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.
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.
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
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 .
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.
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.