What are hawks afraid of?

[drumstick diva]

I've seen crows surround a hawk perched in a tree. After a period of them harassing the hawk, it flew off.

 

[deepbluesea]

This is a perfect thread for me--I had a cooper's hawk gouge the neck of one of my girls last night (didn't know what it was last night, happened while I was at work), and then this morning, I came back outside after letting them out and a big cooper's hawk was on top of one of my crested legbar pullets.

It didn't want to let her go at all. I grabbed the cover of my firepit and flapped the canvas at her. Nothing. I grabbed the 2x4 I use to prop open my run door and swung it like a baseball bat while yelling at the top of my lungs. She tried to fly away with Talullah; only got a few feet. I finally came close enough to almost hit it (don't know why I'm calling it a her) and she let go and flew up to the swing bar. Once more big swing and she finally flew away. Scary.

I moved a feeder and a waterer deep into the overgrown hedge, since I couldn't catch them all in time to put them back in the run. I'll go home after my meeting and put up some CDs and stop at TSC for an owl. Thanks for posting this and for updating!

 

[happyfrenchman]

In my yard, the hawks are scared of one thing... Me. LOL. Cooper hawks are relentless. That one you had was especially so. It will be back. Why wouldn't it? Did the game warden come by and shake your hand for not hurting it? I didn't think so. One more post and I hit 300.... Holy smokes...

 

[Fairview01]

A 12 gauge 3" magnum shell with #6 shot delivered by a Remington model 1100, 30"bbl, vent rib, full choke with a walnut stock always seems to scare them dead for some reason.

 

[Molpet]

Coopers hawk attacking a owl decoy:

well this explains how my fake owl was knocked down LOL

 

[chickengeorgeto]

View attachment 1188941
Above is what Coopers Hawks think about owl decoys.
View attachment 1187849

 

[Molpet]

View attachment 1188941
Above is what Coopers Hawks think about owl decoys.
View attachment 1187849

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The requested attachment could not be found.

 

[song of joy]

I watched a video where the farmers had many black chickens. He claimed that black chickens on the ground look like crows to the hawks from above, and won’t bother your flock. Can anyone vouch to that? I’m also losing many of my chickens to hawks.

This is not true in my neck of the woods. Over a one month period, a coopers hawk killed three black chickens in my flock (two 7-month old pullets, and one hen). At the time, I had a variety of other colors in my flock, mostly barred chickens and brown ones. I was beginning to think the hawk had a preference for black chickens or that something was making these an easier target.

It's interesting that this happened under the "watchful eye" of a cockerel, which makes me wonder about the merit of having a cockerel watch over the flock. I now have 2 roosters and a cockerel, and it appears the roosters are very good flock protectors. Perhaps it has something to do with maturity and experience, as cockerels are too hormonal to always be watching the skies.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

This is not true in my neck of the woods. Over a one month period, a coopers hawk killed three black chickens in my flock (two 7-month old pullets, and one hen). At the time, I had a variety of other colors in my flock, mostly barred chickens and brown ones. I was beginning to think the hawk had a preference for black chickens....

Your hawk probably mistook the black chickens in your flock for crows. Hawk predation on crows is the reason that crows hate all raptors and with sufficient numbers of crows on hand will attack at the drop of a hat.