Persistant Hawk

[rudimyers]

We lost one Red Star this past Friday to a hawk. My husband found the body. We have been letting the chickens (one Australorp named Bob and Red Stars) roam at will around the yard. Yesterday, even though we were in the backyard burning, the hawk struck again. Bob was a very brave boy, chased the hawk off, and we had no one hurt. Now, of course, we are keeping the chickens (down to Bob and four Red Stars) in the coop/run. We have an 8X8X8 Lowe's shed that has been semi-converted (a perch that only two chickens sit on) with a doggie door that leads directly into a 6X6X6 run. My husband plans to extend the run so it will be roughly double in size (and we will have a double door system in place - one in the new part and the original door will stay).

So, the coop is going to get very foul (purposeful pun there), and I wanted tips on that.

Or

Any way to scare off the hawk and keep it away?

 

[kcjones]

I wish i knew how to get rid of a hawk , we have one stalking our peeps sometimes. Ours have been in lock down since the hawk showed up, they just get an hour or two of supervised roaming a day now,an that reminds me i need to clean the run

 

[rudimyers]

My husband read that hawks will be on super hunt mode after a rain and (of course) all during the winter. So, the good news is our flock could roam for seven months. The bad news is they will have to be on lock down for five. So, I will have to clean everything more often.

 

[revolutionarygardens]

This is something I've been thinking about too since a hawk got one of my ladies two days ago. When they were younger, they free ranged--which was a wonderful arrangement for them, but a bad arrangement for my flower beds. Finally, we decided to build them a pen. Because they had been used to free ranging and because they are spoiled little dears, we built a huge pen for our four chickens (and they would still get occasional free range privileges). Well, now that the hawk has come around, they are locked in their coop/tractor. I sure do hate to keep them all cooped up when they are used to having space and foraging. Of course, cooped up is better than dead. We've thought of trying some kind of overhead netting, but their pen is really too huge for netting. I guess we would have to make a smaller pen for that...It's a frustrating situation.

 

[Wisher1000]

Rev, how big is your huge pen? Bird Netting is cheap and the roll I bought at Lowes is like, 7x100 and cost around $18. There was a 14x14 for around $6. It is for covering fruit bushes to keep the wild birds from eating the fruit. It is super lightweight and can be stretched some. It will not keep out anything that is willing to crawl through, but would discourage a flying predator at least once. You may have to rehang it if a hawk hit it going full speed.

Edited to correct measurements and cost

 

[stilldeb]

We are in lockdown as well. The hawk that is after my chooks is very brave and will sit right on my (covered) chicken pen and fly right through our yard at eye level. I have a mountain of sand that I had delivered by truck and keep a good layer of fresh sand in the runs since they won't be out. Plus, it's coarse river sand and they love picking all the bits and pieces out of it and dustbathing in it.

deb g

 

[revolutionarygardens]

Wisher--the pen is roughly 45 x 50 feet. We would need to put some kind of supports within the pen to get it completely covered with the netting. But the more I think about it, the more I think this is the way to go...Thanks for the advice!

 

[Wisher1000]

Rev - the weakness is the bird netting is the individual strands. If you attach it together, overlap and secure in several spaces along the same row. I use it to partition off part of my coop and when I staple it to the wall, it often tears through when one of the girls careens off of it. Others have found more substantial (permanant) nets as well. Do some research and your decision will be easier.

 

[revolutionarygardens]

Thanks wisher!

 

[ga_goat]

Around here the hawks usually rest on a tall post or low tree limb before striking , sort of picking a target , too many leaves falling to net the top of the pen , so I used hi color builders twine to just criss-cross the pen and then protected the post tops with some of those sticky mouse traps opend up and held to the post with rubber bands , no haws now in a couple of years .lost 3 mouse traps tho .