will tumble to the ground. I've never seen a hawk hit this and come back...it's very subtle and very effective.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I recently lost a girl to a hawk and had to do something. My chickens have a permanent run that was here when I moved in. It is welded wire fence but no top. So I got a car port and a net. 10' x 20' car port and 25' x 50' nylon multifilament net. The car port gave me the support I needed to hold up the net.

And here it is working. It's not pretty but my chickens are safe. I'm thinking of adding bird spikes so the hawk can't sit over the chickens and stress them out.

 

[Edward Charette]

remove bird feeders which would force hawks to fo to greener pastures. Also get small trees planted near bird feeders for healthy hiding. get rid of perching sites like tall trees, dead snags within 100 yards of your property

 

[pnwoldie]

FlyingNunFarm, FYI a large Redtailed Hawk ripped through nylon netting covering our run today. Killed one barred rock, then couldn't get back out. We've replaced it with chicken wire hoping it can't break through that. It seems like the hawks are really getting after chickens this year