Repeated hawk attacks - can't cover yard....distractions?

[SilkieTime]

We have a large yard where I can see the sky real well. I also am home most all the time. I use bottle rockets. Now my silkies have a covered run but my LF free range all day. If they see a hawk they go in the barn in a stall. Just want them to know this is a No Fly Zone. They do have a covered run, there food, water, and nest boxes are in there. I keep the car or the truck clost to the barn for more cover. They are under and around the car a lot. If you work or in the house a lot bottle rocketts might not help. This works very well for me. Good luck

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Bottle rockets require you to be present when hawk is. Being at launch pad (onthe bottle) all times when chicken out is difficult as you indicate.

I have been resorting to keeping chicks in covered run longer reducing the window they are extremely vulnerable to hawks.

The OP indicated release of roosters helped some. Problem is most vulnerable young out in open and do not associate with potential defenders. Someone needs to see if we can get roosters to bond and associate with vulnerable chicks in free range setting. Yes, another experiment but I have seen roosters on single-mated walks that would tend and protect 1st brood once hen commits (setting / brooding) next brood. This a potential future fix to problem that seems to come up year after year. Potentialy multiple roosters could be setup up a group for this.

 

[NellaBean]

Yes, I work full time far away from my home.....so I am never out there except first thing in the AM to let everybody out and then a half hour or hour in the evenings doing chores and lockup. On the weekends I am in and out.......I have never witnessed a succesful hawk attack. I did witness two hawk attacks on large fowl birds, neither of which resulted in injuries. Both happened so quickly that unless I was standing there with bottle rocket in hand and ready to fire, I wouldnt' have been in time. Those things are quick. The 2nd attack I witnessed was on a broody mom with small baby.......I was in teh rooster pen letting boys out and heard screaming/screeching....not sure if it was all the roosters or the roosters and the hawk both making noise. Within a couple seconds the hawk hit the bird....it was REALLY FAST. The hawk was definitely waiting and watching for the perfect moment. No soaring around up ahead or flying here and there. It was in a tree and divebombed that hen. In the time it took me to look up and take a few steps towards the pen gate, the hawk attacked, they fought for a second and then the hawk flew off.

sidenote: broody moms mean business LOL

If you have enough roosters, generally at least 1 is watching the sky even if the others are not. If the girls stay in groups near the roosters they seem to be a lot safer. Even if only because the rooster makes the call and the girls run for cover...leaving the rooster as the easiest target. This hawk is picking off my younger girls......They like to hang out near the back bottom portion of the yard, which is up against all the trees and is perfect for the divebombing.

I might be a hawk expert by the end of the year, sadly. I do have a dog who is chicken safe but he is so "chicken safe" I dont think he would show any interested towards a "dive bombing chicken" aka hawk.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Since you free range yours, I'm not sure how much of this you can do, but this was our solution to our hawk problem. We haven't had any issues with hawks since we did this. We put this in in June 2009, so it's been in action for over a year now.

Our run is our orchard, so naturally the trees are in 2 lines. The day after we lost one of our pullets (laying for 3-4 weeks) to a hawk, I saw it come in for another try. It came down over the coop and flew the line between the trees. Luckily, it was not successful that day.(not to mention me running out like a mad woman screaming my head off at it)

So my husband and I contemplated what to do. Obviously covering the orchard was not an option. We knew that a hawk CAN come straight down, but they CANNOT go straight up (especially with prey) - like an airplane, it needs lift to get out before it smacks into our 7 ft fence on the other side of the run. So our solution was to block the flight path, thinking that if an animal cannot get out, they won't come in to begin with.

We put T-posts about 3 feet apart and staggered them so they were not in a line/pattern. We then attached reflective tape to the T-posts, as I had read that hawks do not like anything metallic, they think it's fire.

It has worked beautifully and I hope we are just as successful in our new run we are building for the new coop.

Here's pics, we call it our hawk obstacle course.

From the coop looking out at the run:

From the opposite side of the run, looking back at the coop.

 

[centrarchid]

NellaBean,

Maybe you can manipulate where dominant birds (roosters and adult hens) hang out during most of day. My flock is divided into multiple sub-flocks along cohort (age group) lines. Dominant cohorts dominate area around feeder and displace lower ranking groups. Try placing feeders in area where juveniles hanging out and being taken by hawk. Larger birds may chase younger birds to another location less suitable for hawk. I have also been placing feeder under angled coop setup like creep feeder so younger birds can feed without being harassed by larger birds and the little guys have a much shorter distance to travel when fleeing hawk.

 

[NellaBean]

Well, I changed things around a bit. I had to close off my 8x8 covered pen that I used to leave open at the bottom of the yard......now using it to house young birds that are perfect hawk bait sized. The coop is still left open during the day and right next to the old pen but one "level" higher....so I leaned a pallet up against the retaining wall to give them a place to dive under on the bottom level.

also moved 2 more roosters out of the rooster pen. Because they have spent the last couple of months in the rooster pen, they tend to hang out right around it....which is right where most of the hawk attacks have occurred. Hopefully these boys will help out the girls who like to hang out down there.

I currently have 11 roosters out in the "big yard" with all the girls. If that doesn't provide substantial "hawk calls" I don't know WHAT will. 7 of these are large fowl, 4 are bantam. Only 3 are ADULTS, the majority are older "teenagers" with 1 or 2 young guys.

I did not notice any obvious losses over the weekend......I plan on moving my "scarehawks" tonight. I may spend an evening this week up on a ladder stringing up fishing line connecting around the yard. Will tie up some "streamers" to the fishing line to hopefully distract the bird enough.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Nella............there was an article in the last Backyard Poultry magazine advising against using fishing line. Apparently in doesn't weather well and breaks into pieces, which the chickens can eat.

 

[Gypsi]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Dh posted some temporary clotheslines and strung them at about 6'5" with fishing wire. High enough that he and I could walk under it, low enough he could do it by hand.

After two days he moved them around, two days moved them again. After a few spectacular crashes the birds moved on.






If only I can figure out something similar for foxes and my girls could be free again!

Great idea!!

 

[NellaBean]

Well, I don't need it up there permanently.....I wonder if it would at least last a season. Did it list any other options?

 

[centrarchid]

I have been using bailing twine which last a single season. Easier to handle as deploying than fishing line.