New to Chickens

[2 Acres]

My daughter & I rescued an owl with a broken wing from the turn lane on a busy street a few years ago. It was a great horned owl. We had him for almost 24 hours while we waited for the dept of wildlife to come and take him off our hands. He was a gorgeous creature.

I have bigger owls in the woods behind me. You can hear them "hoo, hoo" at night.

My concern is hawks around dusk. That's when I become the rooster. They fly only 30 feet off the ground. I'm usually out there with the boys and girls. I wonder what would happen if I put up a volleyball net? "Birdie" would take on a new context.

Can't shoot them either since they are federally protected (bird of prey)

 

[janiedoe]

I have bigger owls in the woods behind me. You can hear them "hoo, hoo" at night.

My concern is hawks around dusk. That's when I become the rooster. They fly only 30 feet off the ground. I'm usually out there with the boys and girls. I wonder what would happen if I put up a volleyball net? "Birdie" would take on a new context.

Can't shoot them either since they are federally protected (bird of prey)

We have large hawks here. They mostly stay over the large pond. I keep my hens in covered runs when I'm not out with them. I don't worry as much about the roosters because they are more aware of danger and will hide. The hens are oblivious. You can try playing a radio when you are not out there. It helps keeps them away however it is not a guarentee. I would put up some kind of protection and I would secure the coop against night visitors.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have bigger owls in the woods behind me. You can hear them "hoo, hoo" at night.

My concern is hawks around dusk. That's when I become the rooster. They fly only 30 feet off the ground. I'm usually out there with the boys and girls. I wonder what would happen if I put up a volleyball net? "Birdie" would take on a new context.

Can't shoot them either since they are federally protected (bird of prey)

The volleyball net is actually a great idea.

We have guy wires coming down from a tall tower that keep them from coming down on half of our yard. The other half we have a camper, picnic table, (they hide under) and wind spinners. They don't like shiny things coming from below either, so some tie old cds or dvds with fish line from trees. Speaking of fish line, stringing that above your heads between trees, buildings, posts, etc., also works to confuse them.

 

[2 Acres]

We have large hawks here. They mostly stay over the large pond. I keep my hens in covered runs when I'm not out with them. I don't worry as much about the roosters because they are more aware of danger and will hide. The hens are oblivious. You can try playing a radio when you are not out there. It helps keeps them away however it is not a guarentee. I would put up some kind of protection and I would secure the coop against night visitors.

I recently over the last couple of weeks have had a couple of feline visitors. Not sure how I feel about that. I do have mice in the coop, but the chickens are wary of the cats.

 

[janiedoe]

I recently over the last couple of weeks have had a couple of feline visitors. Not sure how I feel about that. I do have mice in the coop, but the chickens are wary of the cats.

I have two cats and have had tom cat in the past. None of them, nor the stray cats that have wondered through, have ever harmed my chickens. I know other people have had stray cats attack but I don't think its a common occurrence.

 

[2 Acres]

I recently over the last couple of weeks have had a couple of feline visitors. Not sure how I feel about that. I do have mice in the coop, but the chickens are wary of the cats.

Also... because of all the dust in the coop, radios don't last very long.

 

[Debbie292d]

Also... because of all the dust in the coop, radios don't last very long.

We have ours outside of the coop we turn on now and then. There's a fox that likes its path right next to our breeding coop. It's in a giant garbage bag. I suppose that would work in a coop, but you'd have to have it out of the chickens' reach, or sure enough, they'd scratch that up or worse.

Every couple of weeks or so, our camera picks up the fox doing it again. We just play the radio for a day, and we're good for a while.