Red Shoulder Hawks...

[Phantom_k9]

We have a big and mean roo also, he is quick to make sure we aren't a threat whenever we go into the yard, and he lets out a shout whenever he sees a big bird in the air. The hens (most of the time) run and hide when they hear him...

 

[Flat Earth]

We have a big and mean roo also, he is quick to make sure we aren't a threat whenever we go into the yard, and he lets out a shout whenever he sees a big bird in the air. The hens (most of the time) run and hide when they hear him...

Love it when roosters are Doing what they are called to do! Some of these hatchery Rosters are Junk! Really happy you have a Great Rooster! Here is mine in the yard.

 

[deepbluesea]

I got one of those fake owls, and within a week, something had ripped its head off. Here's a juvenile Cooper's hawk who was trying his skills on my flock. And yes, that's the broom I used to dissuade him.

I kept my girls in the coop/covered run for a week and a half after that. No problems since.

 

[Phantom_k9]

I got one of those fake owls, and within a week, something had ripped its head off. Here's a juvenile Cooper's hawk who was trying his skills on my flock. And yes, that's the broom I used to dissuade him.

I kept my girls in the coop/covered run for a week and a half after that. No problems since.

I've been told to move my owl around the yard every other day to keep hawks from getting comfortable with it. And we usually do the same thing with our birds, cooping them up for 5 days to a week. Its just hard for us since we really don't have a covered run for them to use during such a lockdown.

 

[GemmaGA]

I am having issues with hawks on my property as well. We had one attempted attack last year when my chickens were about 6-7 months old. Another one a few months ago, which ended up taking our tiny little bantam rooster. There was another attempt where a hawk flew into the hardware cloth wall of the run trying to get to my chickens. The last couple of days we've noticed that there is a family of hawks that has made a nest in the front yard of the neighboring house. We are actually moving in a few weeks, but one of the hawks tried to snatch one of my Hamburgs yesterday with my husband standing about 4 feet away. Very scary that they do not seem to be scared of us. Our coop has an attached run that is very secure, I just hate to think that I have to keep the chickens penned up until we move later this month. We typically let them free-range in our fenced yard most days (supervised of course).

 

[cmom]

Sorry to say but you may get by for quite a long time free ranging but will loose a bird sooner or later. It's a risk you take. Good luck...

 

[Phantom_k9]

Sorry to say but you may get by for quite a long time free ranging but will loose a bird sooner or later. It's a risk you take. Good luck...

We have lost one due to a hawk in the past, and a few from an escaped dog as well. We understand the risk, and we do everything in our power to mitigate the risk.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I have a feeling that they are trying to teach their youngest how to hunt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-shouldered_hawk

The breeding habitats of the red-shouldered hawk are deciduous and mixed wooded areas, often near water. They have been known to nest near residential areas and open water but this is much less common.[18] Red-shouldered hawks select sites with greater tree species richness for nesting.[19] Like almost all raptors, the red-shouldered hawk is monogamous and territorial. While courting or defending territories, the distinctive, screaming kee-aah call (usually repeated three to four times) of this bird is heard. Courtship displays occur on the breeding grounds, and involve soaring together in broad circles while calling, or soaring and diving toward one another. Males may also perform the "sky-dance" by soaring high in the air, and then making a series of steep dives, each followed by a wide spiral and rapid ascent. These courtship flights usually occur in late morning and early afternoon.

Red-shouldered hawks' mating season is between April and July, with activity usually peaking between April and mid-June. The breeding pair builds a stick nest (also sometimes including shredded bark, leaves and green sprigs) in a major fork of a large tree. They often use the same nest year after year, refurbishing it annually with sticks in the spring. The clutch size is typically three to four eggs. The blotchy-marked eggs, often brown to lavender in color, measure on average 54.5 mm × 43 mm (2.15 in × 1.69 in). The incubation period can range from 28 to 33 days. Hatching is asynchronous, with the first chick hatching up to a week before the last. The hatchlings, which weigh 35 g (1.2 oz) at first, are brooded almost constantly by the female for up to 40 days. Pairs that nest earlier in the breeding season tend to lay greater numbers of eggs and have higher productivity from those eggs.[20] The male more often captures food but will also incubate and brood occasionally. The young leave the nest at about six weeks of age, but remain dependent on the parents until they are 17 to 19 weeks old. They may continue to roost near the nest site until the following breeding season. Breeding maturity is usually attained at 1 or 2 years of age.

Although they have lived as long as within a month of 20 years old, few live half that long and only around half survive their first year. Each year overall nesting success can be lower than 30 percent.[21] Early mortality can be due to natural causes, relating to harsh weather conditions, or more often starvation. Young hawks are often parasitized by species such as Trichomonas gallinae, Protocalliphora avium, and blood parasites.[22] Humans, unintentionally or intentionally are a threat to red-shouldered hawks, including hunting, collision with electric wires, road accidents and logging. A further common cause of mortality is natural predation. Raccoons, martens, fishers and large arboreal snakes can predate eggs, hatchlings, fledglings and occasionally incubating and brooding adults. Non-nesting adults, being a fairly large and powerful predator, have fewer natural predators, but (both during and after the breeding season as well among nestling hawks) they may be preyed on by great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, other red-shouldered hawks, northern goshawks, peregrine falcons, prairie falcons, and bald and golden eagles. In western New York, the main cause of nest failure was stated to be great horned owl predation.[23] Many of the same predators sometimes compete over territory and food with this species. Despite their highly similar diet and habitat preferences, it has been found that red-shouldered hawks can nest within 48 m (157 ft) of a barred owl without interspecies conflict.[24] In Florida, red-shouldered hawks sometimes collaborate and peaceably coexist with American crows (usually an enemy to all other birds because of their egg-hunting habits) so they cooperatively mob mutual predators, mainly great horned owls and red-tailed hawks.[25]

Red-shouldered Hawks have hybridized with Gray Hawk (Buteo plagiatus), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus).[26]

Hawks aren't breeding right now. They are migrating and setting up/defending territories which is why I had a Google. Much to early in the year for that business. So they aren't reaching their offspring to hunt. I also questions the ID of the birds as Red-shouldered Hawks generally don't mess with poultry. Red-tailed are much more likely as well as Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, and several others.

 

[Phantom_k9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-shouldered_hawk

The breeding habitats of the red-shouldered hawk are deciduous and mixed wooded areas, often near water. They have been known to nest near residential areas and open water but this is much less common.[18] Red-shouldered hawks select sites with greater tree species richness for nesting.[19] Like almost all raptors, the red-shouldered hawk is monogamous and territorial. While courting or defending territories, the distinctive, screaming kee-aah call (usually repeated three to four times) of this bird is heard. Courtship displays occur on the breeding grounds, and involve soaring together in broad circles while calling, or soaring and diving toward one another. Males may also perform the "sky-dance" by soaring high in the air, and then making a series of steep dives, each followed by a wide spiral and rapid ascent. These courtship flights usually occur in late morning and early afternoon.

Red-shouldered hawks' mating season is between April and July, with activity usually peaking between April and mid-June. The breeding pair builds a stick nest (also sometimes including shredded bark, leaves and green sprigs) in a major fork of a large tree. They often use the same nest year after year, refurbishing it annually with sticks in the spring. The clutch size is typically three to four eggs. The blotchy-marked eggs, often brown to lavender in color, measure on average 54.5 mm × 43 mm (2.15 in × 1.69 in). The incubation period can range from 28 to 33 days. Hatching is asynchronous, with the first chick hatching up to a week before the last. The hatchlings, which weigh 35 g (1.2 oz) at first, are brooded almost constantly by the female for up to 40 days. Pairs that nest earlier in the breeding season tend to lay greater numbers of eggs and have higher productivity from those eggs.[20] The male more often captures food but will also incubate and brood occasionally. The young leave the nest at about six weeks of age, but remain dependent on the parents until they are 17 to 19 weeks old. They may continue to roost near the nest site until the following breeding season. Breeding maturity is usually attained at 1 or 2 years of age.

Although they have lived as long as within a month of 20 years old, few live half that long and only around half survive their first year. Each year overall nesting success can be lower than 30 percent.[21] Early mortality can be due to natural causes, relating to harsh weather conditions, or more often starvation. Young hawks are often parasitized by species such as Trichomonas gallinae, Protocalliphora avium, and blood parasites.[22] Humans, unintentionally or intentionally are a threat to red-shouldered hawks, including hunting, collision with electric wires, road accidents and logging. A further common cause of mortality is natural predation. Raccoons, martens, fishers and large arboreal snakes can predate eggs, hatchlings, fledglings and occasionally incubating and brooding adults. Non-nesting adults, being a fairly large and powerful predator, have fewer natural predators, but (both during and after the breeding season as well among nestling hawks) they may be preyed on by great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, other red-shouldered hawks, northern goshawks, peregrine falcons, prairie falcons, and bald and golden eagles. In western New York, the main cause of nest failure was stated to be great horned owl predation.[23] Many of the same predators sometimes compete over territory and food with this species. Despite their highly similar diet and habitat preferences, it has been found that red-shouldered hawks can nest within 48 m (157 ft) of a barred owl without interspecies conflict.[24] In Florida, red-shouldered hawks sometimes collaborate and peaceably coexist with American crows (usually an enemy to all other birds because of their egg-hunting habits) so they cooperatively mob mutual predators, mainly great horned owls and red-tailed hawks.[25]

Red-shouldered Hawks have hybridized with Gray Hawk (Buteo plagiatus), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus).[26]

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Hawks aren't breeding right now. They are migrating and setting up/defending territories which is why I had a Google. Much to early in the year for that business. So they aren't reaching their offspring to hunt. I also questions the ID of the birds as Red-shouldered Hawks generally don't mess with poultry. Red-tailed are much more likely as well as Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, and several others.

Oh wow, going to set some time aside to read this more in depth!
But about what you said at the bottom, I have identified their calls as that of a RSH, and I have a couple pictures of them. Realistically speaking, I haven't seen an actual "attack" but they have been close enough to warrant my concern.
In one instance, I was going out to the coop when I saw a hawk / falcon / raptor land on a branch in a tree across the yard from where I was standing. Our flock was out in the field, completely exposed. I started to go back inside to get some help, but ended up going out to stand by the birds. As I started to walk the raptor dove down towards the flock and was only deterred by me with a broom reaching out to try and stop him. The bird got about 10 feet away from our birds before continuing on to the other side of our neighbors field.
In another instance, three of them were hanging out in the trees around our property; making a lot of noise. Two of them moved on when they saw me, but the other circled around me and my birds for a long time, getting so close that I was worried about it attacking me!
There have been more instances with these birds, but these are the main two; about a month between them. The only reason I believe this is the RSH is because of their call and their similarity to some pictures I have found online. I could be very wrong about what kind of bird this is, but this is my best guess.

Oddly enough, the birds haven't been back in a while. They were here for about two weeks, and ever since they have almost disappeared. Strange...

Sorry if some of these pictures are not very good, my camera was struggling to zoom in.

 

[ColtHandorf]

The photos do look like Red-shouldered Hawks. Odd that they would pester your chickens. Usually they really are very well-mannered. The Red-tails aggravate mine to death. I did have a giggle this morning. There was a Northern Harrier out hunting any my little Bantam Cochin cockerel did his best Denethor impersonation...

while all the girls scurried under cover. Silly boy. Harriers won't bother chickens.