Keeping hawks out

[Stephanie8806]

That tree does a good job blunting the snow fall. Main thing to watch out for as the snow starts melting off is clumps of snow falling - the netting should handle it fine but there's going to be occasional *Whomps* as clumps land on it.

So far, the snow falling from branches has either been powdery and dry, or wet and slushy. When we got some sun yesterday, I went to let the chickens out and watch what the falling snow did.

It was basically like a rainstorm of drips in the run. On the lower branches, they span so wide that the snow accumulation on the ends mostly dumps outside the run. From the upper branches, any larger clumps hit branches on the way down and broke up. The few larger slushy clumps that made it through passed easily through the netting. It will be interesting to see what comes in January, when we might get enough warmth/sun to melt the snow a little, but have the cold refreeze it on the branches and make it heavy, hard, and icy.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So far, the snow falling from branches has either been powdery and dry, or wet and slushy. When we got some sun yesterday, I went to let the chickens out and watch what the falling snow did.

It was basically like a rainstorm of drips in the run. On the lower branches, they span so wide that the snow accumulation on the ends mostly dumps outside the run. From the upper branches, any larger clumps hit branches on the way down and broke up. The few larger slushy clumps that made it through passed easily through the netting. It will be interesting to see what comes in January, when we might get enough warmth/sun to melt the snow a little, but have the cold refreeze it on the branches and make it heavy, hard, and icy.

Good to know, and good thing to keep an eye on too!

I also have a tree overhanging my run but it's a weeping willow, so it doesn't stop accumulation of snow but also doesn't cause any risky sudden snow dumps.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

This is our chunnel a.k.a chicken tunnel..its 2'x2'x8' covered in camouflage netting. Wheels could be added to make it portable. We lean ours against the side of the house in the coop run. It serves many purposes, hawk protection, shade in the summer and a spa area for the girls when they want to chillax. Whe haven't lost any girls since we put it up.

 

[Stephanie8806]

This is our chunnel a.k.a chicken tunnel..its 2'x2'x8' covered in camouflage netting. Wheels could be added to make it portable. We lean ours against the side of the house in the coop run. It serves many purposes, hawk protection, shade in the summer and a spa area for the girls when they want to chillax. Whe haven't lost any girls since we put it up.

How cool! That’s a super clever idea. I wonder if it would work for us though, our entire 8 x 10 coop is elevated. I had assumed, when designing it, that that would have been sufficient for them to hide under, but our first chicken was killed under it. Second was killed inside the coop, to which the only entry was the 12x14 chicken door.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

Sounds like you have some smart and hungry hawks. We have owl decoys and cds flashing to deture attacks. We do have raptors and we see them way to close for comfort but there have been no known attacks or deaths since March. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will loose more to raptor attacks but they will have to work VERY HARD to do it.

 

[Jajika]

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.

I found that if my chickens can run under bushes, they can escape a hawk. When they didn't have that option they got trapped. We now have a very large run, 15 x 25 x 15. We were able to cover it with hardware cloth. I understand you don't have that option, but even netting will help.

 

[Stephanie8806]

Sounds like you have some smart and hungry hawks. We have owl decoys and cds flashing to deture attacks. We do have raptors and we see them way to close for comfort but there have been no known attacks or deaths since March. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will loose more to raptor attacks but they will have to work VERY HARD to do it.

It’s interesting, we free ranged all year and didn’t have any problems with the hawks. But it was a super foggy day with zero visibility and they obviously knew where the chickens lived. I hear hawks don’t like to fly in the fog, so I think it went for the easy meal that was corralled. Probably just sat in the lowest branches of the tree above the run and picked one... and then another. I think on clear days where the chickens have free range and the hawks have other options, we won’t have problems... but I’m not ready to test that theory quite yet I guess this is their migratory time too, so maybe it was just the perfect storm?!

 

[Stephanie8806]

I found that if my chickens can run under bushes, they can escape a hawk. When they didn't have that option they got trapped. We now have a very large run, 15 x 25 x 15. We were able to cover it with hardware cloth. I understand you don't have that option, but even netting will help.

I think that’s why we didn’t have problems when they free ranged... They could hide in the ground cover. Our run is comparable! Odd measurements, something like 17x32, 10 feet tall. And the coop is 8x10, elevated. I love the rustic work-with-what-we-had style, but it would have been nice to have level ground or squared up/even posts to add either solid or fenced roofing. Oh well!

 

[City Farmer Jim]

I agree with the poor weather being a factor in raptor sightings/fly by's. It seems the wet dreary foggy day tend to bring them close for a possible easy meal.

 

[donddon]

I cover the top of my run with 2"x4" welded wire fencing. It is durable, fairly light, easy to install, and hawk and owl proof. Fence tubing, for support, is available in 20' lengths. Tie wire or black zip ties do nicely. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/welded-wire-48-in-x-100-ft