Worried

[Marinefam2053]

Looked out the window to see my chickens standing statue still. When I walked outside with the dog, within 5 seconds a hawk flew over my yard. I know they are out there, but that’s the first time that has happened. I don’t want any chickens to go missing.....

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Looked out the window to see my chickens standing statue still. When I walked outside with the dog, within 5 seconds a hawk flew over my yard. I know they are out there, but that’s the first time that has happened. I don’t want any chickens to go missing.....

Hawks - primarily Cooper's and Red Tailed - are plentiful where I am, and they kill chickens if given the opportunity. I lost more than a few to hawks when they had free run of my farm...but that stopped since I recently changed to a large run with aviary netting for my main flock. The hawks can dream, but it's too risky for them to land on the netting (it tangles very easily). I still see them watching from the trees, even flying over, but no losses to date. Worth considering?

 

[cmom]

Here are some birds a Red Tail hawk recently killed. I have my pens covered but it found a way in. Here are a few bodies of mostly pullets about ready to start laying. I have since replaced the netting.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Here are some birds a Red Tail hawk recently killed. I have my pens covered but it found a way in. Here are a few bodies of mostly pullets about ready to start laying. I have since replaced the netting.View attachment 2011563

That's so frustrating...the hawks seem to seek out those pullets that just reach POL. Your birds were beautiful.

 

[Marinefam2053]

Hawks - primarily Cooper's and Red Tailed - are plentiful where I am, and they kill chickens if given the opportunity. I lost more than a few to hawks when they had free run of my farm...but that stopped since I recently changed to a large run with aviary netting for my main flock. The hawks can dream, but it's too risky for them to land on the netting (it tangles very easily). I still see them watching from the trees, even flying over, but no losses to date. Worth considering?

Guess I’m going to price some aviary netting... for now my dogs presence has deterred said hawk

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Guess I’m going to price some aviary netting... for now my dogs presence has deterred said hawk

If you do decide to go that route, I hope it works as well for you! Losing pullets @ POL is just gutting. I say "no more"!

 

[Folly's place]

Hawks will mostly take bantams, and the 'young and dumb' birds, especially with juvenile chickens who have no adults to demonstrate caution. After one is killed in front of everyone, the survivors will learn to run for cover, and be more careful.
Having a safe coop and covered run is best, because you WILL have losses, at least occasionally, when free ranging.
Some dogs will alert to raptors, and others won't.
Mary
I reread it twice, and still didn't see 'harks'!

 

[cmom]

Guess I’m going to price some aviary netting... for now my dogs presence has deterred said hawk

Choose your netting wisely. It doesn't have to keep elephants out but sure needs to be strong enough. My netting is 2" mesh. I bought some netting online many years ago and it's still up but It wasn't large enough to completely cover all of the pens. I bought some other netting online to fill in the gap. It wasn't what I thought it was and was made of more like a monofilament line. The picture in the ad was deceiving. I put it up anyway thinking that it may still deter aerial predators. Not long ago the crappy netting was breached twice and I lost some birds. Here are some of the birds I pulled out of a pen a hawk got into and the other of an owl going through the same crappy netting at another coop. The owl had killed a couple of birds a couple of nights prior. I found another piece of the crappy netting to put over the breached piece of crappy netting and move the birds to another coop. I decided to put up a camera to see if it would come back and it did. It went right through the netting.

This is like my original netting. I bought this and replaced the crappy netting with it.

 

[Marinefam2053]

Harks will mostly take bantams, and the 'young and dumb' birds, especially with juvenile chickens who have no adults to demonstrate caution. After one is killed in front of everyone, the survivors will learn to run for cover, and be more careful.
Having a safe coop and covered run is best, because you WILL have losses, at least occasionally, when free ranging.
Some dogs will alert to raptors, and others won't.
Mary

So far my dog being out has done the trick. This morning just took me by surprise. Thankfully he’s good around my girls. But I will be looking into ways for them to hide and take cover. I’m not ready for losses yet!

 

[Marinefam2053]

Choose your netting wisely. It doesn't have to keep elephants out but sure needs to be strong enough. My netting is 2" mesh. I bought some netting online many years ago and it's still up but It wasn't large enough to completely cover all of the pens. I bought some other netting online to fill in the gap. It wasn't what I thought it was and was made of more like a monofilament line. The picture in the ad was deceiving. I put it up anyway thinking that it may still deter aerial predators. Not long ago the crappy netting was breached twice and I lost some birds. Here are some of the birds I pulled out of a pen a hawk got into and the other of an owl going through the same crappy netting at another coop. The owl had killed a couple of birds a couple of nights prior. I found another piece of the crappy netting to put over the breached piece of crappy netting and move the birds to another coop. I decided to put up a camera to see if it would come back and it did. It went right through the netting.
View attachment 2011800View attachment 2011802View attachment 2011804
This is like my original netting. I bought this and replaced the crappy netting with it.
View attachment 2011805

Would you mind sharing exactly what you recommend. I was looking on Amazon, and I mostly read reviews before purchasing anything, but I would also appreciate your input. I’m also very sorry for your losses...