Is this ok for hawks?

[lazy gardener]

I've seen photos of hawks sitting on a owl statue. IMO, hawks are smart enough to figure those decoys out. Excellent video @Howard E . I've seen a hawk on ground terrorizing my cockerels in their grow out pen.

 

[Stepnout]

Trees mean nothing to many hawks, as already said just a place to perch and check over your next meal.

I have witnessed a Gosshawk take a pine squirrel out of a tree. They also are one of the highest predators of Ruffed Grouse.

 

[ehoneybee]

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 couldn't believe they get on the ground like that. That's how they slipped through our last (poorly designed) run. As for netting? What's the best? I was going to get this bird netting. Too flimsy?

 

[ehoneybee]

Or is this better?

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I use the lighter stuff you linked last. It has kept hawks off. I have seen them fly up and land a few times and watch, but I have not had any attempt anything more. That netting is, however, very poor in winter weather. If you get ice and snow, it will not hold if the area you are covering is large. For my little chain link dog run it’s fine; for my 500 square foot run it is too flimsy.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

And I literally just got done writing this when I went outside and my heart stopped because a hawk was ON the net, which also covers our garden.

Not a hawk. A chicken. No wonder the others weren’t upset at all.

 

[ehoneybee]

And I literally just got done writing this when I went outside and my heart stopped because a hawk was ON the net, which also covers our garden.

Not a hawk. A chicken. No wonder the others weren’t upset at all.
View attachment 1400191

Oh phew, cause I was about to rethink my whole strategy!

 

[featherhead007]

Chicken hawk?

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Chicken hawk?

Lol I had a little more of a side view originally. This was the point where I stopped and scratched my head, lol. She was stock up right, trying to keep her balance. Very unhenlike. And the coloring. I’ve seen a small hawk about this size lately checking things out. I was sure this was it. Ms. Blue Cheese required an escort out of her predicament.

 

[featherhead007]

Lol I had a little more of a side view originally. This was the point where I stopped and scratched my head, lol. She was stock up right, trying to keep her balance. Very unhenlike. And the coloring. I’ve seen a small hawk about this size lately checking things out. I was sure this was it. Ms. Blue Cheese required an escort out of her predicament.

I guess she was a sitting duck up there then?