Will a Red-tailed hawk attack my flock if I'm standing outside with them?

[analyticalblonde]

At least once a day, sometimes more, I like to let my girls out of the covered run and do a little free-ranging so the can stretch their legs and wings. Because our property has NO trees or bushes (we are filling in landscaping this spring), I never leave them alone! I stand in the yard with them the entire time but when I see the hawk, I have to shuttle them back into their run. The hawk flies by and perches on a tree limb across the street from my house and just sits there. My question is would this hawk or other bird of prey attack my flock while I'm out there with them? I do not have a rooster; I'm kind of playing that part when I'm out there with them.

 

[Peppercorngal]

My reply is Yes! If that hawk feels you are no threat, and why would he since you just stand around, he, if hungry, will attack a chicken and be gone with it in seconds. There would be nothing you could do. They fly so fast, and so accurately you wouldn't be a threat of any kind. Just my opinion.

 

[Rammy]

My neighbor was standing 3 feet away from his hens talking with a freind of his and a hawk flew down right in front of him and tried snatching one of his chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

In my experience no, especially if the hawk thinks you are watching. Only three types of wild raptors have hunted in my presence. Great-horned Owl juveniles that became habituated to my routine each evening where hyper-vulnerable juvenile chickens would get to rowdy as I started to pen groups of chickens up. American Kestrels nearly starving that learned when I was dumping mice from live traps that is worth landing at my feet for a mouse. Coopers Hawks that would literally zip past my legs using me as cover to catch a songbird near me or someone else. The Coopers would not land at point of capture, rather keeping flying to a location safe from my attention. Red-tails do not have the snatch and grab option.

If hawk has been handled by a human a lot, bets are off, but I think that would be very unlikely to encounter such a hawk.

 

[FluffyFeathers97]

I had a red tailed hawk attack my flock years ago while I was outside gardening with them in their big run. It was pretty bold and flew right by me, but my silkie roo jumped up and attacked it and it flew off. I was so impressed!

 

[sunshine ducky]

I have a huge red tailed hawk that presently lives in the trees of my backyard. Whenever I let my flock free range in the yard I always follow them. And I always see that hawk watching me and my flock. Sometimes it seems intimidating lol. But yeah he knows i'm bigger than him and potentially dangerous. So my best tips are is to let them free range but make sure you are moving, if you just stand there you seem immobile. But if you follow your chickens around it seems like your a part of the flock yourself.

 

[ValerieJ]

it's a good question, and I can't answer for how a hawk will act as I haven't had experience with them here. They don't hunt in the immediate area.

However, My neighbor had a bald eagle take a chicken 10 ft away from him!!!

 

[chrissynemetz]

I had a hawk attack a hen with me working on the fence just a few feet away.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Our big run has no natural cover, and we lost a hen to a RTH late last summer. So we provided some unnatural cover for them! We screwed a sheet of corrugated roofing metal onto two sawhorses to provide a little roof about 8' x 3' to shelter and shade for the chickens. (This has now become their favorite spot to dust bathe and just hang out, it's like their coffee clatch!). We also put two pallets together into an A-frame formation for quick cover if they need it, and dragged an old table out into the middle of the yard as another shelter. This all makes the yard look a bit junky, but we haven't suffered any additional losses, though i know the hawk is still in the area. When they come out of the yard to free-range they have lots of options for cover.

 

[analyticalblonde]

My reply is Yes! If that hawk feels you are no threat, and why would he since you just stand around, he, if hungry, will attack a chicken and be gone with it in seconds. There would be nothing you could do. They fly so fast, and so accurately you wouldn't be a threat of any kind. Just my opinion.

Thank you...I was hoping they wouldn't but kind of thought they still would regardless of my shepherding.