do hawks come back for their kill if they have been scared away

[TwoCrows]

Hi there,

and welcome to BYC!

You might need to keep your chickens in a run for some time. Once the hawk learns there is food available to him, he will return. They are very smart and do not forget. I am not able to let my girls out due to the predators in the skies and hiding in the bushes. When I do let them out, I have to supervise them constantly.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[memphis]

Welcome. Sorry about your hen. It will be back. The ones in my area are rather bold and don't care if I'm out there or not. Had one try to grab a hen not 5 feet from where I was standing.

 

[Phyll'sFarmFamily]

Well it's dark now and it didn't come back. Do you think it will tomorrow?

I was thinking of bringing her in so the foxes etc won't get her. Then putting her out in the same place and watching.

Yes I do want him to come back so he won't get any more of my girls

 

[Joshua G]

When my White Rock was killed I started a thread about hawk control, and there were a lot of responses and ideas for it.

Search "Does anybody have any suggestions for hawk control?" on BYC and it should be the first thing to come up, you might find a solution for your hawk problems by reading it.

I hope this helps.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hen, like everybody else said, it will keep coming back since it knows there are chickens there. You'll need to either supervise them or keep them under cover for now. There are a lot of hawk threads in the Predator and Pests forum if you want to see what other people have done to deal with them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/13/predators-and-pests

 

[sourland]

Birds of prey will come back for their kill. Back before they were protected it was an easy way of catching and eliminating them.

 

[Phyll'sFarmFamily]

I have at least 3 that I have seen. The tree is almost dead and I have a chain saw and a lot of rocks. lol

But really, do you think if I put her back out that it will come back?

 

[gander007]

In my experience yes they will come back for their kill

 

[1muttsfan]

Why do you want it to come back? If you are considering killing the hawk, you may want to reconsider. Raptors are federally protected, and the punishment is considerable when they are killed. They perform a great service by reducing populations of destructive varmints such as mice and rats. It takes many years for raptors to replace lost individuals, as they do not breed until they are adults, sometimes several years old, and many things kill their young - things like other predators, poisons, and human activity. They are quite valuable, and beautiful, creatures.

Why don't you confine your birds until the hawks have left the nest, then cut the tree down so that they move to another area? Keep in mind that even if you kill that one bird, you can be sure that others will come along eventually.

 

[drumstick diva]

If you don't want a stiff fine or jail time, you will dispose of her body and forget about vengeance. I understand there are even penalties for possessing raptors feathers - even if they were just found on the ground. Far better to have an enclosed run for your birds and a top on it if even just deer netting. Raptors are very careful about damaging their wings so won't test the netting unless they can't see it.

Any free ranging chickens are targets for all predators - if you eliminate one, others will fill the void. If you had some reliable livestock guardian dogs, that would put a strong deterrent in your corner.,free ranging would have a much better outcome.