Will hawk take chicken with people nearby?

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Ah. You must not live in the US. Permission to shoot a bird of prey has to come the Feds, the USF&W. The permit is hard to get, since everything at Federal level moves soooo slowly.

 

[UrbanFarmerGirl]

Yes. We just lost our Mamma hen to a hawk- she was sweet and slow and very light weight after brooding the clutch and raising the babies. She was probably trying to protect her babies. The babies are noisy and small and move quickly- very attractive as prey, so that's probably what drew them in. It was our first loss, and very sad. We then realized a Mother hawk with 2 juveniles are nesting less than 20 yards from the coop. We can hear them screaming and see them flying all day long from sun up to sun down now.

They have dive bombed the chickens, the coop, and our house, and seem to have no fear of me. Several times I was less than 10 feet away. Yikes. I felt sad to lose a bird- but it's up to me to prevent it. It has been amazing to watch the hawks and see them up close, and if I do a good job protecting my birds I know they will look elsewhere- and hopefully help me with rodent control! I didn't think about trying to get rid of the hawks because I actually enjoy watching them, and also in our area- wide open valley with lots of agriculture, eradication would never be effective, new hawks or birds of prey will just move in, and the rodent population is directly impacted by birds of prey. When we lost our backyard owl, the mice and rats came with a vengeance. When the hawks came in to nest, we saw those rodents decline. I have never had any problems with raccoon or opossums, and I hope the big birds are helping to detour them as well. I think it's been easier for me to protect from a hawk than it would be to protect from one of those guys.

This is how we dealt with it: We sectioned off a larger enclosed run than we had previously had, making sure there was some tree cover to make it a little harder for hawks to easily access, and bought bird netting to cover most of the top with. It seems to be very effective. We leave our little Marans and juvenile EEs in the run 24/7- they are just too small and tempting, and any time I've let them out I see the hawks come for a closer look even if I'm in the yard. I let our big fat chickens (Barred Rocks, and a Buff Orpington) out to roam the yard and garden for a few hours in the morning while I get ready for work- and I keep an eye and ear out from inside of the house just to make sure they aren't being bothered. So far no problems. When I leave for work I put them back inside of the enclosure with the bird netting and coop. I was wondering about the fake birds that the earlier poster mentioned, and think I will try one of those as well, just to be safe.

I notice the one that dived at the coop was pretty uncoordinated and had no fear of me, so I think it was one of the babies. Now the babies are going further and further from the nest, so I think they are learning to hunt other things and likely will move on to their own territory soon. Good luck!

Here is a picture of one of our chicken hunters, taken just after it was screaming at me, after diving at the coop:

 

[UrbanFarmerGirl]

... Funny that I commented on this today. The universe must have a wicked sense of humor. I just went out to the coop to feed my chickens, and one of the Marans (about 10-11 weeks old) was sitting on my knee eating seeds. I heard a screech, the chickens all ran for cover, and the hawk DIVE BOMBED ME and tried to take the chicken OUT OF MY LAP. It was flapping and grabbing at bird netting. I could have reached out and grabbed it. I stood up, and it hopped about 3 feet over, and tried to perch on the fence- still eyeing chickens. Got caught up in bird netting, looking me in the eye, and then flew away. I could have punched it! and part of me wanted to. Thank god for bird netting. We just went and bought some more. The guy at the feed store said that the fake owls/hawks don't do much for birds of prey but high powered hoses scare and train them- he suggested sitting out there when the babies are in the yard and using water to scare the hawk.

 

[Mama duck 8]

Yes , yes they will

 

[Mattemma]

I just had to update my post to mention that while cutting the grass near the chickens 2 hawks swooped down on the girls.I was in clear view of them.2 large hawks. Once I was done cutting I stuck bamboo poles in the ground,put a zip tie on it,and placed a cd on it to reflect light.Then I ran fishing line all over and taped some red mylar ribbon to it.I need to do more of the fishing line.Hope it helps,because I would hate to see a hawk eating one of my girls.

 

[flyboy129]

I do live in the US. This was 6-7 years ago tho, so laws have probably changed since then. This was the only bird of prey I have ever had to take. Just didn't want to hunt and was making easy snacks of my free range flock. Talked to the game warden about my options and if they could trap it for me. He said I had a right to protect my livestock even against owls or hawks, and to shoot it, and turn it in.