How to Keep Hawks Away?

[FlockQueen]

Sounds like a clever idea for a small area. I live on 30 acres and my hen roams on about 1/2 acre. So, that wouldn't work for my situation. That is amazing, though, about you feeling the hawks feathers on your face!! Unbelievable!!

My hens roam about 1/2 an acre out of 5. I did the twine and bird netting by pounding poles on the perimeter of where they run and then put netting every so often to break up the space. It isn't foolproof but it works pretty well. Hawks were taking a good size duckling every day and injured several young hens every few days until i did that and so far we've had no further incidents. Been about a month.

 

[trudyg]

I get 8' long fence poles at TSC. They are tall enough to be above my head, for the most part. I have to be on a ladder to pound them in the ground, but then I can run my string, netting, shade cloth or whatever pretty high up. Sure, it'll sag over a long stretch, but this works for me. I don't see that I will ever have a completely covered run because my area is 3/4 acre or so and it's not reasonable. I would rather have them under the fruit trees but hawks sit in the trees and can just drop down on them, so I have a fenced in area with only some bushes (actually peach trees that the tree died but the sprouts from the bottom have been allowed to grow.) I have also planted blueberry bushes on the outside of the chicken yard and will move my fence so they're inside it once they are established. Everyone needs to adapt to their own situation.