Should i worry about hawks?

[Beaglegal]

Depends, do you have a lot of hungry hawks in your area? Then they are a BIG problem.

I manage mine by keeping an adult rooster with the flock and lots of hiding spots. He's a good boy and hides the girls and presents himself to fight incoming animals. Someday he will probably lose and lose his life for the flock, but until then he keeps the flock safe. We lose a lot of hens when we don't have a rooster.

If you don't have a lot of hawks, probably not as big of a deal especially if there's other things for them to eat. But they may well still go after young birds.

Yes, my rooster has cleaned the clocks of many a hawk. Hey that rhymes! That plus tree cover really helps, but nothing is for sure unless you have a covered run

 

[cmom]

I have good netting over my large pens. I did have a gap from some cable ties connecting some pieces together. The ties deteriorated and left a gap a hawk got through and killed a bunch of pullets almost ready to start laying. I have since connected the sections with hog rings. I got the hawk out and here are some of the bodies. I realize this is not free ranging but a hawk did kill them.

 

[Littlefrenchyinbigtexas]

Depends, do you have a lot of hungry hawks in your area? Then they are a BIG problem.

I manage mine by keeping an adult rooster with the flock and lots of hiding spots. He's a good boy and hides the girls and presents himself to fight incoming animals. Someday he will probably lose and lose his life for the flock, but until then he keeps the flock safe. We lose a lot of hens when we don't have a rooster.

If you don't have a lot of hawks, probably not as big of a deal especially if there's other things for them to eat. But they may well still go after young birds.

I heard that black chickens can scare crows away. Is it true?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I heard that black chickens can scare crows away. Is it true?

Not in my experience. I had a flock of australorps at one point and plenty of crows around at the time. I've had chickens of all colors, and I will say the only major thing that seems to be effected by color in regards to wildlife is lighter colored birds (white, splash, etc) get hunted first if all else is equal. (That's IF all else is equal, a darker colored bird that's very slow will go before a white bird that's fast.)

 

[Rldad1]

Hawks are aggressive and they are not afraid of people. They will take a chicken right in front of you. Covered runs are great!

 

[aart]

hawks are afraid of 'people', so be around

Nope.

Hawks are aggressive and they are not afraid of people. They will take a chicken right in front of you. Covered runs are great!

Yep.

This works:

This doesn't:

 

[Dawnhaschickens]

pictures of your coop/run?

I made the scarecrow yesterday hoping to ward off hawk

 

[Dawnhaschickens]

Hawks are aggressive and they are not afraid of people. They will take a chicken right in front of you. Covered runs are great!

Poop I was hoping my scarecrow might tricked them thing person by coop . Back to drawing board. Question: If rope strings run across a picket fence can Hawk still swoop down and up . I built a picket fence and did want to run netting so had some rope and thought if I loop it on post run across every other post maybe hawk won’t attack and I can just remove the loop to walk about