Red Tailed Hawk on tree branch 10 feet from chicken run...

[Krugerrand]

Looks good. Have a plan for winter. That looks like it could struggles against ice and snow.

 

[DLA]

Looks good. Have a plan for winter. That looks like it could struggles against ice and snow.

Agreed, when the leaves start falling they'll build up on it unless you clean it off regularly and if you get freezing rain that netting is going to get overloaded and fall.

 

[beegirl950]

I live out in the mountains of TN, and it is wild out there. We have it all. Any animal that lives in the woods is here. My coop and a good sized run are a fortress. However, I free range them. This year I have had a terrible problem with hawks. I have a nesting pair on the 10 acres that I own behind the 9 acres that my house sits on. That piece goes up the mountain. It is illegal to shoot them or bother the nest. I am a law abiding citizen so the SSS method is not going to cut it.

I thought about the fake owls but I was worried it would stress out the hens.

I strung visual deflection nets. These hawks are going for grown hens and I got about 30 young pullets and cockerels in a training coop that I was not going to ring the dinner bell for the hawks. I started out with a 20' x 75' and a 20' x 35'. And you can weave the nets together with fishing line. I hung them high enough to bush hog under with the tractor where I knew that they were hunting. The rope that comes with it is OK for short term so I used better rope.

I have plenty of scrub around here that they hide under but the big open space along the front of the house and the driveway were wide open and that's where they were getting hit.

I plan on putting up more nets. It might look ridiculous but nobody but close friends come over and they don't care. And I am not trying to get into Country Living or Architectural Digest either. I just want my hens to be able to grow up to produce some eggs. And I would like at least one rooster to grow up too. (2 Cockerels taken by the hawks) The nets have been working so far.

 

[aart]

I thought about the fake owls but I was worried it would stress out the hens.

...and they don't really work.