FWIW, I have a pair of Red Shoulder Hawks that nest in a huge Cedar Elm right outside the coop. The chickens are constantly under and around that tree and the hawks haven't bothered them at all.
We had a biologist out here one day looking at the property to develop a wildlife management plan for us and I asked him if I needed to worry about the hawks. He told me that they chose to nest in that location because it is on the edge of the creek, which is where the hawks preferred food comes from. I was surprised to hear that their preferred food is crustaceans (like crayfish), fish, frogs, and lizards. Since the creek provides plenty of those things, my chickens aren't so appetizing.
Another thing that he told me about the hawks is that they will keep owls away. This is because owls prey on hawk chicks and will take them right out of the nest. At our previous ranch, we had terrible problems with owls. We started losing a chicken a week to an owl that had taken up residence nearby, then it became a chicken a night, then multiple chickens each night. I don't know how many owls decided to move in with us, but you could hear them from every direction at night. Those owls also took a full grown tomcat and paralyzed another tom in a failed attempt to take him. Owls are protected at the state and federal level here in Texas, so there was really nothing we could do about them.
All that said, I am THRILLED to have a pair of hawks living in the tree outside my coop. As I sit typing this, I can see them circling in the sky above the barnyard and creek, presumably looking for a meal with the chickens below confidently going about their business. It makes me wonder if they somehow know they are safe?
