I am so sorry to hear of so many losing their flock to Hawks. I'm not in a rural area but have an ordinary cottage backyard but still get Cooper's Hawks. This is what we did if any of it can help someone.
I started with two Silkies that we kept penned in a 4x6 coop we bought at a feed-store that a customer custom-built. It was built better than a pre-fab kit but still made out of sub-quality materials and we found it wasn't big enough for 2 Silkies. So, we started to free-range the Silkies in our very open and flat backyard but watched them. When we added 2 LF to the flock we let them free-range longer. We had built a small lean-to to shade their feed/water and found the chickens liked to snooze/hide under it. They also rested under the stickery rosebush along the fence. When I saw how much the chickens used these "shelters" we added a pop-up canopy, 4 XL doghouses, made more lean-to's, added potted plants, wheelbarrow, cedar lawn chair, and even a couple large city trash cans lined against the fence.
The Cooper's Hawks seem most active in Spring when breeding so they can make several visits a day in the neighborhood. Several times we found a Cooper's Hawk sitting on our fence or right by the back door sitting on the lawn chair sometimes within 5 or 10 feet from chickens hiding under one of the shelters. The Hawk could see the hiding chickens but would not go after them. Apparently hawks prefer to fly and swoop down on prey, especially running chickens, so we eliminated wide open spaces in the yard so the hens could quickly duck into a nearby low shelter. We spaced doghouses around the yard along with several lean-to shelters. In 5 years of open backyard ranging we have not lost a chicken yet even with the Cooper's Hawk in the yard staring at them.
The backyard used to be open and flat with no shelter for the chickens except their little 4x6 coop. A perfect fly-zone for a Cooper's Hawk that we worked to remedy asap!
We left the wheelbarrow out along the fence and the chickens often would shelter under it.
Low-to-the-ground plywood lean-to shelters work for shade, snoozing, and hiding from aerial predators.
Between the cedar lawn chair and the lean-to in the background is the coop to the right (not showing) so hens have a short running area to duck into/under something when Mr Hawk visits.
4 hens snoozing/hiding under a shelter (Black Silkie between the lean-to and wheelbarrow).
A lean-to, a wheelbarrow, and a trash can all provide hiding areas.
Hens would gather under this cedar lawn chair to hide from flying hawks.
This pop-up canopy became our flock's favorite place to sit under. In the summer we turn on a water mister so they can stay cool in the shade and not worry about the hawks flying overhead. We added a couple doghouses under the canopy for added hiding places.
An old stickery rosebush climbing out of control on the fence was a favourite shade/hiding place for the hens.
All our chickens like to hide/snooze mid-day in the doghouses. We have 4 houses and plan on a couple more. We got the houses recycled from thrift stores, yard sales, and friends. What we were glad to see is that the hens never used the houses for laying their eggs. They went to the coop to lay.
While remodeling with a new block wall we made sure to position doghouses and makeshift lean-to's around the yard during construction.
The contractor's scaffolding made a nice lean-to for the chickens. I hope he let's me keep it when they're done with the work!!
In a sudden rain downfall all 4 of our hens sheltered in this large doghouse.
I don't know what rural areas/farms can do to have a lot of closeby shelters for chickens to hide/snooze under but it seems the main thing in our yard is to not have an open flat area where the Cooper's Hawk can pick off a running hen. I saw someone use their huge recycled trampoline as a shade/hiding place for their hens on their large property - some owners get very creative with ideas for shelters. The neighbor behind us today had a Cooper's Hawk that tore apart a pigeon in her backyard but none of our hens was attacked. I put up some potted plants around the new patio slabs that have not had the roofs put over them yet. One of the hens likes to snuggle close to the largest pot and another hen hugs the compost roller bin. Chickens are smart to stake out all the good hiding places. With Spring approaching and hawk breeding season around the corner I'm hurrying to get more shelters replaced which our remodeling had destroyed.
I started with two Silkies that we kept penned in a 4x6 coop we bought at a feed-store that a customer custom-built. It was built better than a pre-fab kit but still made out of sub-quality materials and we found it wasn't big enough for 2 Silkies. So, we started to free-range the Silkies in our very open and flat backyard but watched them. When we added 2 LF to the flock we let them free-range longer. We had built a small lean-to to shade their feed/water and found the chickens liked to snooze/hide under it. They also rested under the stickery rosebush along the fence. When I saw how much the chickens used these "shelters" we added a pop-up canopy, 4 XL doghouses, made more lean-to's, added potted plants, wheelbarrow, cedar lawn chair, and even a couple large city trash cans lined against the fence.
The Cooper's Hawks seem most active in Spring when breeding so they can make several visits a day in the neighborhood. Several times we found a Cooper's Hawk sitting on our fence or right by the back door sitting on the lawn chair sometimes within 5 or 10 feet from chickens hiding under one of the shelters. The Hawk could see the hiding chickens but would not go after them. Apparently hawks prefer to fly and swoop down on prey, especially running chickens, so we eliminated wide open spaces in the yard so the hens could quickly duck into a nearby low shelter. We spaced doghouses around the yard along with several lean-to shelters. In 5 years of open backyard ranging we have not lost a chicken yet even with the Cooper's Hawk in the yard staring at them.
The backyard used to be open and flat with no shelter for the chickens except their little 4x6 coop. A perfect fly-zone for a Cooper's Hawk that we worked to remedy asap!
We left the wheelbarrow out along the fence and the chickens often would shelter under it.
Low-to-the-ground plywood lean-to shelters work for shade, snoozing, and hiding from aerial predators.
Between the cedar lawn chair and the lean-to in the background is the coop to the right (not showing) so hens have a short running area to duck into/under something when Mr Hawk visits.
4 hens snoozing/hiding under a shelter (Black Silkie between the lean-to and wheelbarrow).
A lean-to, a wheelbarrow, and a trash can all provide hiding areas.
Hens would gather under this cedar lawn chair to hide from flying hawks.
This pop-up canopy became our flock's favorite place to sit under. In the summer we turn on a water mister so they can stay cool in the shade and not worry about the hawks flying overhead. We added a couple doghouses under the canopy for added hiding places.
An old stickery rosebush climbing out of control on the fence was a favourite shade/hiding place for the hens.
All our chickens like to hide/snooze mid-day in the doghouses. We have 4 houses and plan on a couple more. We got the houses recycled from thrift stores, yard sales, and friends. What we were glad to see is that the hens never used the houses for laying their eggs. They went to the coop to lay.
While remodeling with a new block wall we made sure to position doghouses and makeshift lean-to's around the yard during construction.
The contractor's scaffolding made a nice lean-to for the chickens. I hope he let's me keep it when they're done with the work!!
In a sudden rain downfall all 4 of our hens sheltered in this large doghouse.
I don't know what rural areas/farms can do to have a lot of closeby shelters for chickens to hide/snooze under but it seems the main thing in our yard is to not have an open flat area where the Cooper's Hawk can pick off a running hen. I saw someone use their huge recycled trampoline as a shade/hiding place for their hens on their large property - some owners get very creative with ideas for shelters. The neighbor behind us today had a Cooper's Hawk that tore apart a pigeon in her backyard but none of our hens was attacked. I put up some potted plants around the new patio slabs that have not had the roofs put over them yet. One of the hens likes to snuggle close to the largest pot and another hen hugs the compost roller bin. Chickens are smart to stake out all the good hiding places. With Spring approaching and hawk breeding season around the corner I'm hurrying to get more shelters replaced which our remodeling had destroyed.
