It's definitely the season for hawks...

[Dry Creek Ranch]

I have six crows that nest in the woods behind my house. Whenever a hawk shows up they harass the hell out of it until it flies off. It is almost like watching a World War II dog fight. The crows are relentless. I have a deer feeder that dispenses corn twice a day and the crows know when it is feeding time.

 

[Just sayin]

Yeah - Crows have moxie! I've seen them harass the bald eagles too, when they're here.

 

[MrHodari]

I feel your pain... I'm sorry for your loss... The harsh reality of nature...

We need to start a support group "Lost Chickens of America" or something

 

[hen madame]

The first year I had hens, I had absolutely not problem with predators. This last summer it was like there was a hawk convention in my neighborhood. I have a coup/run unit that is covered. This sits inside a fenced-in area with no top (16' X 20'). After each attack we would put up more and more protection (patio umbrellas the girls could hide under and netting up the yahzoo). After several weeks the hawks seemed to leave the girls alone. Who knows what next year will bring! It's always a challenge.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Is anyone else having hawk problems? I'm assuming this is the season for them. I live in Pennsylvania and I noticed around this time of year hawks are EVERYWHERE....

A quick glance at the area of South East Pennsylvania close to Allentown will show a ridge that sits at 90 degrees to the rest of the Appalachian Mountains, Its called "Hawk Mountain"

Its position relative to the prevailing winds makes this a great place for a hawk to catch an updraft and soar to high altitude with little or no effort, then glide for great distances.

Presciently hawks are pairing up for the breeding season and just like with roosters and hens or men and women the smaller male hawk engages in feeding behavior to impress his perspective mate with his hunting powers. It's the hawk equivalent of a Platinum Master card. So chicken killing is in overdrive now because natural prey is becoming scarcer while natural hawk hormones are raging.

From that Wikipedia thingy: In 1929, the Pennsylvania Game Commission offered hunters $5 for every goshawk shot during migrating season,[5] as the birds were considered pests. In 1932, Richard Pough (a birder and photographer from Philadelphia) photographed hundreds of killed hawks and published these photos in Bird Lore, the predecessor to Audubon.[5] Thanks largely to the publicity brought by Pough's photographs, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was incorporated in 1938, and in 1946 began year-round operations.[5] The Game Commission bounty was terminated in 1951, although birds of prey continued to face threats, including from chemical pesticides like DDT. Bird counts have been taken at Hawk Mountain since the end of World War II, with the Sanctuary counting its millionth raptor on October 8, 1992 [Wow, that was 23 years ago so tell me again how depressed the nor fish eating raptor population was]

 

[LittleRedCoop53]

Yes...i lost two birds to hawks (after 3-4 years on problem) ... i guess once they become aware you are there... i have their runs covered in netting now

 

[hen madame]

Yeah - Crows have moxie! I've seen them harass the bald eagles too, when they're here.

I love crows. I have a nice park to the back of my property and they too have helped the chickens, they are their early warning system! When a hawk is around, the crows start cawing, which sets my "sentinel" chicken Cora to squawking, and then everybody runs for cover . My next door neighbors always come running as well, to make sure the girls are OK... they must like the eggs they get when the girls are laying.

 

[heiditam]

I LOVE crows. I have seen them in action here and when crows are out, we have no worries...


how can we all make our property more friendly to the crows, to keep them around?