What kind of hawk is this?

[sourland]

If crow sized or larger, it is a Cooper's-- somewhat smaller and it's a sharp shin. Yes they are bird eaters and will tackle prey much larger than themselves. I have never had problems with them attacking mature standard birds, but they are murder on bantams and immature chickens of all breeds. I won't even begin to get into what they do to my pigeons.

 

[centrarchid]

Hawk appears to be an immature Coopers hawk. Fledgling possibly? Threat for me only for juvenile chickens, especially immediately after chickens weaned of maternal care. Major threat for brooder raised chicks. I have an adult male that routinely hunts my place for song birds but has concerned chickens only since they have bitties on ground. Presently redwinged blackbirds, common grackles and robins taking most of hawk pressure.

 

[froggie71]

We've lost chickens to a hawk like that. Haven't lost any since we've gotten geese.

 

[jeremy]

What do the geese do?

Thanks everyone for your input, I think our one saving grace for the moment is the squirrel population that lives in the trees around our house. So far they are the only things we have seen a hawk carry off.

 

[froggie71]

They stretch out their wings really wide, about my arms length. This scares the hawks away. And we have a lot of hawks.

 

[Nambroth]

It also appears to be a Cooper's hawk to me. Juvenile Coopers tend to be (notice I said tend to be) somewhat more of a problem, because they are young, inexperienced, and generally a bit dumb about what they can handle and what they cannot. They also tend to have less hunting success than adults and might be more prone to try a chicken out of desperation. Generally (key word is generally) an adult Coopers won't mess with adult large fowl chickens unless it is desperate, or too inexperienced to know better. Chicks, adolescents, and bantams are at much higher risk.
A sharp shinned hawk is small enough that it'd be either really desperate or super lucky to mess with adult large fowl chickens. They'd even have a hard time with an adult bantam, but it's not impossible. Chicks are another story.

These are generalizations of course and there are always exceptions, and female hawks are larger and more powerful than the males.

 

[mamabahre]

feed crows if you have them around...we have several that hang out here and they absolutely chase hawks away...they hate hawks

 

[jeremy]

We've got dried corn on the cob in the trees for the squirrels, what should we feed the crows?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Any protection is better than none on your run area. Even if it is the thinest of deer netting you can get at lowes. They sell a 14'x14 for under $10.