Hawk baffles to protect chickens!
OK, this really isn't a "building' project in the strict sense, but it IS a clever (I think) little DIY to help protect free range chickens from predatory birds. I had a number of large, heavy metal tomato cages that I no longer needed and an area of bare ground where I had lost several girls to the local hawks, so I sunk the cages into the bare ground within sufficient proximity to one another to make it obvious to a hawk that it probably wouldn't have enough room to "hit and run". I placed the cages in a random pattern at about a wingspan's length from each other. This is in a sloped area that I need to keep open for walking and bringing up supplies to the orchard and pasture, so it's not practical to plant vegetation for the girls to hide under, there. The hawks have been out and busy for several weeks, now, but not on our property. So far, so good!
Comments
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That's a great idea. You can easily move the cages around too, if your traffic pattern changes, or just to keep the hawks guessing.
Hawks are a problem here too. I have several bird-feeding stations around the yard being an avid bird-watcher, and I have been careful to place those where trees, utility wires and other obstacles obstruct the hawks' flight path. It's something you have to keep up with too. When I first moved out here, much of the acreage was still open pasture. A pair of Red Tails nested on the place and pretty much ruled it, They are such large birds though, it wasn't hard situating the bird feeders in places they couldn't easily get at. But over the years as I let the woods grow back over most of the property the Red Tails moved on to find better hunting ground, and a pair of Broad Winged hawks moved in--they are woodland hawks, smaller and more agile than the Red Tails, and I had to re-position some of my bird feeders because of them. The little Sharp-Shinned hawks also visit from time to time, and they are really sneaky--I have seen one hide in a brush pile or a juniper bush to stalk the little song birds!
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Interesting idea. We don't have many hawk issues but the eagles circle ther property from 1 to 3 pm. The chickens either can not be out or I have to be out and making noise
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I WISH our hawks worked on a schedule like that. LOL! They come and go, but I've noticed that they sometimes stay closer during inclement weather so I keep our girls in longer on those days. I shout at the hawks, too, if I see them when I'm out. Otherwise, that's the job of our watch goose and he's pretty good, though not perfect. The baffles seem to be doing a good job so far of discouraging shoplifting in the open area near the coop where the birds love to congregate.
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Interesting observations. Neat that you pay such close attention! And it's interesting that the birds who hunt in more complex environments with more challenges adapt by becoming smarter - hiding and stalking instead of brute "troll, spot and catch" technique. Maybe you need a watch goose, LOL? They do a good job, IF you don't mind all the extra noise that comes with them! 😄
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@Suburban Pioneer You know, I have been seriously thinking about getting a few geese, for predator patrol duty, and also in the faint hopes they might go after the #@$%!!! squirrels that steal all the fruit off my trees before it even has a chance to ripen. Probably won't be able to manage geese this year, but I am planning on them for next year.
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Great idea for both hawk defense and good use of old tomato cages! Thank you for the tip!
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@MaryRowe I know nothing about geese, but I do know about the thievery of squirrels! Do you think the geese would go after them? Something for me to consider!
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We have finally had to give up on free ranging our girls. Turns out we have way too many predators in our area. Have had black bears, ermine, fox, owls, eagles and dogs - and they were not even from our neighborhood. Had an owl take one down in broad daylight just a short distance from where my husband was working. Fox sit on a hill several hundred yards from my husband and our girls and when my husband tried to get the girls back in the coop the fox snuck in closer through the woods and brush. Managed to grab one and run. Came back several times. We think it was the same one that showed up at a neighbors a mile or so behind us, but he happened to have a weapon with him and put the fox down as it tried to get into his coop. We never saw that one again.
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I only set mine free range if I am out in the main yard. Our yard was and is considered a buffet by wild life.
I love to let them roam but all people can't do that.
Hard decision isn't it?
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We had a rooster that when he saw the golden eagles flying over would make a sound like the bombs that were dropped over England in WWll. All the animals would run for cover, even the goats and sheep.
He could tell the difference between the golden eagles and other non predictor big birds.
He is on loan to another farm, but I don't think their giving him back. This is the second year since they borrowed him.
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@bcabrobin I would want chicks off that one! Awesome.
I remember reading a story of surprise one day from a poultry keeper in Canada.
One day, she opened up the coop to be almost face to face with an owl perched on the chicken roost. She had some sleuthing to do to try to figure out how it got in. I think she concluded that it must have gotten in before the chicken door was closed. Fortunately, she didn't lose anything.
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Yeah, foxes are a real challenge! I just discovered one that figured out before I did that several of the gorls were "hiding" their eggs between the shade cloth and the exterior wire wall of their barn. I was wondering why I wasn't getting as many eggs as I should have, LOL! Well, the fox decided he wanted that bounty of fresh eggs and tried to dig and chew his way under a more secluded corner of the barn. Luckily I found the evidence the next day quite by accident. I've made a makeshift barrier out of bags of rocks and several layers of cattle panel layered over one another in a way to make it impossible for him to get close enough to have leverage to dig. So far, so good, but, hot damn, Mother Natue is going to make things as difficult as possible for the farmer, isn't she? :-)
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We have squirrels aplenty here, but, strangely, they don't damage anything. Geese don't bother squirrels. Besides foxes, dogs and hawks, I'm really not sure HOW one would get rid of squirrels! Got any suggestions for gophers, though? 😑
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