I have a redtailed hawk sitting on my chicken fence

[dave27889]

The little darling showed up Sunday while we were cooking dinner. He tried getting into my pen right while I was there. Not afraid at all. He is back this morning and I won't let the chickens out while he is around.
How long will he hang around and should I call the wildlife people? I have pictures of him at my chickens that I can show them.
I know it is against the law to bother or kill them sothat is not an option. If I keep the chickens locked up how long will it take for the hawk to move along. I am in a rural area in NC and I have only grown chickens at the moment. I have two roosters and 12 hens. Thanks, dave27889

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Hi Dave - I had two big hawks circling over my birds yesterday. My roostermade a sound that I've never heard out of him before, and he herded the girls in like lightning. He saw those hawks way before I ever did!

I doubt the wildlife people would do much. Is the pen covered? Mine is and it gives me a lot of peace of mind. Still it bums me out when I can't let the birds roam around the yard unless I'm there.

Do you have a dog you can tie out there for awhile? Maybe that would scare him off. Eventually if he can't get to the birds, he'll leave, but it will only be a matter of time before another one shows up.

 

[Chickenfortress]

A copy of federal law on raptors was posted recently. You might do a search. The big point of it was that "bothering" them isn't illegal, it's a required step in getting a permit to deal with livestock depredating raptors. On the other hand, once you involve animal control you are at the mercy of their ignorance. The officers aren't exactly lawyers, and they tend to put their own spin on the law. Once they write the citation, it's your job to prove you aren't violating the law, despite what the constitution says. To illustrate this, I'll relate what happened to an acquaintance here. He got home to find that he had a citation from game and parks for cruelty to animals. The officer had seen a number of canadian geese milling about near his haystack. They figured the animals were confused by the blue tarp covering it, and thought it was a body of water. He couldn't afford a lawyer, but had to get one anyway. The matter took a lot of time to get settled. They only dropped the matter after he agreed to put the brown side of the tarp up. You tell me how that could be described as cruelty to animals.

 

[spook]

Yep, thanks for the heads up. I thought I was hearing things yesterday! Grrrr.
Cover your poultry yard with netting and a area with a tarp to keep hawk from scaring the poultry.
Last year a coopers, old fashioned chicken hawk, and juvinille eagle after the girls getting 2 young bantams and the raptors actually sat on the coop creating a rapid moult from distress.
Watch your cats and small dogs too, nothing is sacred anymore.

I too am angry about the hawks finding us and the fact that we can no longer free range, and like you say, a matter of time- but I can still be mad....lol

 

[chickensioux]

Hi Dave. I too was having hawk issues. Caught one sitting on top of one of my silkies and saved her just in time. I have a low voltage wire running along the top of my fence. This keeps all kinds of critters OUT and does not have enough juice to hurt the girls in case they jump on it. I then put a tom turkey in with my girls and that seems to have solved the issue completely. I have had no other issues. I just have to be diligent with deworming to make sure there is no issue of blackhead disease for the tom. He does a wonderful job of guarding. Sue

 

[swampwander]

You can scare them off. Chickenfortress is dead right on that. If you are zoned AG, go through your local AG agent. Forget the animal control people, they know little to niothing about Federal laws dealing with predatory birds.

 

[hooksetz]

Well they are beautiful birds, but what you have to ask yourself is "am I gonna raise chickens or birds of prey?" At my house we run them off and if that don't work they disappear, cruel or not my chickens aren't going to be a food source for the natives, I have a duputy sherriff who lives behind me and that's his view too. I had an owl snatch and eat a beagle puppy in the middle of the night, now I have no more owls, birds of prey are majestic creatures and I don't hate them but I have no room for them on my farm neither. It's a shame but I'm not in the raptor feeding business, as I'm sure you don't want to be either.

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Quote:
OH. MY. GAWD!!!!

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
This is what happens when we have too much government. I got in an argument with US Fish and Wildlife in the keys many years back. My friends and I watched as two officers carrying antennas chased key deer back and forth across US 1 until one eventually got hit with a car.

We were very angry and confronted the officers. If it wasn't for the deer and their embarrassment we probably would have been arrested. They sent a supervisor to talk to us. After I explained that the breeding programs used by other countries to successfully bring endangered species back to population The supervisor then explained that they then would NOT BE "endangered key deer" anymore.

In the beginning the government had good intentions, but now those intentions have turned into people just trying to justify their jobs by any means necessary.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I think I might have a problem with burglars skydiving onto my property, so I am looking into stretching razor wire over the area...