What keeps hawks away?

[bawkbawkbawk]

Sheriff,

Would you come here and hold my hand while I tell my husband I need an emu to protect my chickens?

Because somehow I can't imagine that conversation going very well...

 

[galanie]

Sheriff,

Would you come here and hold my hand while I tell my husband I need an emu to protect my chickens?

Because somehow I can't imagine that conversation going very well...

 

[chrissyr]

i know this is an old thread, but does anyone know how well the fake owls work on hawks? do they learn to ignore the decoy after a while

 

[Talon830]

I have a plastic GHO that I move around the perimeter of my run every couple of days. It has been working well for me. I know we have several red tail hawks in our area. We see them flying around almost on a daily basis.

 

[chrissyr]

Quote:
Thank you! may have to try that

 

[Miss Lydia]

We had a Red tail attack one of our bantam hens and kill it very close to our home it didn't even get to eat her or carry her off since I heard one of my roosters squawking and came out to investigate and saw it as it was taking off. I ordered some Nite Guard Repellent tape I have cut streamers and hung 4 together and when the wind blows they make a crackling sound and light jumps off the tape too. it's Mylar and is very reflective. 2" wide. 100'roll is around 20.00 goes along way. the crackling noise scared my gander till he wouldn't go into his house the first eve. I had hung it up close by. Hopefully it will have the same effect on hawks.

 

[Earl-Ray]

Yes but then we are back to the fact these birds are federally protected.

oh yea? did not know that. well maybe just go ahead and let the hawks kill all your birds then.

 

[shmccarthy]

oh yea?  did not know that.  well maybe just go ahead and let the hawks kill all your birds then.

There are methods available where the hawk doesn't get killed and neither do the chickens.. I have never lost a free ranging bird to a hawk because of a few reasons;
-I provide adequate shelter that is readily available in the event of a hawk circling ahead.
-I have a rooster that is very wary and sounds the alarm for the girls to go hide if something flies over
-I change up the patterns. I don't let them out the same time every day, for the same length of time. This prevents predators from knowing the routine and being able to plan ahead to get a meal.
- I don't free range every day.
- I educate myself on migration patterns, diet, abundance, and killing strategies of predators(hawks) and use that to defend the birds.

Some things you can do
-any listed above methods and ideas
-encourage crows to nest nearby. Crows are natural enemies of the hawk and will chase them off.
-make sure you have shelter that the chickens can get away to and hide under from hawks. Hawks are unlikely to pursue unless they are flying, they are really not fast or agile on foot at all.
- hang CDs in trees. I've heard mixed reviews of this working, it supposedly irritates their eyes from the reflection and makes them want to avoid the area.
- if a hawk is flying overhead or tries an attack, lock up the birds for a week or so until it moves on.
-make sure your run is covered!!


Do NOT under any circumstances, kill a hawk or any other protected species. I know it's hard and it's not fair that they get to get away with killing the chickens, but they are protected for a reason and conservation officers and the DNR don't take this matter lightly at all. There are ways to solve this without killing protected species, and without chickens getting killed.

 

[chrissyr]

- I educate myself on migration patterns, diet, abundance, and killing strategies of predators(hawks) and use that to defend the birds.

Some things you can do
-any listed above methods and ideas
-encourage crows to nest nearby. Crows are natural enemies of the hawk and will chase them off.
-make sure you have shelter that the chickens can get away to and hide under from hawks. Hawks are unlikely to pursue unless they are flying, they are really not fast or agile on foot at all.
- hang CDs in trees. I've heard mixed reviews of this working, it supposedly irritates their eyes from the reflection and makes them want to avoid the area.
- if a hawk is flying overhead or tries an attack, lock up the birds for a week or so until it moves on.
-make sure your run is covered!!

How do you encourage crows to nest?

 

[Miss Lydia]

This was such a strange attack, first off not sure how the hawk managed to fly into this area since the trees are very tall and it was inside right up against fencing. Unless the hawk flew in and landed on the barb wire then to the ground. I have 3 roosters and only one was making a sound and he was in the duck house. It's all been very weird. when you see the area where he had my bantam. We have hawks flying over a lot and the roosters always give the warning call and the chickens scatter under protection. I wish My game camera hadn't broke since it was mounted on the fence pole in this area where it happened. I am doing all I can to prevent this from happening again. We have lots of crows and I see them frequently chasing off the hawks, more so in warmer months than in dead of winter. Maybe offering corn to them would bring them around and encourage them to stick around. They had a pretty big colony living up the mountain from us, more so before the mountain was logged though.

I think it's called a murder isn't it? a flock of crows.