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.