Shadecloth or Netting for Hawk protection

[Spinster_Sister]

We had a scare last week. A HUGE female Red Tail Hawk dove down and tried to take my BO, Saffron, who was about 6 feet away from me. The girls and I are very scared and I need to set up some sort of Hawk deterrent asap!

The backyard's perimeter has fruit trees and some bushes but the middle of the yard is empty....just grass and that is where it almost happened! The guts of that hawk...I am setting up some lodgepoles and hope to cover at least 15 square feet. I have 2 pieces of 10X12' shadecloth and wonder if I should just use that or go out and buy bird netting. I thankfully read a thread and learned about gamebird netting - which I think would give my girls a better chance to get back to their runs than standard bird netting.

My girls DO NOT go outside their chainlink covered runs unless I am out there with them but I am nervous with that hawk actually swooping down with yellow legs and talons spread just mere feet from me.

So shadecloth (60-70%) or netting? I will also hang some CDs , make a scarecrow (sit it in a chair) and already have a couple of plastic owls that the girls are not afraid of.

I'm talking "range time" everyday has been pared down to 2 hours max a day from 5.

My girls and I thank you in advance!

~Vickie

 

[Oregon Blues]

I put my young birds out in a shade house during the day when weather is nice. It has only shade cloth over the top, but sides are a welded steel kennel with 2x2 squares and lined with poultry net. It stops the crows from killing my ducklings and poults, but they will sit in the trees and stare at the babies, trying to figure out how to get in.

It would stop hawks and eagles (my local hawks and eagles haven't bothered my birds, touch wood), but it would not stop a climbing mammal like a raccoon.

Shade cloth will stop a hawk, but whatever you use for the protection must have sides of some sort. Otherwise the hawk will just swoop under it.

The majority of hawks won't bother chickens, but you know for certain that you've got one of the ones who does hunt chickens. Therefore, your best bet to protect your chickens is some sort of safe preditor-proof pen

 

[darin367]

i'm surrounded by red tail hawks, osprey, bald eagles, owls, just to name the obvious...... i've had hawks take hens right in front of me.. bald eagles come close but never saw an attack....... i put up bird netting over my 25x50 run..... never had a problem since.... it does the trick............

 

[RaeRae2]

I have become somewhat of a hawk "expert" over the years, as they are my #1 predator here. I have had MANY many chickens taken or killed by hawks and finally we had to build a secure run with a roof and bird netting over it. But, I still let my girls out about 2 -3 hours every day, LATE in the evening. What I have observed over the years is that the hawks primarily hunt in the morning and early afternoon and then they disapear to who knows where. I have never heard or seen a hawk past the hour of around 5 p.m. or so.

So every evening I let my girls out late and by about 8:30 p.m. they go back to roost. But even so, I stay out there with them just to watch. I do my other chores (I have horses), and I hang around in the yard doing different stuff with them and around them.

On any given day I can see hawks all day long, but when evening falls, they disapear. So you might try letting them out only in the later evening if you can.

Otherwise, you have no choice but to enclose an area for them where they'll be safe. Sorry you're dealing with this. It really stinks!