If that's the case, they can pile on top of one another in a panic, and trample one another like mobs at Christmas. If your run is not covered and is very small, your birds have nowhere to run when a hawk comes. Tying brightly covered ribbon on the cover can help hawks to spot the barrier (otherwise they may dive right through without seeing it, and then get trapped in the run with your chickens!). Chicken wire is also fine for this, and cheap plastic netting will work equally well for smaller applications. No tall fence will keep out these flying hunters since they attack from the air, so the only way to exclude them is to cover your run with wire or plastic netting. For the daytime hunters like hawks, falcons, eagles and the like, you may opt to cover your run with aviary netting. Since they hunt at night, owls preying on chickens that are securely cooped will be very rare. Lock your flock up at night, when owls are hunting.However, there are a few important things to consider as you decide the most effective way to head off the threat in your particular situation.
Raptors are not the most common predators in most cases to begin with, so keeping your flock safe from birds of prey is not terribly complex.
#Baby mississippi kite bird how to
How to protect your flock from birds of prey Even very small hawks like the Sharp-shinned may sometimes try to get one of your chickens, although they normally stick to hunting wild birds the size of sparrows and robins. Bald and Golden eagles and other larger birds may prey on your chickens, too. Even then, chickens are not their preferred prey.īecause it is relatively common and it is large enough to prey on chickens easily, the raptor that most often preys on chickens is probably the Red-tailed Hawk. If you live in a rural area, though, you may be located in their summer or winter hunting grounds. Anecdotally, we tend to hear more reports of predation by hawks in the spring and fall, perhaps when many of these birds are on the move. Many day-hunting raptors are migratory, and especially if you live in an urban area, will usually not stay in the area harassing your flock for long. Owl defecation will be chunkier, chalkier (and they generally don't pluck feathers). If you have a day hunting bird, for example, you might find feathers plucked and scattered, and then stripes of whitewash from defecation on or close to a nearby fence post, tree or telephone pole. Sometimes, however, if the bird of prey is large and your chickens are small bantams or young birds, your chicken may just be carried off to be eaten elsewhere, with nothing remaining.īirds of prey may defecate near the kill site, leaving stripes or splashes of white. If you find feathers plucked with flesh still clinging to the ends, your bird died of some other cause, and the raptor was just scavenging. Day-hunting birds like hawks, eagles, and falcons will cleanly pluck feathers.
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