Is this ok for hawks?

[ehoneybee]

I've already lost two hens to hawks being very bold and somehow getting in the run but that was in spring/late winter before the leaves filled in and now I have my girls under a full low canopy of maple tree leaves. I do plan to add a netting cover but I'm just wondering if I could get away with it before I do that. THe poor girls do not like being cooped up in a coop haha. I just don't see how a hawk could see them but I don't put anything past them either!

 

[ehoneybee]

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I lost 3 chicks to hawks earlier this spring too. The first time in 8 years. I feel like maybe there was less resources, because I haven't seen or lost any birds recently and I here all the other baby birds chirping in trees now. But yes, they are very bold. Hunger is a huge driving force.

A leave canopy will not stop them IMO. I would work to get your other cover up instead of putting it off because time flies and things happen. But it is possible that yours may have moved on by now like mine did.

Sorry for your losses.

Good luck.

 

[lazy gardener]

The trees will give them a nice vantage point while they sit and pick out their favorite color for their next meal.

 

[ehoneybee]

I lost 3 chicks to hawks earlier this spring too. The first time in 8 years. I feel like maybe there was less resources, because I haven't seen or lost any birds recently and I here all the other baby birds chirping in trees now. But yes, they are very bold. Hunger is a huge driving force.

A leave canopy will not stop them IMO. I would work to get your other cover up instead of putting it off because time flies and things happen. But it is possible that yours may have moved on by now like mine did.

Sorry for your losses.

Good luck.

You're right. I shouldn't chance it.

 

[ehoneybee]

The trees will give them a nice vantage point while they sit and pick out their favorite color for their next meal.

I know they perch up high to see but how can they see through the treea unless you mean they will fly low into them?

 

[Nardo]

Just adding my 2 cents. Hawks need big "swoosh" room for their wings so that they can take off. They can fold their wings and cannonball into a tight area, but they cannot get room to take off in some leaf canopies or other overhanging obstacles.
That being said, they can see anything that moves from 1/2 mile up. It's what they do; it's how they hunt/survive.
So (often) they will avoid an area they they know will 'trap' them. But a smaller hawk may not and if they are super hungry they may chance it anyway.
My run is wire covered except for an area maybe 20 X 25 feet and it is so thick with leafy foliage that is will be a challenge for a hawk to get in or out. But a purist will say that I am taking a chance and they would be correct.

 

[Howard E]

When we lived in town, we had a densely wooded backyard. I could not believe how agile the Sharp Shined and Cooper's hawks were and flitting through the dense canopy of the trees chasing the small birds I had attracted to my bird feeders. I began to watch them and saw how they would hide in dense trees a few hundred feet away, and when they made their move, they would come in low and at full speed....not through the canopy, but under it. They are lethal. Fine with me if they are after starlings and sparrows......but they like young chicken too.

This video shows their mode of attack. A lot of the "flaring" is designed to get the victim to come out of hiding and flush, where they will be easily caught.

If I was worried about hawks, a run of this type is where I would want my birds. NOT out in the open.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

When we lived in town, we had a densely wooded backyard. I could not believe how agile the Sharp Shined and Cooper's hawks were and flitting through the dense canopy of the trees chasing the small birds I had attracted to my bird feeders. I began to watch them and saw how they would hide in dense trees a few hundred feet away, and when they made their move, they would come in low and at full speed....not through the canopy, but under it. They are lethal. Fine with me if they are after starlings and sparrows......but they like young chicken too.

This video shows their mode of attack. A lot of the "flaring" is designed to get the victim to come out of hiding and flush, where they will be easily caught.

If I was worried about hawks, a run of this type is where I would want my birds. NOT out in the open.

Gosh but that’s a lovely coop and run by any measure.

 

[BlueChai]

When we lived in town, we had a densely wooded backyard. I could not believe how agile the Sharp Shined and Cooper's hawks were and flitting through the dense canopy of the trees chasing the small birds I had attracted to my bird feeders. I began to watch them and saw how they would hide in dense trees a few hundred feet away, and when they made their move, they would come in low and at full speed....not through the canopy, but under it. They are lethal. Fine with me if they are after starlings and sparrows......but they like young chicken too.

This video shows their mode of attack. A lot of the "flaring" is designed to get the victim to come out of hiding and flush, where they will be easily caught.

If I was worried about hawks, a run of this type is where I would want my birds. NOT out in the open.

I agree, those coops are the best thing to have to combat hawk attacks. But, if you are really determined to have free range birds, there is another way to help lower hawk attacks. If you purchase a great horned owl statue or a couple of crow statues and move them around your yard occasionally, it can help prevent hawks from wanting to eat your chickens. Hawks are scared of crows and large owls.