Hawk problem

[Masherbrum]

Yeager pretty much summed it up perfectly.

[Tupac]

Yeager pretty much summed it up perfectly.

Except I don't intend on shooting the bird, infact I've been asking for other ways to get rid of him.

I will not shoot him.
I will not set him on fire.
I will not harm it in any way.

[Masherbrum]

Put a netting over the area then. 

[SlapShot]

geese are a whole differant thing, there was a house that had a few when I walked to school in 7th grade they were very awesome but would attack ya if ya got to close lol

Yup ... they are pretty intimidating in a group. We called them "Guard Geese". Very protective of his kids and the yard.

Saw a stray dog meander into his yard once ... it didn't work out too well for the dog. When he finally realized that he was getting is arse kicked from all directions, he took off like a bullet with 4 geese in hot pursuit ... heads low to the ground with wings fully extended and honkin' like mad. Never saw that dog again. Utter amazement turned to belly laughter when it was all over.

[ink]

lol thats funny watermelon right there.....

[oakranger]

killing any bird of prey to protect a chicken is about as oxymoronic as it gets.

Thats like killing a Bengal Tiger to protect a mouse.

Well, look at it this way.  If we did not have these laws, every trigger happy fool would shot any raptor to near extinction.  The ecosystem is a delicate balance that just one species out of place can throw the whole system into "chaos". 

A excellent example:  Since the removal of the gray wolf in and around Yellowstone national park, the large herbivore population was not in check.  Steams and riparian zones where being over grazed by elk, moose, deer, and bison.  This caused a decline population of plants, birds and aquatic species.  So, you can see that one specie being remove caused a mass dysfunction in many ways for the last century.
OK, lets look at the present situation.  The gray wolf has been reintroduced and expanding their territory.  This is good because they are preying on the large herbivores.  The results also shows that stream and riparian zones that i talked about being over grazed, are now recovering.  Species of birds plants and aquatic population are coming back with the recovery too. 

[Delirium]

Wouldn't it just be easier to put a cover on the chicken pen? Pardon the pun but use chicken wire...

if there in a enclosed pen and the top is open you can buy 1/4 x 1/4 plastic netting that you can stretch over the top, it will keep the chickens from being attack by hawks or any other predatory bird

Put a netting over the area then. 

Yea, it is far easier to kill the hawk than actually fix the problem.

[Babalonian]

If I didn't live in the city I'd probabley have a small coop with a few hens and a rooster, I think they're great as a family pet.  Geese or a tom turkey are a good idea for some extra protection in the coop... but I also don't want them for that reason, they're nasty tempered big birds and just not fun, lol. 

Chickens are very low maintenance, just a bit smelly so you keep them out back in a corner where you can keep an eye on the coop but don't have to smell it.  Give em a place to keep warm, dry and safe, give them a little food and water everyday, let them out to wander around your yard and garden to eat all the bugs now and then.  And with the right number on a good rotation, fresh eggs every morning (and there is NOTHING like good fresh eggs, if you love eggs then chicken raising might be your fastest track to living fatter and happier).  Only downside to them is they are pretty vulnerable birds to many hungry critters, and the other usual supporting a dependent living creature things: like finding some hay to lay down in the coop/pen and shoveling out the old smelly sh!@ a couple times a year, throwing some feed and water in a couple bowls daily, etc..

[bagrat]

Except I don't intend on shooting the bird, infact I've been asking for other ways to get rid of him.

I will not shoot him.
I will not set him on fire.
I will not harm it in any way.

train a faster stronger hawk and release it to kill the other hawk then you won't have to harm it yourself.


durrrrrp

[Yossarian]

I'd say put some sort of enclosure around the chickens, a net should do it.

[allaire]

What does redtail hawk taste like

Kind of like a mix of California Condor and Bald Eagle.


Edited because of stupid fingers.

[Tupac]

I bought one of those big plastic owls and set it up, and if that doesn't work I'm going to have to build an enclosure for them

[ink]

Tupac~truly glad you are going this route, sux about your birds, I hope this cures it.     

[mtnman]

I bought one of those big plastic owls and set it up, and if that doesn't work I'm going to have to build an enclosure for them

I'd get started on the enclosure, myself...  Not all of the critters that would like to nibble on your fowl will be fooled by (or scared of) a real owl, let alone a fake one (many won't even notice it).  Make sure you use a tight enough weave on your fencing.  Chicken wire won't even slow down a weasel; they go right through the gaps.  I had one get in by my pigeons a few years ago.  It (or they?) killed a pigeon the first night, then 4 more the second.  The third night they killed the last 33.  Yup, 33.  I'd decided I was going to improve things the next day, but by then I had no more pigeons...  They didn't eat any of the pigeons, they just killed them.  Some of them had their heads eaten off.  Blood and feathers all over in there, even bloody footprints.  I also had a chicken wire pen full of baby ducks in it a few years earlier.  They got killed the same way.  I thought my pigeons were going to be ok...  Now, I've weasel-proofed my enclosures...  Opossums and raccoons are deadly as well.  You can't kill all the predators in your area, and if you did more would just move in.  It's better to just protect your critters with good enclosures.

The owl will work best to keep small songbirds out of your garden.  In situations where raptors are intent on killing captive birds, it isn't unusual to find several raptors all hanging around waiting for an opportunity, or one to get hungry enough to kill something so the others can steal it.  Around here, I've seen as many as eight redtails, plus a few coopers all hanging around a pheasant pen at the same time.  I'm confident there were more that I couldn't see.  The owl decoy wouldn't bother them much.  At first, it may keep them from killing your chickens because they'll be worried the owl will steal it from them.  Eventually, they'll figure out it isn't a threat.  Raptors are pretty smart, and learn very fast.

[fbWldcat]

The solution to the opossum, racoon and weasel problem can be a bottle of something called DEER OFF. It can be difficult to find, but it has a very potent (I mean VERY potent, I didn't even spray it near my face and there was no wind, it smelled and burned worse than pepper spray) formula. I used it when we had rabbits, gophers, chipmunks, racoons and opossum eating our peppers and tomatoes. No more pesky pests. I'm not sure what effect this would have on raptors, though, I heard from a friend a while back that they have little/no receptors of capsaicin, the main ingredient (although not the only ingredient).

The stuff might be worth looking into; non-lethal and may give you time to build the enclosure (once again depends on the effect it has on the birds).