Lost one of our girls to a red tail hawk

[webrx]

Well it was a sad week here, we have been caring for my departed BILs 5 leghorns (4 years old) and one RIR rooster (3 years old) for almost a year now, and done fairly well. We lost one in the beginning to a racoon while free ranging about 6 months ago, so we built a bigger run, and now only let them free range while we are out and about. This week, weather was nice and we were working from home, and thought we should let them out for a bit around 1 pm while I was in the garage. A red tail hawk decided to attack and by the time I got down there and scared him off he had killed one of the 4 remaining leghorn girls. So, they are back in captivity for now, and I will be expanding the run and figuring out how to protect them all from aerial assault during that process. I don't like keeping them confined and we only have 8 girls and a rooster right now, but, I do have 9 in the incubator and lockdown day tomorrow (fingers crossed they are not all roosters).

They seem to be ok in our Producers pride guardian coop, with hardware cloth under it, connected to a 9 x 20 run which is also covered and wrapped in 2'x4' welded wire fencing instead of the flimsy chicken wire that came with it. I do plan to overlay the run with hardware cloth 2 feet up the side this year and set it on a foundation to level it out (our back yard slopes) and provide even more protection.

Not sure what else I can do, or why I even posted other than to share the loss and ask if anyone has suggestions on how to better protect our girls. I think they have plenty of space for now, and have weathered the Ohio winter well in this setup so far, again, I just hate keeping them contained.

d

 

[Zenmonkey]

Hawks are a tough cookie, in the USA. Federal law prohibits any interference of any sort. I've known people, many years ago, who would break the law and trap or shoot them. I honestly don't know that it did any good except to give them an warm fuzzy that they were doing something. During the times that hawks tend to be a problem, it isn't just one or two causing trouble.

There's a couple key points to remember with birds of prey. The first is that they're not terribly persistent. Much like all other birds, patience tends not to be one of their core virtues. If it is difficult to get to your birds, they'll go look for easier food rather than wait them out. This is a side effect of a rapid metabolism, fairly high energy demand of their hunting strategies, and the fact that they can cover a lot of ground quickly. If they make an attempt or two at your birds, unsuccessfully, the odds are good that they can quickly find and succeed elsewhere.

Now once they've taken one of your birds, the dynamics change a bit. Not much, but one success will up their persistence, at least for a while.

Another thing to remember is that not all hawks are created equally. Very young hawks, and very hungry hawks, behave differently. The young hawks lack confidence that they'll find an easy meal elsewhere, and the very hungry hawks are running out of time to do so.

The young hawks are an issue during the fall migration. The only solution I know is to keep the birds penned up for the 3-4 weeks that the hawks are missing in your area. You can find this information online, as the birds watchers post schedules for expected migrations. The young ones in the fall have r just left the best recently, are new to hunting for themselves, and often haven't worked out the advantages of keeping moving. If your birds are penned or at least under heavy cover from aerial surveillance during the migration, they should be mostly fine. Although red tails and maybe a couple others will hunt from a tree branch with a good view. At which point penning them up becomes important.

A couple other things help. Dogs and cats are useful. Cats keep the rodent population down, and dogs tend to be large enough to give the hawks a little pause, even if the dog is mostly oblivious to airborne threats.

Larger chicken flocks make picking out a single target harder for the hawk, and alert breeds will have roosters paying attention that sound the alarm at the first sign of a hawk, again making for a harder meal for the hawk.

None of this, except for the enclosed pen, are string guarantees. But the harder you make it for a hawk to grab a bird, the less likely it will happen.

 

[webrx]

Hawks are a tough cookie, in the USA. Federal law prohibits any interference of any sort. I've known people, many years ago, who would break the law and trap or shoot them. I honestly don't know that it did any good except to give them an warm fuzzy that they were doing something. During the times that hawks tend to be a problem, it isn't just one or two causing trouble.

There's a couple key points to remember with birds of prey. The first is that they're not terribly persistent. Much like all other birds, patience tends not to be one of their core virtues. If it is difficult to get to your birds, they'll go look for easier food rather than wait them out. This is a side effect of a rapid metabolism, fairly high energy demand of their hunting strategies, and the fact that they can cover a lot of ground quickly. If they make an attempt or two at your birds, unsuccessfully, the odds are good that they can quickly find and succeed elsewhere.

Now once they've taken one of your birds, the dynamics change a bit. Not much, but one success will up their persistence, at least for a while.

Another thing to remember is that not all hawks are created equally. Very young hawks, and very hungry hawks, behave differently. The young hawks lack confidence that they'll find an easy meal elsewhere, and the very hungry hawks are running out of time to do so.

The young hawks are an issue during the fall migration. The only solution I know is to keep the birds penned up for the 3-4 weeks that the hawks are missing in your area. You can find this information online, as the birds watchers post schedules for expected migrations. The young ones in the fall have r just left the best recently, are new to hunting for themselves, and often haven't worked out the advantages of keeping moving. If your birds are penned or at least under heavy cover from aerial surveillance during the migration, they should be mostly fine. Although red tails and maybe a couple others will hunt from a tree branch with a good view. At which point penning them up becomes important.

A couple other things help. Dogs and cats are useful. Cats keep the rodent population down, and dogs tend to be large enough to give the hawks a little pause, even if the dog is mostly oblivious to airborne threats.

Larger chicken flocks make picking out a single target harder for the hawk, and alert breeds will have roosters paying attention that sound the alarm at the first sign of a hawk, again making for a harder meal for the hawk.

None of this, except for the enclosed pen, are string guarantees. But the harder you make it for a hawk to grab a bird, the less likely it will happen.

Thank you,

I am going to do what I can to make it difficult for the hawk to get to them. We have had several people in the area talk about how may hawks are out and about lately, maybe because it is spring.

For now the girls are safe while we figure out our next move.

 

[webrx]

Whew, just went out and cleaned the coop and runs, and on the way back to the house saw an eagle soaring about 50 feet above our coops. Glad we didn’t let em out like we usually do when cleaning out their quarters.

 

[webrx]

Here is a picture of their “prison”. It’s not like they have it bad. We even have a little quarantine coop for emergencies or when we turn out the new chicks.

 

[AGeese]

The right dog is probably one of the all around best guardians, but is there a reason you don't have a rooster? You could put up some netting around that would shelter them some from direct attacks.

 

[Zenmonkey]

Someone elsewhere on the forums also mentioned that hawks prefer to hunt around midday to afternoon, when there are more thermals. If the chickens are allowed to run only in the mornings and evenings, that will help. Of course the young and the starving hawks will hunt regardless of thermals, they don't have a choice. It's literally life or death for them to get that next meal.

 

[webrx]

We do have a rooster, Rhode Island Red americauna mix. He got the other girls in the run and stood guard over them. Don’t know if he tried to take on the hawk it happened fast and I got down there pretty quick. Our hen wasn’t quite dead yet but she didn’t make it more than a minute or so once I got to her.

I have dogs, but they are not trustworthy enough around the chickens yet. Working on it.

I thought they hunted in morning and evening. Good to know Juvenal in am adults in afternoon/ evening. So guess we are gonna expand the runs and keep em safe.

 

[AshVau22]

We have hawks and eagles constantly everyday they are in the trees. Oh and a owl in the evening. I've lost 1 hen and 1 duck all within the same week last fall. All my birds free range on a acre. So I decided to do everything I could to keep these things at bay. First was building a scarecrow and move it around like twice a month. The plastic owls I love the ones that heads swivel very realistic. I have one on my deck up high and few fence post. I also made tin pie plate wind chime and have them hung around. I've read they don't like shinny things. Also have some silver Christmas tinsel around things. And I have things around they can hide under. Lawn chairs I keep flipped over, few Rubbermaid tubs placed around. I do have 3 female turkey and 2 roos and they do very good job of protecting the ducks and hens. So far I've been very lucky since applying all these things.

 

[AGeese]

We do have a rooster, Rhode Island Red americauna mix. He got the other girls in the run and stood guard over them. Don’t know if he tried to take on the hawk it happened fast and I got down there pretty quick. Our hen wasn’t quite dead yet but she didn’t make it more than a minute or so once I got to her.

I have dogs, but they are not trustworthy enough around the chickens yet. Working on it.

I thought they hunted in morning and evening. Good to know Juvenal in am adults in afternoon/ evening. So guess we are gonna expand the runs and keep em safe.

Ah yes I believe I see him in the run.