Hi, just a note for all those who have free-range chicks. Although mine are penned most of the day, we do let them run in the evening for a while. As I stated in another forum, critters can't count. I use scarecrows to keep them thinking that there are people out ant about in the yard. All you have to do is to put up a pole and hang a shirt and pants (or skirt) on a hanger and attach it to the pole. I also add a cap to the top of the pole. By moving it around the yard every few days, the predators think there is someone out there all the time. We forgot to move them for about three weeks this summer and lost a pullet and an old hen to a raptor. Since we have an eagle's nest on our neighbors property, I think it might have been one of them. After we started moving the scarecrows again, we haven't seen any raptors.
Hawk trouble. Any ideas?
im having a problem with hawks carring off my full grown guineas and juvi chickens myself, the only solution ive found is to sit outside every few days with a shotgun and when we see the hawk we fire in the general direction (but not at it) and it scares him away.... it seems to work we havent seen the hawk pair since mid december (knock on wood).
This hawk has killed 1 Ameraucana and 1 Rhode Island Red full grown hens. I have taken to shooting in it's general direction also, It seems to be working. There are lots of shrubs, trees and cover for the hens, but this bird is smart. It waits until it sees one of them crossing an open area and then swoops down. It did it with me stand right there one day and I was able to rescue my hen, she was a bit plucked, but alive.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.
InnBetween-Make sure no-one sees you shooting in the direction of that hawk or you could find youself facing felony charges. It's a federal offense to harm or kill a bird of prey no matter what it is.
You could try a whistle...I know that isnt AS intimidating as a gun...but i have one that is so loud the chickens all run for cover, and it scares everything off. It is also a safer option.
We have problems with both Cooper's Hawks and Red Tails taking our free-range chickens. The eagles haven't noticed our yard and there's good fishing in our river anyway so they don't need to bother with feathered critters. But we got some geese and they seemed to do a good job of keeping airborne predators away.
Recently DH penned the geese in a different area so they wouldn't eat up all the chicken feed, and the other day I noticed a pair of Red Tails circling overhead and all the hens huddled under their coop for safety. None was injured, thankfully.
I like the scarecrow trick; I've never heard of that before.
I picked that one up from a squirrel hunter who told me that the way to lure bushy-tails out from their hiding places was to place your cap on a tree limb and go sit somewhere else and watch. The squirrel can't count. It thinks the hunter is sitting by the tree where the hat is and will come around from the back side of their hiding place and there you are waiting for it. Seemed to me that the same would work for raptors too. So I tried it and it worked for our penned chicks. But, it sure would work better than standing out all the time in the yard and if you watch, you notice that the birds will circle, but not come down. With the exception of the one in this thread that did.
I wouldn't know why that hawk doesn't seem to be afraid of humans, but there must be a reason. Normally, all raptors stay away from people.
Warning shots in their general direction usually gives them the idea they aren't welcome.
It's so funny this subject of hawks should come up! I'm kinda of new to chicken"s ,I brought 10 blackstar/sexlinks in June of 2007.I had raised turkey's back in the 80's.They were raised in a pen that was 3 feet off the ground 12 by 16 . The pen was well built but the roof was rotten so,well my wife wanted chickens. So what the wife wants wife gets (sometimes). So 6000.00 dollars later the "Fortknox of chicken coops was pretty much ready for the girls.I live in Connecticut , their are foxes,coyotes,raccoons,skunks,bobcats,bears ,weasel's not to mention dogs,cats and oh yeah hawks.The chicken coop is heated nothing to good for my girls.Their run is 8' by 52' chainlink fence buried in the ground 18" the top is chicken wire the hen house can be completely locked up. Nothing can get in it ! I sleep very sound at night,even with the coyotes howling all around my house (I have 5.5 acres) But the hawk situation is like this ,you have to watch the girls all the time if I let them out of the compound. The hawks are hungry this time of the year,not to mention the leaves are off the trees.A couple of days ago 2 hawks had my girls under a small evergreen tree, I just happened to be walking down to feed them some lettuce. Well, I scared them off,now I realize that I have to keep an eye on them if they are out of the pen . I know it,s against the law to shoot them,but I keep my shotgun ready to scare them.You have to keep them covered in a big run or watch them.The crows are a good indication that their may be hawks around ,they make a lot of noise,they don't like hawks.My eggs cost about 10 dollars apiece.I love the girl"s anyway.
funny that people mention crows as I too have seen them run redtails off. HOWEVER I've seen ravens(not crows) sit side by side with redtails and munch on dead jackrabbit. (He was killing my mexican primrose), so as Forrest Gump would say, "thats all I got to say about that" My neighbors have guineas and they still provide overhead cover for their girls. When I finally decide to bite the bullet and get some yard birds they are gonna have over head cover no matter what, cuz Mr. redtail can and will get your birds.
This is an interesting thread. We have a pair of red tailed hawks who hang around a lot, but my guineas send out an alarm, and the chickens and guineas all run into either the chicken run or the barn. I have not lost any of my birds to hawks, however the great horned owl has snitched a couple of guineas when they roosted outside the run one night. My dog, a border collie mix, woke me up in the middle of the night and I put him outside and watched as he made a beeline toward the barn, and I saw the profile of the big owl flying off with one of my poor guineas.
Fortunately, the guineas seem to have learned - they go into the chicken run and the coop to roost at night now.
Our dog seems to keep an eye out during the day for predators. Now, if only he would learn that he cannot herd chickens! He doesn't hurt them, but he does make them crazy!
if a dog happens to accidentally get outside and chase the hawk away- good riddence. most hawks around here prefer road kill anyway. But there's no way to keep chickens 100% safe 100% of the time. They just have to many predators. I've heard of hawks so big around here that they try to take off with baby deer-and succeeed.
I've heard of Bald and Golden Eagles doing that but not Hawks.
Possibly a red-tail could, but I do know Bald and Goldens do.
No, not a Red-tailed. They only prey on rabbits and rodents. The maximum they can pick up is 5 pounds and I'm pretty sure a fawn weighs more than that.
oopsies, I meant an eagle.
Gardener, are you positive Red-Tailed Hawks only prey on rabbits and rodents? I lost a young pullet and an old hen last summer to something and unless it was an immature Bald Eagle, it was a Red-Tail. And, it didn't look like an eagle, although we do have an eagle's nest on the deer ranch next door to us. Since we hadn't moved the scare-crows around for a few weeks at that time, that is what happened. We started moving them around again and haven't seen any raptors since.
Don't laugh, but after trying scare crows, old CD's hanging and fake crows. I bought a mirrored disco ball. The hawks were really brave and I would have to stay with the chicken while feeding,because thats when they would strike. They would sit perched on a tree just looking at me. I even had to throw my feed bucket at one to stop it's attack. For some reason I guess the mirror flashing scared them. It didn't stop them completely, but really cut down on attacks. I have moved and still have my disco ball. It has held up for about 4 years now. I still get a lot of ribbing for it, but it works for me. I placed it where the motion detector lights are and when they go off it hits the ball and sparkles go everywhere. I just wish it worked on deer.
George
Granny, I just posted what it says in my Birds of North America book. I know they also prey on chickens as I lost a banty cross to one last winter. He/she had her in it's talons and I ran out of the house and the Hawk flew off but left Littleone so I buried her.
Susan
I also have that book. But, as we all know, the so-called experts can be wrong on occasion. And I did see an immature eagle eating a rabbit carcass in the road in front of our drive. Mama sat int the tree across the road (I guess it was Mama) from it while it feasted on the rabbit.
When we lived in Detroit, we had a Cooper's Hawk catch a pigeon and stripped it's feathers off in our dog run. It held the pigeon down with one foot and used it's beak to strip the feathers off. It then took the bird with it and flew off. We watched it out the window while it did it's dirty work. Interesting.
So-called experts is right. I've seen alot of things happening with animals that the so-called experts don't think CAN happen. BTW-don't you just love that book? I know I do!
Susan
I have that book, too, and read the same thing about red-tailed hawks. Those experts can definitely be wrong - in the hummingbird section, they say that hummingbirds never perch when they eat. Oddly, the hummers that come here in the summer seem to have no problem at all sitting on the perches on my hummingbird feeders.
As they say"SEEING IS BELIEVING"!
Susan
Yes, I certainly love that book. It does have a lot of information in it, so it was worth the money I paid for it. In fact, I think I am on my second copy as I wore out the first one. There were quite a few changes in it from when I bought the first one. So I guess they are still revising it.
This is something we very seldom see around here. Our neighbors pond is almost empty and she has Bullhead Catfish in it. Well they are so exposed and close to the surface that we got a real show yesterday by this guy and his lady friend. We not only had ONE BUT TWO, flying right over our heads and fishing in the pond next door. I just wish my zoom would have been better.
Susan
Beautiful, Susan.
Since the eagles have been coming back, I guess we will be seeing more and more of them. I know we have been seeing more around here, and am thinking there are a few more active nests in our area.
Thank you granny, that's the first pair we've ever seen out here and we've lived in this place for 20 yrs. I've always seen a single Eagle flying with the Vultures. I did see them again this morning on my walk, they were soaring around the area of our place again. Sure would like to get some more pics of them. Here's another from yesterday. Again a little far away. As you can see there isn't any water in the pond as that boat is sitting on the bottom on bare dirt.
Susan
Susan, those pictures are great! They are such stately birds.
Thank you Beth.
I have the cure for the hawk problem. Air Defense artillery. We went to the fireworks store and bought BIG bottle rockets. To fire off at the Coopers Hawks (he brought back his mate) That have been relentlessly after my chickens. I have a Buff Brahman and Partridge Cochin roosters too and these hawks just don't seem to care. I can stand outside and yell and wave my arms to no avail. But the bottle rockets, that's a different story. They don't like the loud scream that they make and the loud pop.
THey are the ticket. No kills since the bottle rockets.
Those kind of fireworks might be outlawed in Michigan.