Hawks

[elenas farm]

My husband says the same , I have to accept some chicken losses to predators but it is hard for me.

 

[elenas farm]

Not fishing lines, I used in the past thick clothes line and crossed it all over above my babies yard and worked. They will be confused of the crossing pattern and they will not touch, but they need to see the lines.

 

[scooter147]

They will come back even after 2-3 weeks of absence.

Yep, like clockwork.

 

[scooter147]

Not fishing lines, I used in the past thick clothes line and crossed it all over above my babies yard and worked. They will be confused of the crossing pattern and they will not touch, but they need to see the lines.

I have not had any luck using this method with Coopers Hawks. They fly down, sit on a fence post or the coop and simply dive down through and opening and basically chase a chicken like a ground predator. I've seen it probably a half dozen times over the years.

I had to go with full netting over the run.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I have not had any luck using this method with Coopers Hawks.   They fly down, sit on a fence post or the coop and simply dive down through and opening and basically chase a chicken like a ground predator.   I've seen it probably a half dozen times over the years.

I had to go with full netting over the run.

A Cooper's hawk here would wait for chickens to go into a brushy area along the fenceline (where they probably felt safe) and walk in there to attack them. Same thing happened along a streambed where there was thick brush/cover. It was easy pickings for that hawk.

 

[scooter147]

A Cooper's hawk here would wait for chickens to go into a brushy area along the fenceline (where they probably felt safe) and walk in there to attack them. Same thing happened along a streambed where there was thick brush/cover. It was easy pickings for that hawk.

Yep, I've seen that on my place as well. They spook the birds into taking cover, land on the ground then hop into the cover and usually when a chicken freaks and bolts from the cover they then latch onto that bird and the wrestle royal is on.

I do spend a lot of time outside with the birds out. I cannot let them out of their coop and run unless I'm out with them. I have seen a lot of stuff over 40 years with birds and predators. The Coopers around my place a sneaky they will attack right under my nose, usually when I go in to get a soda, beer or use the restroom.

I have lost way more chickens to Coopers than to redtails. I only know of one bird lost to a redtail over the 24 years I've lived on my current place. I lost three birds (smaller bantam size birds) to Coopers last year alone.

 

[kat salamon]

I strung fishing line with CDs and reflective Mylar tape pieces attached to it in a brushy area by a stream bed where hawks had taken several hens. I'm really not sure how effective it was - if you get strong winds, the CDs can spin themselves up in the line and around bushes, etc., so they don't reflect the way they're intended to, and they break off the line fairly easily. I ended up picking up a lot of CDs that just broke off the lines (along with bits of the Mylar tape...sigh).

There are a few different kinds of hawks out here, but the Cooper's and Red-Tailed are the hardest on our poultry. Cooper's hawks are smaller than RTH and they will walk in on their prey. The only RTH I've caught in the act was in the barn and it couldn't get out of there fast enough when it saw me. I think their preference is to swoop down on their prey.

One of the things that I think has really made a difference in hawk-related losses is having a new rooster who is not only extremely vigilant, but also doesn't brook disobedience from the girls. When he sounds the alarm, he expects all the girls to run to him and to shelter. Our previous rooster was more of a pretty boy who would let the girls wander off on their own. 

Good luck!

we are unfortunately not allowed roosters.

I hatched one and he is about 2 months. I hope to keep him til he starts crowing. Thanks for your experience.

 

[Lelilamom]

Hawks are our #1 predator right now. I've lost 3 chickens, including our Rooster, in the past four months, with the last hen being just last week. It's always the same Cooper hawk. There isn't much we can do. My beagles sounded the alarm a month ago when the hawk had one of the chickens cornered by the run and I ran out and scared the hawk away. I rehab'd the partially blinded chicken and she now has full sight and is back in the coop. We want to try the fishing line, etc but our chicken yard is huge and don't see any real place to tie the line to. We hate accepting the fact, but hawks, once they know of a reliable food source, are going to come back.

 

[scooter147]

Hawks are our #1 predator right now. I've lost 3 chickens, including our Rooster, in the past four months, with the last hen being just last week. It's always the same Cooper hawk. There isn't much we can do. My beagles sounded the alarm a month ago when the hawk had one of the chickens cornered by the run and I ran out and scared the hawk away. I rehab'd the partially blinded chicken and she now has full sight and is back in the coop. We want to try the fishing line, etc but our chicken yard is huge and don't see any real place to tie the line to. We hate accepting the fact, but hawks, once they know of a reliable food source, are going to come back.

In these types of situations there is only one thing to do..............

 

[Lelilamom]

In these types of situations there is only one thing to do..............

Develop a taste for Hawk?