No chicken dinner for you, #@%&! Hawk

[Aunt Angus]

I was out collecting eggs, when my flighty and easily spooked Welsummer made a loud noise and darted under the yucca tree. My Cochin was beside me as I was crouched to get the eggs and she was growling. Never heard anything like it. I saw her looking up into our large oak. On a branch just above our heads was a small Coopers hawk! I was so mad that I wasn't thinking. I just kind of panicked and wanted it to go away. So I hurled what I had at hand, which was an egg. I didn't hit the hawk (thankfully!), but I managed to hit the branch it was perched on and scared it off. Ooh! I love hawks as they are beautiful, majestic birds. But I hate them for thinking my beloved girls are on the menu!

They will stay locked up for a while.

#@%& hawk...

 

[BigBlueHen53]

LOL, this is a great story! I get throwing what you had in your hand at the time, I once tossed a full-grown cat at a husband I was mad at ... (no worries he caught it and the cat thought it was a game). But I'm glad your girlies are safe, so good on ya!

 

[Sharwig]

I was out collecting eggs, when my flighty and easily spooked Welsummer made a loud noise and darted under the yucca tree. My Cochin was beside me as I was crouched to get the eggs and she was growling. Never heard anything like it. I saw her looking up into our large oak. On a branch just above our heads was a small Coopers hawk! I was so mad that I wasn't thinking. I just kind of panicked and wanted it to go away. So I hurled what I had at hand, which was an egg. I didn't hit the hawk (thankfully!), but I managed to hit the branch it was perched on and scared it off. Ooh! I love hawks as they are beautiful, majestic birds. But I hate them for thinking my beloved girls are on the menu!

They will stay locked up for a while.

#@%& hawk...

 

[Fishkeeper]

Honestly, chucking an egg at a hawk would probably be a pretty good deterrent. I don't think it would hurt the bird even if you hit it, and probably you wouldn't hit it anyway.

 

[Sharwig]

Honestly, chucking an egg at a hawk would probably be a pretty good deterrent. I don't think it would hurt the bird even if you hit it, and probably you wouldn't hit it anyway.

I once had a hawk swoop down beside me as I was letting the girls out of their run for the day. It landed on the fence appx 15 ft away. I was so freaked without thinking I picked up a big ol rock and threw it at it trying to scare it away. I totally beaned that raptor right in the head. Luckily I just dazed it and it flew off...

 

[Aunt Angus]

Honestly, chucking an egg at a hawk would probably be a pretty good deterrent. I don't think it would hurt the bird even if you hit it, and probably you wouldn't hit it anyway.

I was actually pretty close, surprisingly. It seemed awfully small, so I'm wondering if it's male or a juvenile. Either way, it needs to GO AWAY.

I'm desperate to keep it away now. I will talk to hubby once he gets home tonight about what we might do. Expand the run??? Bird netting over the whole frigging yard???

I hate the idea of keeping them penned up, but I will if I have to. Love my birds. I see why there is so much internal conflict over free ranging vs. confinement. They are happy foraging. We love watching them forage. But that d*** hawk is doing what all d*** hawks do, and we gotta weigh the pros and cons. Happy free birds or not-as-happy safe birds? NOT an easy decision...

 

[Aunt Angus]

I once had a hawk swoop down beside me as I was letting the girls out of their run for the day. It landed on the fence appx 15 ft away. I was so freaked without thinking I picked up a big ol rock and threw it at it trying to scare it away. I totally beaned that raptor right in the head. Luckily I just dazed it and it flew off...

Hope it never came back!


I need to find something else to chuck at it. Don't wanna run out of eggs!

 

[Trimurtisan]

I had my favorite Serama hen snatched by a hawk just 2 feet in front of me. It was my first lose of a bird, and had me in tears. So I'm a big fan of chucking whatever is in my hand at the moment. I was really bad at baseball, but it turns out that when my "motherly instincts" kick in (I'm a full time dad by the way), I've got a pretty good aim. I've not hit one, but got much closer than I did in little league lol.

Screaming like an idiot works good too as long as you understand what you look like to the neighbors who have no idea what's going on.
"Is Bob out there screaming at that tree again?"
"Sure is. I wonder about that boy sometimes."
My name is Chris, but I have had 1 neighbor ask if there was something wrong with my tree. That's when I realized, screaming at trees is not normal lol.

I'm glad to hear the birds are safe though.

Bottle rockets might be a good idea too, but I've not tried those yet. I can't imagine it being very easy to hit one, but should be very easy to scare it off with them.

 

[Sharwig]

I had my favorite Serama hen snatched by a hawk just 2 feet in front of me. It was my first lose of a bird, and had me in tears. So I'm a big fan of chucking whatever is in my hand at the moment. I was really bad at baseball, but it turns out that when my "motherly instincts" kick in (I'm a full time dad by the way), I've got a pretty good aim. I've not hit one, but got much closer than I did in little league lol.

Screaming like an idiot works good too as long as you understand what you look like to the neighbors who have no idea what's going on.
"Is Bob out there screaming at that tree again?"
"Sure is. I wonder about that boy sometimes."
My name is Chris, but I have had 1 neighbor ask if there was something wrong with my tree. That's when I realized, screaming at trees is not normal lol.

I'm glad to hear the birds are safe though.

Bottle rockets might be a good idea too, but I've not tried those yet. I can't imagine it being very easy to hit one, but should be very easy to scare it off with them.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I was thinking a hose might be good. Squirt it out of the tree.

Question for y'all: The fenced area of my yard is only about 1/4 of an acre, maybe a little less. Smack in the middle of it is a giant oak. I love this tree, but it gave that hawk a great vantage point from which to stalk my chickens. I am wondering if it'd be possible to attach bird netting or something similar to the oak (under where the branches extend from the trunk) out to the fence. If not netting, then twine or fishing line as I've seen suggested. Or, since we use our yard for entertaining, strings of lights? Maybe with twine/fishing line between the strung lights to make better cover? Might that at least give the $%#@! Hawk pause? Does any of that make sense? Or would that be a waste of effort?

I am so desperate to let them be happy in the little yard...