How to scare away hawks?

[Member 671655]

Has anyone had success? One of my amberlinks at her old home was attacked by an owl and when she sees a hawk she goes insane bawking and tryinf to scare it off, it works, but I’d rather not further traumatize her. Are there natural methods of scaring them away?

 

[igorsMistress]

The only thing that keeps hawks away is a covered run. People have supervised free range time and had coyotes and hawks come right on out and snatch a bird while the person was right there. Black chickens don’t make a difference, I’ve had a hawk in my yard go after them. Build a run, otherwise your hen that screams and hollers is your best weapon, she’s wise to watch the sky and will warn the rest of your flock.

 

[Isabella6Storm4]

i can say that having black chickens doesnt work, at least not for me. Hawks kept carrying off hens from our all black flock a couple years ago and our mixed flock with a couple black ones has been hunted a couple times too. I'd just keep them inside an inclosed run until it moves on.

 

[PaigeWells]

I went with the “pay off the mafia” approach: I noticed that in my area we have several red tailed hawks AND a local flock of about 7 crows that harass the hawks en mass until they leave. I am in Western NC at 3700 feet on the side of a mountain, and we have everything that eats chickens. So I started randomly putting peanuts (whole, in the shell) out on our road uphill a ways from my chicken run and yard. I also call all the crows Dante since I can’t tell them apart, and when I see them perched in the trees I loudly call out “Hey Dante!” And go put out peanuts. Now they consider my yard part of their territory, and frequently come by. They will spiral out of the sky if I call to them, and wait until I put out some nuts and then head back toward the house. I throw out like 6 peanuts about every day randomly and the crows just pop by often to check. I also yell encouragement when they are chasing a hawk, and put out peanuts. They have never stopped chasing to come get the nuts, but will swing by after the hawks fly far away or over the ridge. They also sometimes gather in my yard and yell a lot, I take the hint and call them and throw more nuts. I have also noticed that if a hawk is around and I yell loudly for the crows, they sometimes show up and start chasing. Now I’m hoping that when I yell “hey Dante!”, maybe the hawks will think that means the crows are coming and will bug off? I mean, it could happen.
Ps I have been doing this for about 6 months. Can’t say I haven’t seen a hawk near my girls but I have seen a lot of on duty crows earning their peanuts!

 

[tlcmurphy]

We just had another hawk swoop through the yard, our girls have been attacked before and now run screaming back to the coop/covered run when they see a large shadow. Once bitten, twice shy. They only free-range when I’m here to keep an eye on the yard.

The comical part is that we live near a regional airport. Sometimes the flight paths go over our neighborhood causing widespread Chicken panic. I now know the chicken word for BIG HAWK, BIG HAWK!!!

 

[RubelliteRose]

Not true

Agree. We had one girl who witnessed a hawk attack on her flock mate. She spent the next several months keeping under shelter as much as possible and sprinting across any open space no matter how short the distance. She was also the hen who herded my pullets deep into shrubbery the next time a hawk flew over. She kept them so quiet that it took us almost a half hour to find them even though they were fairly close to the house. Everyone else came out of hiding as soon as we came outside.

Has anyone had success? One of my amberlinks at her old home was attacked by an owl and when she sees a hawk she goes insane bawking and tryinf to scare it off, it works, but I’d rather not further traumatize her. Are there natural methods of scaring them away?

We found that the most effective method before we got a rooster was for my daughter and I to run full speed towards the hawk while yelling and waving sticks The catch is, you have to be outside A LOT. It may be a coincidence, but after scaring off hawks several times, they seemed to leave our chickens alone while still going after the neighbors flock. I should note that we seem to be in a sweet spot in the area where we have very few hawks anyway.
Also, the roosters do not scare the hawks, but alert the flock to go into hiding. The best defense is for your flock to have plenty of cover so the hawks never see them.

 

[Isabella6Storm4]

We don’t have a run at all. But thanks for the suggestions. We only have a run for our meat birds. The other birds have a free range of our yard. We have a mixed flock. I guess we’re just gonna have to depend on our roosters and keep a closer eye

thats the best luck i've had, having a rooster and a place that they can run underneath when he alerts them

 

[Member 671655]

I have black ducks and hawks don’t even fly over for long

Our black ducks and austrolorps didn’t deter it

 

[DLA]

We don’t have a run at all. But thanks for the suggestions. We only have a run for our meat birds. The other birds have a free range of our yard. We have a mixed flock. I guess we’re just gonna have to depend on our roosters and keep a closer eye

You could build a chicken tractor. There are lots of threads on this forum to give some ideas on those.

 

[DLA]

If you go to a run that is uncovered, make the run long and narrow. That makes their "swooping" more difficult.

I lost a couple of roosters (free-ranging bachelors) to hawks. What worked after that was "scare tape" - it's a shiny metallic tape like "Police Line - do not cross" tape. I got some cheap plastic electric fence poles and put 3 foot pieces folded in half attached to the top of each one, placed around the yard. I can see the hawks circling, or watching carefully from high in a tree. But a little wind, the scare tape moves and they take off. I've heard from others that CD's hanging from tree limbs that catch the sun can also scare them.

Search "scare tape bird repellent" on Amazon to see what I mean.

I know other homesteaders who use "attack geese" with their chickens and they seem to like it. I don't know how effective it is. My issue now is raccoons and snakes.

Attack geese are a fearsome thing.