Ideas for protecting against hawks WITHOUT covering your run

[cmom]

Dogs are perfect protectors if you train them well

 

[cmom]

At the bottom of this page are some suggested threads on hawk protection. Myself, I have good heavy duty netting covering my pens which are 60' x 200' in total area. I do have trees in the pens that I planted years ago. I put the netting up in sections around the trees by myself which was no easy task and I am an old lady. I have had a couple of hawks in the past swoop down and kill a couple of birds not 10 feet away from me. It happened so fast I didn't actually have time to react. Now I don't worry about the hawks getting them. I'm not up to getting a dog because it would probably outlive me. I have had dogs in the past but they could have cared less about the birds but I didn't have predator issues then but they had access to the outdoors all of the time. Now I put things in the pens to occupy the birds such as flock blocks and alfalfa for them to peck at. In the summer months I have a mulching mower with a bagger that I collect grass in and put some piles of grass in the pens which they love to scratch through. I did make T-posts out of wood to hold the netting up in places. My fences are 5' tall which is also my height but it does sag so I made the T-posts to hold it up. In the middle of the picture you can see one very tall one I made. Good luck and have fun...

 

[TJAnonymous]

At the bottom of this page are some suggested threads on hawk protection. Myself, I have good heavy duty netting covering my pens which are 60' x 200' in total area. I do have trees in the pens that I planted years ago. I put the netting up in sections around the trees by myself which was no easy task and I am an old lady. I have had a couple of hawks in the past swoop down and kill a couple of birds not 10 feet away from me. It happened so fast I didn't actually have time to react. Now I don't worry about the hawks getting them. I'm not up to getting a dog because it would probably outlive me. I have had dogs in the past but they could have cared less about the birds but I didn't have predator issues then but they had access to the outdoors all of the time. Now I put things in the pens to occupy the birds such as flock blocks and alfalfa for them to peck at. In the summer months I have a mulching mower with a bagger that I collect grass in and put some piles of grass in the pens which they love to scratch through. I did make T-posts out of wood to hold the netting up in places. My fences are 5' tall which is also my height but it does sag so I made the T-posts to hold it up. In the middle of the picture you can see one very tall one I made. Good luck and have fun...
View attachment 2536511

Hi cmom! I remember you sending me pictures of your coops before. I love how you have set up your system and I *WISH* I could talk DH into letting me duplicate it. But he is more concerned about HIS inconvenience trying to navigate and work around the chicken yard and not so much about the safety of my flock. It is unfortunate that he is so obstinate about it, but it is what it is. That's why I'm looking for other options. People have given me a couple of ideas on creating cover.... Maybe adding some CDs or metallic streamers up in the trees. I might even add a motion detector owl on the back side of the duck house or up in the trees. Who knows....we'll see what plays out.

 

[cmom]

My DH was kind of the same way. He wanted to eliminate one of the coops so he could drive his tractor between them. Wasn't going to happen.

 

[julieflower121]

My chickens do not get out until 8:30 mainly because of foxes. So a late opening would also work for hawks, I would think. I keep my ducks separate also for the same reason.

I let my ducks out later in the morning as well but had a hawk attack late afternoon. Very sad.

 

[TJAnonymous]

On a positive note, DH and I had a long discussion last night about covering the chicken and duck yards. It all came out of his irritation last night while trying to get a couple of the Ameraucana hens back inside the yard. They, along with my Blue Andalusians, easily jump the fence every day to go forage but none of them seem to know how to jump BACK over the fence in the evening. Instead they want you to open the gate so they can WALK back inside.... Anyway, that lead to a conversation about the electric fence not working to keep them in or really doing anything we intended it to do. So I brought up my new plan which means putting netting up and moving the electric fence to the back fence between our pasture and the neighbors where the foxes are coming from. He immediately started to protest the nets which I countered about the constant running outside I have to do because of the hawks. We haven't had an attack yet but it's a matter of time. There's at least one, if not two, on the prowl nearly every day now....

In the end, he agreed to let me put up nets IF AND ONLY IF I agreed to rent an auger to put the posts in and we got a young person (either my 18 yr old son or my daughter's ex-boyfriend) to come help....

 

[cmom]

I am so glad your DH is finally letting you put up the netting. I sleep much better with the netting covering the pens and the electric wires around the coops and pens. I had a couple of encounters with hawks killing birds not 10 feet away from me. Once I had let the birds out and one followed me into the blueberries the rest went back into their pen. A hawk swooped down and killed the bird right in front of me. It happened so fast I didn't have time to react. It didn't take her but did kill her. Another time I had some chicks in a small temporary pen next to where we were working and a hawk swooped down and grabbed a chick. Again it happened so fast there wasn't time to react. I have also had issues with owls. A couple of my coops are open on one side. DH and a friend built them as a surprise. Their hearts were in the right place. The owl got in and killed some birds. I had some crappy netting and the owl went right through it three times. I have since replaced the crappy netting with some good netting. It's better to be safe than sorry. You may have seen this picture of the owl going through the netting. I had moved the birds. I thought the netting would still deter aerial predators. I had put tarps over the open side. The coop to the left is enclosed with wire. It has a door on the side.

 

[cmom]

I also have birds get out and they never seem to be able to get back in. Once in awhile one will figure it out but most don't.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I am so glad your DH is finally letting you put up the netting. I sleep much better with the netting covering the pens and the electric wires around the coops and pens. I had a couple of encounters with hawks killing birds not 10 feet away from me. Once I had let the birds out and one followed me into the blueberries the rest went back into their pen. A hawk swooped down and killed the bird right in front of me. It happened so fast I didn't have time to react. It didn't take her but did kill her. Another time I had some chicks in a small temporary pen next to where we were working and a hawk swooped down and grabbed a chick. Again it happened so fast there wasn't time to react. I have also had issues with owls. A couple of my coops are open on one side. DH and a friend built them as a surprise. Their hearts were in the right place. The owl got in and killed some birds. I had some crappy netting and the owl went right through it three times. I have since replaced the crappy netting with some good netting. It's better to be safe than sorry. You may have seen this picture of the owl going through the netting. I had moved the birds. I thought the netting would still deter aerial predators. I had put tarps over the open side. The coop to the left is enclosed with wire. It has a door on the side.
View attachment 2586458

It helped that I explained that my chickens & ducks are an investment and it is crazy to not protect our investment. I spent a lot of money building coops and caring for them. We collect and sell their eggs. He has quite a few people who he sells eggs to from work. He has also had people inquire about buying some Silkie chicks. It would be silly not to ensure they were protected from predators. He mostly complained about the labor involved in putting it all up. We aren't as young as we used to be and often feel the aftermath of hard labor. Of course, I'm certain you understand.... That's why I said I'd HIRE someone to help....or at least get our son & my daughter's ex (who we are still good friends with....) to come help. That's when he conceded.

 

[cmom]

I'm in my 70's and DH is 80. He has Parkinson's and can't help. I built my pens myself and put the netting up myself. He did help on the coops but we were younger when we built them. He has had Parkinson's for a long time but as we have gotten older it has gotten worse. The fencing and netting might not be too pretty but works. Many years ago I planted trees in all of the pens. I had to cut the netting and work it around the trees. At first I just put it over the trees when they were small but as they grew I cut the netting. I do trim the trees every year and it's getting hard to do. I am going to get a young fellow to help me this year. I should have had them trimmed by now but it seems there is always something else more pressing. This is an old picture Since a couple of more coops and pens have been added. I also extended the pens out 10 more feet.

This is a more recent picture that I previously posted.