rachels.haven's Journal

[B&B Happy goats]

Sorry you are having so many critter issues .......we have several huge oak trees in cow neighbors field, two of them are homes of hawks. While my other neighbors have seen them fly off with baby chicks and other aged chickens , (and a newborn goat, so I am told) .......
I have purchased two cheap plastic owls that heads move in the breeze.... And used fast grip to attach them to posts facing the chicken area. They don't deter the racoons or crows, but have not had any hawks since they have been up.....? ? ? ?

 

[Baymule]

We have some rolls of that same plastic mesh. We gave a roll to a friend to put over his run.

The cow panel run is the best I ever built. Add a few strands of hot wire and your run/coop would be bear proof. Nothing but a hot, HOT wire will keep a bear away. For added security for feed storage (for you, I don't have bears) build a 2=chamber coop with feed storage in the first chamber, put feed in metal trash cans. Wrap in hot wire.

 

[rachels.haven]

I could try owls.
I will keep the bear proofing in the back of my mind if we start having on site appearances. So far I protect the chickens from bears by keeping the feed in the barn in feed cans. I should be bringing feeders out of the coop at night, but have been slacking because some of the birds are still young. 2 of the 6 ground level windows in the barn have bear bars. Considering finding a source for more. If bears go after my birds or barn Fish and Wildlife will dispose of them supposedly- not that it resurrects dead birds or goats or destroyed feed and property.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @rachels.haven,

I am about to show my ignorance (if you read me journal, you will learn that I do that quite often), but have you considered getting black Austrolorp (sp?) chickens. YouTube channel Red Tool House had a video that talked about those:

OK, all of you chicken experts out there can start to beat me with a wet noodle for being so dumb!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[rachels.haven]

Thanks for the suggestion. Maybe I'll try that if I have the opportunity to buy some adult australorps. Worst case scenario is that I get to have a few extra black birds to protect, and Australorps are usually pretty chill birds.

I bet having working roosters would help too. The hawk is small and roosters either hide their hens or go duke it out.

 

[rachels.haven]

No losses so far today. That's a big deal. I've lost a lot of chickens this week-more than I care to admit. The hawk is sitting in tree above covered run, screaming and screaming like a cartoon character, like he has nothing better to do. So weird. Now, the chickens are in a tiny cage, but it looks like nothing will eat them for now-assuming I follow the rules of chicken keeping of course, and don't let the sheets of snow fencing untie and fall away from each other. Maybe I'll try covering more of the run later this week. I may need to use the cheaper aviary netting though. That green stuff is pricey.

 

[Bruce]

I wonder if you could use the thicker deer netting (as opposed to the really thin bird netting), probably cheaper than full on aviary netting. It is amazing that the hawk managed to find its way back out, but you've got that entrance locked down now.

I read the YouTube comments for the video, some posted that they were losing black chickens to hawks. That brought up a comment from the video owner asking if they had crows around. Theory being that if the hawks already know that crows, and potentially other black birds of that size, are enemies that will fight, they leave them alone. In the absence of such an education, the hawks don't fear black birds about the size of a crow.

 

[rachels.haven]

Hmm, I wonder how it would go for us? Our crows have some interesting behavior involving hawks. Not sure it's the right kind, but it's interesting.
We have a pair of crows around. At the beginning of the year they'd chase the birds of prey around. Then when they had chicks to feed they stopped and I thought they'd moved on for a while. Then I noticed they were back and following the hawk around. It got to the point I could find our hawks by spotting the big pair of crows but they weren't attacking him. I couldn't figure out what they were doing. Then I started seeing the crows eating stuff in the yard, with the hawk off to one side on the ground, with no food. I think they use the small hawk for fresh kills. I don't feel bad for the hawk. It is a nasty bird.

The crows are gone now though. Too bad I don't want a big black mean rooster. He's probably do the trick and give the hawk a complex and a chicken aversion. I guess the mean ones are usually free, right? So if I did get desperate, it would cost me a road trip (and maybe sacrificed biosecurity, but that's another story). No adult australorp hens yet. I'll be keeping my eyes open. Fall is a good time to pick up molters.

 

[Bruce]

Probably a stupid idea but I wonder if one could find plastic crows somewhere and place them around the chicken yard. Of course the hawks would likely figure out they weren't a threat fairly soon.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Probably a stupid idea but I wonder if one could find plastic crows somewhere and place them around the chicken yard. Of course the hawks would likely figure out they weren't a threat fairly soon.

I have TONS of crows...real ones, ya all can have them !