Red Tailed Hawks in Maryland

[MROO]

Ooh is there a hawk season?? That makes it sound temporary! Please let it be so!

I'm in Cecil County, MD (Howdy, Neighbor!) and unfortunately there is NOT a true "hawk season" around here. Hawks are just more active foragers when they're nesting and raising young. I lost one of my bantam pullets to a red-tail a few years ago. Once they found the serve-yourself buffet, they keep coming back looking for seconds. I can't seem to convince them that the restaurant is closed, so none of our birds free-range anymore.

EDIT: MAJOR "Oops" here! That should have read "NOT" a hawk season. Hawks are here year-round!

 

[MROO]

I feel your pain. Last summer a pair of nesting hawks took up residence in the tree across the street. They had 3 babies. All lovely healthy specimens. I thought the parents were pretty active when they were feeding the triplets in the nest, but OMG! when they were teaching them how to hunt. One of my neighbors who was letting her chickens free range all day unsupervised lost 3 chickens. My chickens were not allowed to free range at all. Eventually the babies moved on, but Mom & Dad are still around. Here's a picture of one of the babies on my garden shed. Just last week a lovely pair of bald eagles flew over. It's going to be a fun summer. (I'm buying a net).

View attachment 1665090

We have bald eagles, too. My heart beats faster every time I watch them soar overhead ... and it's not just because they're so beautiful. They (and the red-tails) are why neither my chickens and cats don't free-range anymore.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I'm in Cecil County, MD (Howdy, Neighbor!) and unfortunately there is a true "hawk season" around here. Hawks are just more active foragers when they're nesting and raising young. I lost one of my bantam pullets to a red-tail a few years ago. Once they found the serve-yourself buffet, they keep coming back looking for seconds. I can't seem to convince them that the restaurant is closed, so none of our birds free-range anymore.

Formerly a Maryland girl. Yes hawks and eagles are a pain, however, I watched the hawk parents when they were flying back to the nest with dinner for the kids and they were bringing back an array of small critters: snakes, mice, chipmunks and birds.

 

[Firefoot]

I'm in Cecil County, MD (Howdy, Neighbor!) and unfortunately there is NOT a true "hawk season" around here. Hawks are just more active foragers when they're nesting and raising young. I lost one of my bantam pullets to a red-tail a few years ago. Once they found the serve-yourself buffet, they keep coming back looking for seconds. I can't seem to convince them that the restaurant is closed, so none of our birds free-range anymore.

EDIT: MAJOR "Oops" here! That should have read "NOT" a hawk season. Hawks are here year-round!

I haven't noticed the red tails being such a nuisance until this year and WOW they are persistent! My neighbor said he thinks their nest is in one of his trees ... he said he will also shoot at it (to scare it away, not kill) when he sees it. I did happen to catch it yesterday morning and shot off two rounds that scared it pretty good! It bolted right quick! But really discouraged to hear they might be nesting so close Guess they'll be around for a while ... will they move on after the chicks leave the nest? And will the chicks move on a good distance or do they tend to stay close?

We also have bald eagles but they haven't been a bother at the house. I mostly see them from my barn, which is about 5 minutes away down the road. The Cooper's Hawks I see ALL The time, year-round and I think they are luckily too small to try anything on a full grown chicken.

Ugh!

 

[MROO]

I haven't noticed the red tails being such a nuisance until this year and WOW they are persistent! My neighbor said he thinks their nest is in one of his trees ... he said he will also shoot at it (to scare it away, not kill) when he sees it. I did happen to catch it yesterday morning and shot off two rounds that scared it pretty good! It bolted right quick! But really discouraged to hear they might be nesting so close Guess they'll be around for a while ... will they move on after the chicks leave the nest? And will the chicks move on a good distance or do they tend to stay close?

We also have bald eagles but they haven't been a bother at the house. I mostly see them from my barn, which is about 5 minutes away down the road. The Cooper's Hawks I see ALL The time, year-round and I think they are luckily too small to try anything on a full grown chicken.

Ugh!

It's the dead of winter here. Lows (and the occasional high - ack!) are in the teens and the red-tails are still here. I don't know how many of last year's fledglings made it through or where they went, but over the last five or six years, we average one or two pairs at a time. The only reason I can tell there are at lest two is because one of the pairs has a really big bird paired with a smaller one, while the other pair look alike. There may be more ... I have no way of knowing. Either way, we have a "You stay on your side of the coop fence and I'll stay on mine" living arrangement with them. It works, as long as my biddies say under their own roof.