Trying to Foil a Red-Tailed Hawk

[Shadrach]

Hi, Shad, thanks for your help and perspective! I can't select and bold the phrases in your post that I want to reference, so I will just have to ask: can you post pics of what you mean by "pallisade" type protection, and also these open-type cages you're talking about with lids? We had bent some 4' sections of fencing into cylinders a few years back as potato and squash cages, but they got so hot they burned the plants. If we can use those, it would be great but I don't quite get what you mean. Thanks!

I'll try and explain more thoroughly tomorrow. My bed is calling for me.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry, I meant sections of 4-foot high fencing. Not sure how long those sections were to start with, but they are at least 3' in diameter. I can easily stand inside one.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'll try and explain more thoroughly tomorrow. My bed is calling for me.

Sure no problem, I forgot the time difference.

 

[cmom]

I have large pens. I have netting covering them all. Not long ago a RTH did get in and killed several birds. I found the gap and fixed it. Because I had so many dead birds, I thought it might have had help but It was in an inner pen and I couldn't find any other breach anywhere so it had to be the hawk. My pens all have welded wire with chicken wire hog ringed to the welded wire. I had an appointment and some errands to do. The birds were fine before I left when I checked on them. When I got home they were fussing more than ever so I went out to investigate and found the hawk in a pen with several dead birds. I had seen the hawk prior but never thought it could get through the netting until I found the gap which I have fixed. Here are my pens and they are all covered. I did put the netting up when the trees were small, but it has held up for many years and the recent breach was the first. I've since checked all of the pens to make sure there are no more gaps. My pens are 200 ft X 60 ft. My netting is 200' x 50' so I had a 10 foot gap. I bought some netting, a couple of 150' x 14' pieces to fill the gap, and connected the pieces of netting together but in one spot it came loose. It won't come loose anymore the way I fixed it.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Do you mean a field or a whole stadium? If it's like 350 by 150, you can get netting and fishing line for an okay price, and at least cover some of it. My old run was 35 by 100 and we covered it using bird net attached to 8 ft bamboo sticks ($1 from local garden store) held up inside potted plants. Typically the way hawks attack, you don't have to cover every inch, just enough that they can't easily dive in from overhead.

Also, you can tempt the native bird population over to your area using cheap bird seed. Just a week ago a rth swooped at my flock maybe 20 feet away from me. She hung out until two tiny scissortails chased her away. Crows are especially good flock friends, I've heard.

If you aren't going to put up fishing line or netting, you really need shrubbery (shrubbery!) and an attentive roo. My roo sounds the alarm and the birds run for cover fairly regularly. At least once I've seen an attack averted that way.

If you do nothing, you might not have any sightings for a few weeks or even years, then suddenly your birds are getting picked off one by one again. Guaranteed any predator that scores once will be back.

Finally, I've made the sad error of mistaking a predator id before. In your case it sounds like the hawk was the culprit, but I swear it feels like all the predators talk to each other. I recommend taking this time to do a security check for foxes, possums, stray dogs and feral cats, etc. If your birds are too scared to roam, it's very likely that more than one thing is out there watching them.

 

[aart]

Also, you can tempt the native bird population over to your area using cheap bird seed. Just a week ago a rth swooped at my flock maybe 20 feet away from me. She hung out until two tiny scissortails chased her away. Crows are especially good flock friends, I've heard.

Catch-22 there.
Feeding wild birds brings...yeah, wild birds, and maybe more hawks that like to feed on the wild birds..... not to mention the mites and lice that wild birds carry, especially if they find the chicken feed.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Catch-22 there.
Feeding wild birds brings...yeah, wild birds, and maybe more hawks that like to feed on the wild birds..... not to mention the mites and lice that wild birds carry, especially if they find the chicken feed.

I used to have birds that would go after the chicken food (especially scratch) and water but that pretty much stopped when I made an enclosed and covered run. Smaller birds like sparrows and cardinals (those little upstarts are so bold) would still zip in but luckily didn't bring any visible diseases or pests. The wild birds don't use my nipple waterers and don't like side feeders, so that pretty much solved that problem. Still when I'm tossing treats some cardinals will try to sneak into the crowd like I won't notice...

I don't think having more birds around will attract hawks. Hawks and birds are everywhere anyway. It's more about tipping the balance in your favor.

Aren't lice and mites more of a ground vermin problem? I'd be more concerned about bird to bird diseases (mg, bird flu, coryza), but if they aren't sharing food and water and you keep things clean, that risk is minimal.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you mean a field or a whole stadium? If it's like 350 by 150, you can get netting and fishing line for an okay price, and at least cover some of it. My old run was 35 by 100 and we covered it using bird net attached to 8 ft bamboo sticks ($1 from local garden store) held up inside potted plants.
DH says it is about this size, approx. 100 by 35-ish. I am not good at estimating dimensions, apparently.

Typically the way hawks attack, you don't have to cover every inch, just enough that they can't easily dive in from overhead.
Also, you can tempt the native bird population over to your area using cheap bird seed.

Just a week ago a rth swooped at my flock maybe 20 feet away from me. She hung out until two tiny scissortails chased her away. Crows are especially good flock friends, I've heard.
We have lots of wild birds around! Cardinals and blue jays, juncos and woodpeckers, wrens and hummingbirds and crows (yay!) and all sorts I can't remember or identify, depending on the season.

If you aren't going to put up fishing line or netting, you really need shrubbery (shrubbery!) and an attentive roo. My roo sounds the alarm and the birds run for cover fairly regularly. At least once I've seen an attack averted that way.
Two roos, and noisy hens and an alert little Sheltie....

If you do nothing, you might not have any sightings for a few weeks or even years, then suddenly your birds are getting picked off one by one again. Guaranteed any predator that scores once will be back.
True that!

Finally, I've made the sad error of mistaking a predator id before. In your case it sounds like the hawk was the culprit, but I swear it feels like all the predators talk to each other. I recommend taking this time to do a security check for foxes, possums, stray dogs and feral cats, etc.
We lost a hen or two this spring to ground predators, but we took care of them. This was definitely a hawk. But thanks, note taken!

If your birds are too scared to roam, it's very likely that more than one thing is out there watching them.

Never before have they huddled inside like this. But Sunday we will take the day to provide shelter for them in the run then go back to letting them out. I think they'll be okay.

Thanks, all for your help, advice, responses and pictures! You're the best!

Eta: my responses are within the quote.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sunday afternoon: we made them some shelters for their big, open run and opened up the little pen so they could get out and enjoy the beautiful day. It will take them a bit to learn where and what these shelters are (pics in a bit). I just heard what I thought might be a hawk calling, so I went out to look, and sure enough, all the chickens were huddled back in the hen house but one goofy BO. I chased her back into the little pen with the others, and I think the hawk moved on. ... for now.

 

[ValerieJ]

Sunday afternoon: we made them some shelters for their big, open run and opened up the little pen so they could get out and enjoy the beautiful day. It will take them a bit to learn where and what these shelters are (pics in a bit). I just heard what I thought might be a hawk calling, so I went out to look, and sure enough, all the chickens were huddled back in the hen house but one goofy BO. I chased her back into the little pen with the others, and I think the hawk moved on. ... for now.

It's actually my nails I'm biting...hope your girls figure out how to stay away from the hawk. After our eagle attack I had one hen turn rooster. lol She would stand in the doorway of one of the coops and give out a continuous alarm until everyone was safely inside somewhere. Lucky for us, eagles are big and not as agile as hawks, so all they need is to get in a shelter or under one.