citychicks99
Songster
My chickens like to free range and the other morning I heard them freak out, so I check on them through the window and saw one of my hens in defense mode, similar to when a rooster has the back of their feathers spiked up and in alert mode. I then saw the hawk and it looked right at me and flew away. I've been keeping my chickens locked up in the run except for the afternoon and evening when I'm in the backyard more.
I haven't let my smallest chicken out at all since then since she weighs less than 3 pounds and have a gait she was born with, so she's a bit slower. She actually had an injury once with the entire underside of her skin peeling off. It looked like she was attacked but I had no idea what happened. Luckily, she healed up fine. I thought it was from my rooster's spurs but I'm wondering if he had saved her. Sadly, he has passed now and I don't think the other hens would bother to help her.
I don't know much about hawks but since it saw me, is it less likely to come back? We've cleared up a lot of brush in our backyard so there's less hiding spots, which means less rats but possibly more hawks. Any ideas on how we can safely let the chickens out to free range now? We're looking into building a channel using PVC pipes and bird netting.
I haven't let my smallest chicken out at all since then since she weighs less than 3 pounds and have a gait she was born with, so she's a bit slower. She actually had an injury once with the entire underside of her skin peeling off. It looked like she was attacked but I had no idea what happened. Luckily, she healed up fine. I thought it was from my rooster's spurs but I'm wondering if he had saved her. Sadly, he has passed now and I don't think the other hens would bother to help her.
I don't know much about hawks but since it saw me, is it less likely to come back? We've cleared up a lot of brush in our backyard so there's less hiding spots, which means less rats but possibly more hawks. Any ideas on how we can safely let the chickens out to free range now? We're looking into building a channel using PVC pipes and bird netting.
