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Stephanie was not rude... just trying to stay on topic
Thank you. Sadly, that she seems to be mistaking directness for rudeness. She’s clearly not having a good day but I hope it gets better
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Stephanie was not rude... just trying to stay on topic
As to keeping out hawks/other flying raptors....
I think even with flashing/flapping things, it is best if you change it up.
The same old, same old... and after a time they get used to it. But then I think I have an insanely high number of raptors.
We have alot problems with hawks as well but usually they take the whole body I find that fake owls help a lot but make sure you move them time to time
Would have to be a pretty big hawk and a pretty small bird for a hawk to be able to take off with the whole thing.problems with hawks as well but usually they take the whole body
Would have to be a pretty big hawk and a pretty small bird for a hawk to be able to take off with the whole thing.
Very true... and it isn't always just one predator...Good point. All my birds are pretty big too. I don’t have any bantams. They are all full sized, dual purpose, cold hardy birds. But hawks seem to be pretty strong for their body size anyways. Who knows! There is always “usual” behavior, but just when you think you know what an animal will do, it tends to surprise you.
I have aviary netting over my run and it works great! It’s pretty sturdy and has only broken when a decent sized branch falls on it from surrounding trees. But it’s easy to repair. It’s been 3 years now and it’s still going strong. Maybe a bit easier to tear now but I seldom have to fix any holes. I got mine on Amazon and was about $50, but that was for a 50’ x 50’ net. I live in an area where hawks are very active and see them eyeing my girls from just above in the trees at least once a week (and that’s just ones Ive seen while doing chores outside) Haven’t had one loss yet! I’m definitely happy I got it.Hey there all! This week we lost two chickens to a hawk, both decapitated, one in the run and one in the coop through the chickens door. We are sure it was a hawk. Part of our run is going to be able to be completely closed off, but for the rest I’m entertaining several options for the other portion of the run. I’m here to see what actually works and what isn’t worth the time or money.
Our run has 9 foot high fencing, with no roof or barrier over the top apart from the branches of a MASSIVE Douglas fir that cover the open air part of the run(roughly 25’x18’). The tree is the reason we haven’t had hawk trouble until now, I think, as a hawk isn’t able to fly and dive like it normally does. Because of the steep grade of our landscape, heavy winter snowfall, and asymmetrical layout of the run, installing actual fencing or solid roof would be incredibly complicated and cost prohibitive.
We are going to be hanging aviary netting of some sort, but I have also been reading that reflective tape products and owl decoys can have a decent effect on deterring birds of prey. Have you had luck with any of these methods, or any others?
We live in the mountains, the coop is off grid, the coop itself is extremely well built and only needs a change in location of the chicken door to become essentially bear proof. And although not ramshackle, the run is a bit more of a little rustic construct. We do free range our birds and have never had problems. I’m about as “okay” as one can be with the idea that sometimes predation is going to happen, but I’m annoyed that it happened in the run, and simply infuriated that the coop became compromised. Just trying to do my best to keep their home sacred and increase the protection in their fenced run.