Relentless Hawk...Help!!

[ellend]

Yeah, I lay awake at night worrying about the legality of dealing with a chicken-killing critter. So you'd kill a fox, a coyote, a bobcat, a weasel.....but watch a hawk slaughter your chicks?

This is a bit snarky. Personally, I wouldn't kill ANY of the above; I'd make it my business to predator-proof, and accept the responsibility when I lose one due to my lack of foresight.

 

[FireTigeris]

Now I had a coyote problem after solving hawk cover, but that's a different story-

What I did I had the covered run for whoever couldn't go out and open the coop's utility door for the ones that could and closed the coop's front door to keep the ones in the run where thy belonged.

The free-range set got fed in the yearly evening (so they would return and spend time foraging), the coop set got fed when the free range group left for outside.

This worked perfectly- as the free range set could get into the coop to lay, in bad weather, or hawk weather and the run set weren't laying anyway...


OUTSIDE >(open coop door) COOP [closed coop door] RUN [closed run door]

 

[OhiChick]

When I got my two hens the lady told me the were hawk trained, I have no clue what that meant. But when they hear a screech the stop and look up, sometime they hide in the bushes. I had a hawk take a dove that was hanging out with my girls. He returns every day, I have just made notes on times he is around and let my girls roam when he s gone. Or I just hang out side with them on constant look out.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Rest assured that the hawk is also taking notes on when you are not around.

 

[gracetonchick]

I think u should poison the hawk.

 

[Moonkit]

I think u should poison the hawk.

I believe poisoning birds of prey deliberately would be illegal in every state.. plus the worry of poisoning something else on accident.

 

[nursebecky99]

What is the best stuff to cover the top of the run with for hawk protection? Ideally i want to use solid corrugated plastic to cover, but not until I can afford the expense. I have seen shade cloth (some sort of woven material), and garden trellis netting (plastic, fairly sturdy). Need some advice from experienced chicken owners...
The coop goes up this week, and the chickens come home in 2-3 weeks. And I know we have tons of hawks in the area.

 

[bearstrains]

hi, i use deer netting over the top of the run,it's light weight but works. bear

 

[Sjisty]

My answer to our hawk problem was to get BIG chickens. I don't let the juveniles out until they are of a size that the hawks leave alone. I have a Jersey Giant hen that ran off a red-tailed hawk once. Mostly my Brahmas don't even look up when the hawks come around, but if I have any hens with chicks, it's pretty much guaranteed that the babies will be hawk food, so we now have grow out pens for mamas and their babies.

If I thought shooting them would help, I would be out there in a heartbeat, but there are so many! At least the Coopers advertise themselves by screaming as they are flying around our property. Its the red-tailed ones that are the silent killers around here.

This guy flew into my front door a while back -




And then there are the owls. We have barred owls that nest in one of our trees. They don't bother the chickens, but the babies dive bomb them in the spring. They are too beautiful to shoot!

 

[Gardeningmama]

I think u should poison the hawk.

Girllll! I just about spewed coffee on the laptop!!

Quote: No worries, Gracetonchick is a very dear friend of mine. She wanted me to spew coffee everywhere! No one will be poisoning Birds of Prey over here!