Hawk protection for the flock.

[Alan W.]

After losing my rooster to a red tailed hawk I decided to try and come up with a solution. Admittedly the easiest would have been lead. I needed something that would work without me being there. I remembered seeing this from someplace before. I simply drove a short piece of chainlink top rail into the ground then inserted a full length piece into it. I pop riveted a post cap to the top to tie off to. Ran white nylon twine to each post and between. Since doing this I have seen a hawk try to get the chickens twice but flare off when he got close to the twine. Fairly cheap and so far effective.

 

[RNeumann]

Don’t jinx it!

 

[fried1765]

View attachment 628436View attachment 628437

After losing my rooster to a red tailed hawk I decided to try and come up with a solution. Admittedly the easiest would have been lead. I needed something that would work without me being there. I remembered seeing this from someplace before. I simply drove a short piece of chainlink top rail into the ground then inserted a full length piece into it. I pop riveted a post cap to the top to tie off to. Ran white nylon twine to each post and between. Since doing this I have seen a hawk try to get the chickens twice but flare off when he got close to the twine. Fairly cheap and so far effective.

Very ingenious idea!

 

[jjp8182]

That looks a lot simpler than the mesh netting we used to use over the chicken, wild turkey and ring-necked pheasant pens my parents had when I was growing up .....granted that mesh netting was also needed as part of the "fencing" to keep the animals in the pen.

So yeah, I think I'll need to remember this if/when I ever get any birds of my own...... and on that note thanks for sharing!

 

[cholland]

I did something similar three years ago. I tied a long rope in between two large trees on either side of my run area and then zig zagged masons line over the top. Seems to work well. Consider something UV resistant, I found the masons line lasts about two years in the sun.

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]Admittedly the easiest would have been lead. I needed something that would work without me being there.[snip]

Or being arrested. :laughing:

Your solution is very clever! Good luck with it!

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks like a smart idea. I have about 150 chickens and they free range all day, so we just accept the losses to hawks. Fortunately they are not that bad of a problem. My guess is maybe half a dozen a year. Coyotes are my bigger issue and what I'm clearing trees to get more fencing up to keep them out.

 

[kenmac]

All of mine are in a 25'x25' pen with covered top I see the hawks land in the trees all around the pen looking down.
I just look up and smile and tell them.. No chicken dinner today ! LOL

 

[oosik]

Not only an intelligent solution but you are a good person Alan W. No easy dinner at your house. A gun club about 20 miles SW of me raises pheasants. They have chicken wire stretched over the operation. Alway must take care when riding my motorcycle in that area. A big pheasant might bring me down.

 

[Threepoint]

For years I field-trialed upland game bird dogs, which typically uses pen-raised bobwhite quail, chukar and in special situations ring-neck pheasant. For the bird farms, avian predation is a constant threat. The large flight pens are usually covered with a mesh of tough polyethylene netting. Sometimes the frustrated hawks will dive-bomb the pens to flush the quail into the air, up against the netting. The hawks grab them with their talons, sit on the netting, and pull them apart with their beaks, right through the netting.

I've read that the life expectancy of pen-raised birds released at field trials, at least in the eastern U.S., is only 3 or 4 days max, if they survive the event. This due in large part to avian predation.

 

[Jstpssng]

My biggest loss to predation has been to weasels. I eliminated that by moving the henhouse out from under the trees; weasels don’t like crossing open ground as it makes them vulnerable to hawks and owls. Now my biggest problem is raccoons and foxes; I no longer let them free range unless I’m around. I heard a ruckus from my meat birds earlier this summer, stepping out the door I saw a fox trying to get at them through the fence. She circled around the dooryard and I had my sights on her but was loathe to pull the trigger as I knew she had babies nearby; compassion which has bitten me in the a** before and probably will again.

 

[FarmerPhilip]

I've repeatedly read that these predator birds (not just hawks) hate shiny objects and that hanging a few CDs around will do the job. Personally, I would not like strings strung all over the place like this, it's and can come up with 10 reasons why not. The first of which is I'm sure I'd get caught in it! ::laughing::

I think the idea of trying to deter the predator instead of kill it is excellent and it's not easy to do. I plan to have a couple of tripods with CDs hanging from them next spring to try that method out, we'll see if it works.

Jstpssng, you might be repaid for your compassion with less rabbits easting your plants, less rodents everywhere, and a bunch of other benefits too. There's two sides (or more) to most stories!

 

[Alan W.]

I will have to admit had I been home when the attack occurred things would have ended differently. I had raised this rooster from a homemade incubator and he was a pet to me.
From the abundant hawk feathers he gave a pretty good fight.

 

[radios1]

I have chickens, and had 2 Ducks, one time a hawk tried to get the chickens, and was attacked by the Ducks, it was fearing for it's life, as it's tail feathers were pulled out.. it couldn't get out of there fast enough!!..

 

[Jstpssng]

I have chickens, and had 2 Ducks, one time a hawk tried to get the chickens, and was attacked by the Ducks, it was fearing for it's life, as it's tail feathers were pulled out.. it couldn't get out of there fast enough!!..

That would have been a good YouTube moment! :laughing:

 

[radios1]

That would have been a good YouTube moment! :laughing:

yep, I didn't think of that though.

 

[Shaneard]

The only time we ever had chickens on the farm was when I was a kid. Last thing I remember about them was an ax to the neck over a stump and mom frying them. Man they were good.

They probably have laws against that now :confused2:

 

[radios1]

I hear it's a good idea to raise Canada geese with your chickens, geese make very good defenders..

 

[Jstpssng]

The only time we ever had chickens on the farm was when I was a kid. Last thing I remember about them was an ax to the neck over a stump and mom frying them. Man they were good.

They probably have laws against that now :confused2:

If it is, they'll be locking me up and throwing away the key.

 

[NorTracNY]

I ate at a restaurant on the water one time. They combined what the OP said and what Farmer Phillip mentioned. They had several strands of film from the old VHS tapes crisscrossing over the tables. They didn't have nearly the number the OP shows, but they had them crisscrossing. They would twist and did an excellent job keeping the birds away.