Red tailed hawks stalking my yard!

[abserbean]

We always have hawks in our area, but this year it is crazy! They watch our yard constantly. I'm thinking it is because we have chicks this year, aka hawk bait. I went ahead and covered both of our runs with plastic netting, and zip tied it to all of the walls of the run. We had crisscrossed wires, but I didn't think it would keep the hawks out. I even caught one on our back fence, which is about four feet from our run, and one of my hens was "yelling" at it! And that was before the plastic netting! We are lucky we didn't lose a hen that day. Is anyone else having a worse problem this year? Is it just the addition of chicks that has caught their interest? No losses so far, and I intend to keep it that way! Here are two of them watching our yard, they are in this tree most of the day.



Any hints to keep them away? I think we are pretty protected with our netting, but I usually let the girls free range for a few hours a day. We have stopped letting the chicks out, and the hens only under close supervision.

 

[chickyfuzz]

apparently putting iron droppers doesn't give them enough room to swoop down.
I have never had hawk problems.

 

[centrarchid]

I bet hawk pictured is a fledgling. Something makes me think it is a red-shouldered hawk or a smaller Buteo sp.

 

[abserbean]

I know this in this pic they look small, but I am sure they are red tailed. I am actually across a road from them, and they are probably about 50 feet up in the air, the camera is just really zoomed in. One of them is a fledgling, I think the top one, there is a nest in this tree, and I think the other pictured is a female.I may be wrong, it could be one of the other babies. There are at least two, maybe three, fledglings, plus both adults that are hanging around. The babies are probably half size now, and the male is huge. He isn't in the pic, but he was the one on our fence. Scared the heck out of me! Last year we had quite a few swallow tailed kites as well, but so far this year only this hawk family, and another pair that live in my neighbors backyard. We have tons of squirrels, or I should say had b/c they have been feasting on them for weeks. Do they nest in the same place each year? I'm pretty sure this same pair was in this tree last year, but it's hard to tell. I think they are beautiful birds, I just don't want them to snack on my chickens or rabbits! I know they are migratory, so hopefully they will be moving on as soon as the babies are old enough.

 

[centrarchid]

I know this in this pic they look small, but I am sure they are red tailed. I am actually across a road from them, and they are probably about 50 feet up in the air, the camera is just really zoomed in. One of them is a fledgling, I think the top one, there is a nest in this tree, and I think the other pictured is a female.I may be wrong, it could be one of the other babies. There are at least two, maybe three, fledglings, plus both adults that are hanging around. The babies are probably half size now, and the male is huge. He isn't in the pic, but he was the one on our fence. Scared the heck out of me! Last year we had quite a few swallow tailed kites as well, but so far this year only this hawk family, and another pair that live in my neighbors backyard. We have tons of squirrels, or I should say had b/c they have been feasting on them for weeks. Do they nest in the same place each year? I'm pretty sure this same pair was in this tree last year, but it's hard to tell. I think they are beautiful birds, I just don't want them to snack on my chickens or rabbits! I know they are migratory, so hopefully they will be moving on as soon as the babies are old enough.

Female is usually noticeably larger than male. Fledglings weigh at least as much as adults.


They use same nest multiple years in a row. Nest I used to watch might be active 5 years straight. A given territory usually has more than one nest but only one used by hawks.

Pine needles near hawk on branch give impression hawk is crow sized which suggests to me broad-winged hawk.

In your area they are resident birds. I live at northern part of range (MO) where they do not migrate.

 

[chrys64moore]

We seem to have more hawks this year than usual...maybe it's because there has been a lot of development in the area this year, so their normal hunting areas have been disrupted. I used to let my flock out to free range every day with me sitting or standing nearby...until the day one flew under the clothes line and directly over my right shoulder. I could feel the air from his wingtips on my cheek! My son was getting out of the car the other day and one almost flew into his face---it was chasing a wild bird and wasn't really watching where it was going. If my son hadn't ducked he would have gotten a face full of hawk! We did the same thing with the netting zip-tied to the fence, and it has worked wonderfully.

 

[hardychant]

I live in a wooded area that has many red tail hawks, it must be the nest causing the severe depletion of birds and squirrels. I am so surprised to hear there would be that much of an affect unless you are in a congested area. I enclosed my pen in wire to protect against predators as they are abundant in the woods here. The coop is near the tree line but is wired and encased as well as reinforced daily.

The hens enjoy being free during the day but I have found some big feathers in the pen in the evening that are clearly from a big bird.
Apparently quite a few visitors are making food stops while the chickens are out, in addition to the big brown feathers I have been finding there are packs of Canadian Geese with their babes stoping by for a snack (more like locust moving through than a neighborly get together).
Still can't post pics (?)

 

[abserbean]

I guess it was the female on the fence then,shows what I know! I went and looked up the different hawks, and listened to their calls, and now I'm thinking that you are right and they are red shouldered, at least the ones in this nest. I still think the ones in my nieghbors are red tailed, but once again I am obviously not a hawk expert! They are beautiful birds, and I do not wish in any way to harm then, they help keep rats and snakes under control! I don't think they are big enough to take one of my full grown birds, but the chicks are six weeks old, hence the netting install. It has worked beautifully, and is does double duty by keeping my good fliers in the pen. Thanks for the info, I always like to learn something new!

 

[centrarchid]

I have never had problems with red-shouldered hawks. Around here they typically nest in association with American Crows and work together to keep other raptors away from their young.

 

[Sjisty]

This time of year we have a lot of hawks, mostly Coopers hawks, but we have a couple of resident red-tailed hawks. At least the Coopers hawks screech constantly, so we don't usually lose chicks to them, but the red-tailed hawks are silent killers.

We have large chickens (Brahmas and Jersey Giants) mostly, so we don't worry except when we have a mama hen with chicks. Then we keep her and her brood closed up for the first three or so weeks. We have a bantam hen (Chrissie) who is amazing. Hubby watched a hawk chase her across the yard a few years ago. The hawk was running on the ground behind her! Hubby chased the hawk away and Chrissie's only injury was her tail feathers were gone for a while. Another time when she had a brood, I watched her chase a hawk away. The hawk was bigger than her, but she's a mean little thing when she has babies!

This little guy knocked himself out flying into my front door, but came to and flew away.



We also have barred owls, but the adults leave the chickens alone. The babies seem to be curious but we haven't lost any chickens to the owls in the 8 years we've been here.