Our First-Year Redneck Backyard Hawk Deterrent Disco Cone!

[RhondaLynn]

what a fabulous idea!! I will have to make one soon!

Rhonda

 

[PerfectPoultry]

Wonderful idea!! Will be making one of these!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

its been almost a year. Any updates on the effectiveness of the cone and weather impacts on the cone?

 

[starbird]

I have a problem with a hawk that needs solving. He almost got them this morning, luckily I just happened to be coming out with their water. Any updates on this?

 

[Sirracha]

I went to the dollar store today and got 2 red acrylic wine goblets. Used a jig saw to cut the stems off, then used a dremel circular blade to cut closer to the bottom of the goblet where you can see the end of the bottom and day light. I'm going to either screw in and use a heavy fishing line or rig up a system with fishing line swivels. Maybe also go with popsicle sticks into a cross formation sticking a little past the bottom of the bell shape with some type of fabric to help it spin in the wind. If all goes well, it'll look nice in the trees and scare off poopy birds and hawks. I'll post pics as I get closer to completion. I'm sitting on the fence on whether I should fork over $10 for some tiny mirror tiles or cut my own

 

[starbird]

I will be interested to see your pictures when you are done. What I ultimately did was purchase small hand mirrors, tied them to hooks designed to hang small bird feeders from tree branches, and hung them up at various locations around the yard. The wind moves them around and they reflect light around the yard. Cannot attest to the effectiveness as we have never lost a duck to hawks, and with the season change I have not spotted any hawks in the last couple of weeks.

 

[Sirracha]

Sorry for taking so long. Trial and error mostly. So what I ended up doing was drilling bigger, more holes to lighten the weight as well as increase the wind drag with surface tension. I drilled 1/2" holes around the mirrors. Next time, I'll bore the holes first so I don't have to worry about cracking the mirrors. I used a 10lb fishing line because it was brown and string and less likely to fray like the clear ones. I also used a swivel inside so it spins on its own and not the string. Mirrors were placed on with super glue and the surface was sanded down with a dremel cyndrical sand bit.

 

[Chicken Momma e]

I lost two Bantam hens within a week to a big Red Tail Hawk. But I got the hens after he dropped them. He came back several times for the 2nd one but couldn't find her. I put two of the decorative colored plastic 'fans' ie. pin wheels? in my hen yard, and when Hawk came back he steered clear, and flew up into the fir trees, when last I saw him. He hasn't been back, but I need MORE pinwheels. It's hard to find them in the middle of Winter. I'm going to try the red cone, and little mirrors. Thank you for this idea.

 

[Michael Propst]

I lost two Bantam hens within a week to a big Red Tail Hawk. But I got the hens after he dropped them. He came back several times for the 2nd one but couldn't find her. I put two of the decorative colored plastic 'fans' ie. pin wheels? in my hen yard, and when Hawk came back he steered clear, and flew up into the fir trees, when last I saw him. He hasn't been back, but I need MORE pinwheels. It's hard to find them in the middle of Winter. I'm going to try the red cone, and little mirrors. Thank you for this idea.

You can find those stainless steel pinwheels on Amazon

 

[Michael Propst]

This is a a great idea. I think I am going to try it with just a piece of 1x6 lumber with an eyelet screwed into it to allow it to spin