Red Tail Hawk Scaring Me!!

[ChickyMomm]

Hello everyone! I need definite answer on this post...
It seems that Mr. and Mrs. Red Tail Hawk have taken a liking to flying very closely to my hens, and I'm not a big fan of their actions.
I'm thinking about buying fake crows and putting them up, but I need some definite answers to these questions!:

- Are hawks afraid of crows? I've looked all over the web, and some people say crows do scare them, and some people saying they don't, so it's extremely confusing.

- If I am set up a group of dummy crows, how should I place them? Should I put them in out in the open over my chicken run, or will the hawks dive bomb them and steal my fake crow? Should I put them huddled together in groups, like you see birds do on fences or wires?

- Will the Hawks eventually catch on to the fact that these crows don't move and think "Hey... they haven't moved for 5 days.."

Any other tips for keeping these pests away are welcome! I've yet to put a net over my chicken run (which is pretty big), but I don't know if I should put all the time and supplies into when winter will be here in a few months... It'll just get covered in snow, and sag in and just break.

 

[pipthepeep]

Honestly, I do not believe that the dummy crow idea is very effective-- at least not with the sort of confidence that would inspire me to be able to actually leave my birds 100% unsupervised in an area with hawks. Aside from covering the run, which I definitely believe is your best option, I have heard the most success stories with livestock guardian dogs-- which obviously is not always a practical option, especially for smaller flocks. I would recommend covering your run. Depending on how big it is, you may have to run support beams across it to allow the netting to stay up, etc.

 

[Howlet]

i agree with above up until the dog part srry >.<

 

[Folly's place]

Cover your run ASAP; those hawks, or some others, will love your chickens. I free range as much as possible, but when a hawk gets one of my birds the rest are locked in their run for a week or two until that hawk moves on. It will take maybe two years to train a dog for flock protection, and the best dog isn't always on deck in the right place and time. The covered run keeps hawks out 100%. Mary

 

[RossH]

Get yourself a crow call from hunting store & use when in yard . May make the hawks think there are crows at times ,use one here I fly roller pigeons . Could also get a disc of crow calls & play . But the sure way is to lock um in or cover run . Yu can always take down for winter .

 

[Kimberchick]

We use bird scare flash tape. Its available on amazon and a few other places. It blows in the wind, is shiny and scares the hawks away. I heard cds in the trees help too but the keep stealing them. HAha! I can't win. The tape seems to help a lot though.

 

[sbhkma]

I use the bird scare tape too. That stuff works! Had a red tail that was making "bombing runs" alongside the fenceline (I kept the chickens in the run for a couple of weeks, as I'd seen a hawk land to try to take a bird and my dogs almost got the hawk). I ran lines of bird scare tape across that run and between the feed barn and garage where the birds like to hang out in the cool shade by the waterline I keep at a very slow drip for them. That stuff worked great. I haven't seen a hawk in those areas in a year. I see them in the pasture about 1/4 mile or so up from the house and coop, but never see them near the coop or garages now. I also have crows that hang out in the backyard and seem to keep the hawks away from that area too.