Useless Roos

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Even though a chicken's understanding re aerial predator threats is often innate, sometimes their understanding only comes after an attack. Your flock is hopefully a LITTLE wiser now. Maybe. Unfortunately it sometimes takes a sucessful kill before the flock truly understands the danger. And of course that means a tragic loss. Do you have a dog you trust to be with the chickens? A large redtail hawk has included my chicken pastures & surrounding woods as part of its territory for years. It HAS sucessfully gotten several hens. However, the hawk has only attacked the flock that ranges in a 2 acre fenced pasture that my dogs dont usually enter. That flock has several roosters that DO alarm call the danger, and then the roos run back to the coop with the hens. Sometimes a hen didnt make it back safely despite the warning. The hawk has never attacked a chicken within the acreage where my dogs regularly sleep and patrol. Even though i often hear and sometimes see the hawk flying near that flock, it obviously sees my dogs flopped out on the ground snoozing. Neither the resident hawk nor any other has ever dared risk an attack. So even if you have a dog that mostly lives inside, & even if u can only trust the dog under your direct supervision, i believe a dog's presence would deter a hawk from attacking your flock. Meaning you could relax & enjoy time with your flock instead of serving as the flock "rooster," constantly on alert and scanning the sky. Of course the dog has to be big enough to not be appetizing hawk bait itself. Shitzous & pomeranians dont count!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ this.

While I have less experience, I can say with absolute confidence that some of my breeds are markedly more predator aware than others. Only my dark brahma, from the flock shown in my sig, seem to have any awareness of aerial predators. Now, when the Brahma alert the Roo to the threat, he will stand loud and proud and crow up a storm to warn the rest of the flock - but someone has to tell him first.

 

[FluffyButtBabies]

Good idea! I have two dogs. One is a tiny evil little poodle who would tear through the flock like a madman. But the other is large enough and calm enough that I think I could teach her to get along with the birds. She's hung out with them quite a few times before while I watched. The problem is that she's still basically a big puppy (she hasn't figured out that she's SUPPOSED to be 5), and although she has no intention of squashing the chickens, she still ends up tripping over them.
As for my Polish, I trim enough that I can see his eyes from both the front and sides. But I think he has an additional vision impairment. He has a slow visual reaction time, gets lost from the girls even when they're two feet away, runs into random objects, etc. Funny story, he actually just got over a month-long concussion he received by slamming himself into a slide.

 

[keesmom]

I've never had hawks deterred by a dog. Sometimes they aren't even deterred by the presence of a person - a Cooper's landed on a young pullet right at my daughter's feet last year.

Some hawks are difficult for chickens to see coming, the local Cooper's in particular. They excel at hunting through cover. One chased a hen yesterday through a row of bushes, up under the deck and pinned her to the foundation. Thick cover doesn't bother them at all. But if you have the larger, soaring species like redtails then the chickens have a little more chance. Unless it's the Polish. We broke our long-standing rule of no heavily crested birds. Never again.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I havent ever seen a coopers hawk around my flocks, mainly only redtails & other larger species. Many people have said that hawks attacked their flocks & had no fear of humans; attacking mere feet away, as the op reported. Maybe smaller, more agile coopers think they can escape from a dog in time, while much heavier redtails fear getting caught on the ground? Idk. But after YEARS of no hawk attacks on the flock where the dogs mainly stay, while meanwhile the other 2 flocks have occasionally substained casualties (& some near misses), i have to credit the dogs' presence for being the sole difference.

 

[cmom]

The best scenario is predator proofing an area for your birds. Free ranging is nice and so are dogs and roosters but they won't necessarily warn and protect your flock. When you free range even for a short time you will probably sooner or later loose a bird to a predator, ground or aerial, it's a risk you take. Bantams are nuggets for the predators. Even a large fowl male can be had by a predator. Good luck...

 

[cmom]

Some people have good luck with their dogs and roosters warning and protecting their flocks but many aren't as lucky.