I am really hating the Air-accuda this year.

[ChooksChick]

Is anyone else in the Midwest finding that the flipping hawks are the worst ever this year? Airaccudas!!!

8 birds killed in 3 weeks in 1/2 of our block in the middle of a 100K+ town.

8!!!!

With dogs in the yards!

[badwordsbadwordsbadwords]

 

[mediazeal]

oh my goodness!
that is just dreadful
So sorry to hear about your losses.

 

[StevenW.]

I have seen Hawks getting closer and closer to my bird pens. Not liking it at all.

I'm going to see if I can't find some old pie pans and old CD's to put out tomorrow.

 

[trailchick]

I havent seen any preying on my stock.
The prey birds, sandhills, and geese are migrating tho. Guess it just depends on bad luck.
I have seen one pick a bird off a feeder 12 inches from a window in urban Denver quite a few years ago.
Now out in the country out in the high plains, havent seen that kind of action.
That is pretty bad, about losing 8. Sorry...

 

[Mattemma]

It was a nice day yesterday,but hawks had my chickens hiding in the shed half the day. The worst part is these haks will be here all winter,and they will sit on our chainlink fence looking INTO the chicken shed. Not long I bet before they dare to fly in and eat lunch.

I was just telling dh how much easier it would be without those darn hawks around.They are pretty and all,but I much prefer the owl over the hawk.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Yes, at least the owl is only a hazard at night when they're locked up and asleep! I don't even mind the little sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks...it's the monster air-Orcas that are the problem. My poor neighbors are just beside themselves, and I've got netting on the way, but in the meantime...I'm just mad.

 

[baldessariclan]

Yeah, having a secure/covered run area is about the only defense against hawks. We normally lock ours up in the run for a couple weeks whenever we have a "close encounter", until the hawk(s) stop hanging around. Or we'll let them out in the yard when we're working outside and can "supervise". However, some people claim that they will come down and attack the chickens, even when they (the people) are nearby. We haven't had that experience, though -- I tend to think that they are wary of a lot of human activity on the ground and tend to keep away when we're out. But there are probably some pretty brazen birds of prey out there -- especially ones that will ignore your dogs!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I think that if I'd lost 8 chickens, I put a cover over my run so I wouldn't lose any more birds.

 

[carrlr]

So sorry! One is too many...but 8.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
Oy, time for a covered run