No free range today!

[tn_artist]

There have been evenings that we have heard what we assumed were hawks around our yard. Once my daughter heard them in the morning, so everyone had to stay in the pen. Once in a while we would see a hawk fly over, circling, looking for prey. One day we had a noisy crow that would not stop making noise. We thought he was warning us (and the birds). A couple minutes later a large hawk flew from a neighbors tree to one of ours, chased by about 10 small birds. They harassed him until he finally left. Half the song birds continued the chase while the rest returned to nests.
That was about as bad as it has been, until this morning. We kept hearing 'screams', but I hated to leave everyone penned up. About the time I was checking the shed brooders, a bird flew over our heads about the height of my one story house roof. I don't know if it was a Peregrine or a Merlin falcon, as it was kind of in between the expected sizes. We heard two others screeching too. No one got to go out today. Most of our birds are bantams and a lot of the bantams are OEGB and Seramas.
No free meals for the wildlife today! (Unless they get one of our rabbit or squirrel residents.) Now I have to make deterants. This summer is the first time we are seeing problems with birds of prey.

 

[Folly's place]

Consider keeping your birds in longer, not just one day. Hope the raptors, whoever they are, get some nice rabbits, and ignore your birds. It helps to ID them, because some are more likely than others to want chicken.
We have bantams and standards both, and the bantams are definitely easier prey!
Mary

 

[nchls school]

It's the same for me here in TN; smaller hawks taking any smaller bird out in the open. The other day a hawk swooped down and grabbed a poult no more than ten feet from where I was standing watching the turkey hen and her babies.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Also make sure you're allowed to deter them besides just keeping the birds inside. Some raptor and birds of prey you can't antagonize, including chasing them away from your coops

 

[Folly's place]

ALL raptors are federally protected in the USA. You can fence them out, but can't cause any harm to them.
Bird netting helps, and having places for your birds to get under cover. Having a big safe run, covered at least with bird netting, is good.
Mary

 

[cmom]

I agree with Mary. I have heavy duty netting covering all of my pens. I had run short and bought some netting that turned out to be crappy and an owl went through it three times killing birds each time. I thought it would be visible enough to keep the aerial predators out. Each time I replaced that netting with more of the crappy netting because that was all I had at the time. I moved the birds to another coop and pen. I put a camera in the pen the owl had been going in and it went through the netting again but this time I got it on video. I bought some good heavy duty netting and replaced the crappy netting and the owl came back and tried again but this time got caught in the netting. We got it out and into a cage. I called a wildlife rescue and they came and took it.

 

[tn_artist]

I agree with Mary. I have heavy duty netting covering all of my pens. I had run short and bought some netting that turned out to be crappy and an owl went through it three times killing birds each time. I thought it would be visible enough to keep the aerial predators out. Each time I replaced that netting with more of the crappy netting because that was all I had at the time. I moved the birds to another coop and pen. I put a camera in the pen the owl had been going in and it went through the netting again but this time I got it on video. I bought some good heavy duty netting and replaced the crappy netting and the owl came back and tried again but this time got caught in the netting. We got it out and into a cage. I called a wildlife rescue and they came and took it.
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My run has a metal roof it's an addition to my shed that was built as a cat enclosure. As large as it is, I have chicken math issues and feel like they start feeling cramped if they can't get out to the yard. We live in town and have very strict dog laws, but no chicken ordinances. We have seen cats, raccoons, opossum, neighbor saw an owl once. None can get in, but we did lose some babies to a cat while free ranging with their Mama. I can't net my whole backyard. I don't have fences, so predators could still fly under. Guess they will just have to deal.

 

[cmom]

That's a lot of birds living in town. I do have around 400 birds but am rural. With free ranging that's the risk you will have to take. Eventually you will loose birds.