Life with Murphy's Law - this time in the Hawk Department

[flip9109]

good luck, hawks are tuff to deal with. esp. here in NJ there are sooooooooooooooooo many of them they don't have any real preaditors around here and way too many tree hugger groups protecting them. I am right off rt 55 I must see 20 over my yard in a day. I lost 6 hens to them since october.

 

[rufus]

Better forget about peeing on the hawks. Just keep your chickens on lock down until they leave.

Rufus

 

[jjthink]

Only you guys could make me laugh in the middle of such a dilemma!

It's 8:15 a.m., I have to leave for work 20 minutes ago but you should hear hen Annie already. My roo is totally quiet in comparison to her - when she has something to complain about, watch out world! She's probably 4 pounds tops and all 4 pounds are vocal chords! I feel so bad for her (and especially him - he has to listen to her!) but think I must leave them in lockdown especially when I can't be home - today will be 70 and glorious and they are going to be p----d, rightfully so. This is the best weather for them - not too hot, not too cold - and they want to explore the world. A shame.

For all I know, the hawks could be interested in smaller easier prey if it's plentiful right now but it's the not knowing......If they have babies, everybody is that feathered family is going to need a lot of food......I certainly don't blame the hawks - why wouldn't they set up shop in chicken-ville - just wish it weren't so...........I don't wish to hurt them but do wish I had a harmless way of encouraging them to go to friendlier camp - I imagine this process of nesting and raising the young and then fledging them could consume the rest of the good weather before the wicked heat gets here.

I do find it strange that the crows are being so friendly to this hawk pair. I usually see crows chasing hawks - strange.
JJ

 

[suebee]

For some strange reason the hawks don't bother with my silkies, here in eastern NC. They will sit and watch them but never come in for a kill.
I have free ranged my silkies for 5 years and never lost one to a hawk yet. Maybe it's because of my dog patrolling the area.


What does the hawk do? Does it take the chicken away?, or eat it right there in the yard?

 

[SpottedCrow]

Just the other day my resident Redtail went by and I heard the jays and crows making a racket..I was looking up in the trees and I saw a squirrel making a beeline to it's nest...next thing I heard was a strangled squawk and the squirrel became lunch...
Obelisk and Penny were right out there in the yard, scared me to death but not them...they wouldn't even leave the yard.
A couple of days after that, I went out when DS came home and told him to keep an ear out for them.There was all sorts of birdies out when I left, but it was a ghost town when I came back...I go and look for the girls...I see feathers all over the lawn...I started looking and picking them up and they're grey, but then I start seeing spots too ...My redtail got one of Mr. Rumpled's great great great great great grand chicks.

 

[jjthink]

Suebee, with any luck maybe the hawks think your Silkies are tribbles instead of chickens?! (Star Trek "Trouble with Tribbles" episode). It's said that hawks don't eat tribbles.

(seriously for a sec, I'm really glad they've left your little feathered friends alone!)

And Spotted, yikes, trouble in your midst. Poor squirrel. Interesting that Obelisk and Penny were not daunted. Who is Mr. Rumpled and are these your feather babies too? So sorry one got taken.

There is a purple martin bird house high on a pole very near the hawk nest in my yard. Squirrels always set up shop in there instead of birds and right now there is at least one adorable baby squirrel being raised in there. He popped his head out tonight to watch BJ, Annie and I and I cringed because the hawk pair fly back and forth right past that bird house and I hope the poor little guy doesn't get taken. Normally the squirrel babies play and play up on top of that bird house (and sleep inside it at night) until they are old enough for their mom to teach them how to get down the pole. This little guy is not going to be safe doing that.

Speaking of my hawks. I'm noticing something new now. I think the red-tailed hawks I saw might have just been flying over a lot, right in the area of the nest. But the pair definitely going to and from the nest seem like they might be another kind of hawk - I'm guessing Cooper's but trying to get a better ID this weekend when I can hopefully be around during better light. If Cooper's, I'm not sure how risky for the chickens. BJ roo scolds the sky when he sees them but he doesn't get totally bent out of shape like I would expect him to. He goes back to doing whatever he was doing, which is usually following hen Annie's every twist, turn and whim.
JJ


According to a Cornell University fact sheet:
Cooper's: 15-20 inches long, 8.83-21.07 ounces
Red-tailed: 18-26 inches long, 24.36-51.54 ounces
Both are described as eating medium sized birds.

 

[12 Acres]

We have a resident pair of Red-Tailed Hawks here and we love having them. We've nicknamed them Bonnie and Clyde and really get a kick out of watching them. I never realized that hawks actually play until this year when I started watching them more closely.

We have 7 species of raptors here in our neck of the woods (hawks, eagles, owls and vultures). They have large areas to roam and hunt here. I see them going after mice in the fields in the mornings and I've seen them dive after rabbits in the orchards. Just recently I watched a pair of vultures feeding on a rabbit carcass.

How to let chickens free-range while protecting them from raptors is a real challenge. I have come to accept the fact that despite my best efforts, I likely will lose a few birds to hawks. That's fine. I plan to keep them in a large run covered with netting when I am unable to be outside with them and I will let them roam free when I am out working in the yard (which is every day when the weather permits). The hawks will not approach if they see me. I think the hens will be content with the amount of time they will have to free-range.

There are many large evergreens on our property that will help provide a safe shelter when hawks are in the area. And hopefully I'll get a rooster worth his feed who will keep watch and announce any danger.

In my book, the raptors come first. Without them, I'd have so many rabbits and mice that I wouldn't be able to stand it! They are an important part of the food chain and should be given a helping hand whenever possible. I think it's entirely possible to live with a nesting pair of hawks in your yard and still keep chickens. Good luck to you and your birds!

 

[jjthink]

Hi Amy. I'm with you in loving wildlife, as has been the case all my life and indeed comprises my main work for umpteen years now - wildlife habitat preservation. That said, I am not fine with losing my feathered friends to the hawks... If there was a way to deter the hawks without harming them, that was my quest. Unfortunately, because of my work, I am not able to be home and out watching my feathered friends so they can cheerfully free range a good amount, much as that sounds utopic (I would truly like to be home and not cooped up in an office...). And they are very stressed cooped up, so it's just not a good situation here. These are for all intents and purposes rescue chickens in a residential neighborhood - trying to keep them 'under wraps' - so I can't have a bigger, more obvious, run for them....
JJ

 

[chicknmania]

You know, if I were you, I'd check with the wildlife officials before you do anything. These are nesting hawks; we're talking Federal laws. And, if it gives you any peace of mind; we've had experience with every kind of hawk imagineable; have seen them all up close. And the only ones who haven't bothered our chickens are red-tailed hawks. That doesn't mean they won't; just saying, they don't seem to have much interest. We have twenty acres, so not exactly the same situation as you, but we've had a pair of nesting red-tails for several years. We have the most problem with Sharp-Shinned and Cooper's hawks; we had a pair of Cooper's hawks in our barn earlier this year.

 

[jjthink]

Cooper's - yikes. That's what I was wondering about. Cooper's and chickens. Thanks for the heads up. I think that's what they likely are and the red-tails were just flying very close to the nest, coincidentally. Both parents are sitting in a branch out there right now. Would have thought one parent would be in the nest more - they both seem to be out and about a lot.

Sharp-shinned hawks are so small and they took on your chickens? Yikes. That means my feathered friends are no match for the larger (but still smallish, all things considered) Cooper's.

Did I mention the tree the nest is in is only maybe 20 or 30 feet from the coop?[/u] Couldn't be any closer. I guess there's going to be a lot of lockdown for who knows how many weeks to come.
JJ