Keeping hawks away?

[CrazyChickMom]

I suspect that a hawk has gotten a few of my chickens. I can hear it but I can never see it. The chickens hide under my truck when the hawks around. How do I keep this sky attack away! They free range all day!

 

[kcfuerst]

Depending if the logistics can provide this to be a doable task, you can string heavy duty monofilament fishing line overhead (say from tree to tree, or eave to eave). Hawks won't fly through the line. Commercial fishermen employ this method to deter birds from diving on their vessels and stealing their catch.

Others suggest hanging CD here and there which keeps them at bay, too.

 

[erica.godinez]

i got a plastic owl. It works! try it!

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

We are going through the same thing and we strung fishing line back and forth over their huge outdoor area and then hung acrylic multi colored spinners all over the place. Walked out the next morning and here is a hawk trying to get into one of our pens with a broody and her chicks.
So we are still trying.

 

[erica.godinez]

try hanging a plastic owl on a pole. i did that and that hawk does not even come near

 

[CrazyChickMom]

Great ideas. I think I'll try the plastic owl. In fact, I think I'll get 2. One for the backyard and one for the front. How high should the pole be?

 

[erica.godinez]

i have mine just high enough were every bird can see it. man does it work!

 

[TerryQui]

This is an old thread as I was searching tonight for people experienced with the plastic owls. I had a hawk take a baby and a few days later come for my girls.
I put out the plastic owl and no sign of him. It has been a couple weeks and I think it is working great now. I move the owl every couple days too and I put some CD's out there to flash also.
I have read about using mannequins also and thought that maybe a large doll might work too, lol. But for now the owl seems to be doing a great job and my chickens only have a third of my yard which is probably 100 feet by 20 and there are trees in the area, so there isn't alot of space for a hawk to get into it, but he did get into the one open space when he did. I heard the girls all making a huge bunch of noise and the next day they were scared to even come out of the coop.
They are not scared of my plastic owl though, lol. Or maybe that is what they were afraid of at first.
I heard all the noise and looked out my office window just in time to see the hawk flying out of my yard.
There is a hawks nest near my house.
So well now I think the owl is working but I was researching tonight other's opinions of using the owl. I got a large one that is plastic and has very real looking eyes. I have two but haven't put the second one out there yet. I was wondering if that might not look natural as maybe in nature they don't hang in two's near each other.