Need help and roof advice.asap. Hawk attacking

[HooverHenHouse]

Not kidding here, I am loading photos of my coop from my phone onto photobucket,to ask for advice...but now it has become an emergency case.....becuase I hear my chickens skwak...I think ahh their just fighting over the tomato I just gave them (and litterley just watered them 3 mins ago), but looked out my window to see the gosh darn HAWK sitting on the fence of my coop...Im in the house screaming and banging on the window, he flew off and I ran outside..in my slippers. My chickens are okay.

But time to fix my coop asap, I have had chickens for 3 years, and 4 days ago lost my first chicken to a hawk when I let them out to graze, the attack happened a few yards from the coop, and yesterday was the first day they got to go out after the attack, and today the hawk returns.

My problem is I am at a lost as to what to do for a cover that will keep the hawk out...I would like to make it predator proof as I;m sure raccons are next, but right now this hawk problem needs fixed!



Its diffucult for me to think of something easily as you can see theres 3 sides of fence, and 3 sides of house. There is about 2 feet bewteen the coop and the house..thankfully thats where my birds were hiding when the hawk attacked

 

[groundpecker]

Buy more of those fence panels and add them to the top. You can also hire a fence company to make a special top, for a price.
It would much easier to construct a top if your pen was square.

 

[cknkids]

Oh my gosh your poor thing. I'd through some bird netting over it all as a quick fix and then work on something stronger and more permanent. I'm sorry for you loss, good luck keeping your others safe

 

[HooverHenHouse]

Unfortunley, the place of my coop now, I cant square it up...you cant see but my house sits on a hill, and next the fence panel there is about 3 feet of grass, then it drops off to a hill. I have to keep that 3 feet of grass becuase it is the only access to our basement,

Also the coop is about 4+ higher than the panels...hard to see in the pictures. So laying anything across the top is not an option becuase the coop itself is so high.

I have been debating about moving my coop to a diffrent spot next summer, and of course making a rectangular run that is predator proof. But thats not an option right now.

 

[buzzardtalon]

You could put in a treated 4x4 post that is a little higher then your coop in the middle of your run and drape netting across the whole thing. That way you could attatch the netting to the coop and the chain link fences. The post would hold up the netting. Just an idea...

 

[HooverHenHouse]

To anyone who may read this and have a similar dilama, I wanted to update this thread..
I am a ditz for not thinking of this immediatly...Instead of thinking of a way of putting a roof on the extsiting run, why not build a seperate smaller run?

So thats what I did...built a smaller run of the front of the coop..Its smaller, built with a wood frame and chicken/goat fence but has kept the hawk from having chicken dinner.

 

[ducksinarow]

I use mesh shade tarp that I got off ebay. It allows the rain to go thru. You could run to walmart and buy a blue tarp to cover them until you could get some mesh tarp. However I would put them inside first. Hawks can go right thru bird netting.

 

[centrarchid]

Owing to the use of house as a side to run, your options for netting are limiting if desire is to make it hawk tight. You might be able to make it so birds can get to cover hawk will not follow them into. Bird free-ranging outside the run are going to a different matter, No quality cover is evident. Consider use of a chicken tractor which can be pretty light if used only during day. If you have chicken friendly dog, that opens up all sorts of possibilities for contending with hawks.

 

[HooverHenHouse]

After this incident I have decided to move my coop come spring time, away from the house so I can build fort knox...but right now I needed a temporary fix to save my chickens from hawk food.

Before

After:
Still have to put some framing at the beginning of run where it is against coop, but hubby did the best with his non woodworking skills...