Chicken farmers constantly face the threat of hawks preying on their chickens and depleting the numbers of chickens with swift attacks. This situation might have seemed like a hopeless one before now because the hawk comes in swiftly and is out in a few seconds before you even know what to do.
Fortunately, there are ways to keep hawks away from chickens and in this article, we will discuss it.
1. Scarecrows
Scarecrows have several functions on the farm, and one of them is to keep hawks away from your chicken. When you install scarecrows, it gives the impression that there’s a human on the farm, and the hawk will be wary. However, for this approach to work long-term, you will need to keep moving the scarecrow’s position to avoid suspicion.
2. Guard Dogs
German shepherds and some other dog breeds are trained to go after hawks and keep them away from your chicken, so you can have them on your farm. However, you must also ensure that your dog is trained to not eat chickens. Otherwise, you might have a worse problem on your hands.
3. Roosters
You can have roosters on your farm to send your chickens a warning every time there is a threat of hawks so that they can run for safety. However, only if you are permitted to do so. The protective nature of these roosters will be a plus and will help you safeguard your chickens.
4. Fake Owls
Owls and hawks are somewhat of competitors, so when you have a fake owl on your farm, you can keep owls away because they think the territory has already been taken. However, just like the scarecrow, you’ll have to move your fake owl decoy around from time to time.
5. Black Chickens
Adding a few black chickens to your farm might be a very simple solution because their color will send a warning to the hawk, thinking that crows, their enemies are on the farm, and they won’t dare to get into the farm.
6. Use Reflection
Reflective objects can keep hawks away because their eyes are sensitive to shiny objects. So, use reflective tapes, mirrors, and old CDs to keep the hawks away. Use Bird Blinder Repellent Pinwheels for more effect. In addition to reflection, you can also paint large-sized eyes on your coop, further scaring away the hawks.
7. Leverage Sound
You can achieve this in two ways. On the one hand, you can use wind chimes with different sounds at different times to chase away the hawks. You can also include noisy poultry such as guard geese or guinea fowl to inform the chicken of impending danger with their loud noise.
8. Covered feeding area and runs
Using wires or netting to cover your chicken runs is a good way to keep hawks away from your coop. There are a lot of cost-effective netting and wiring options out there to explore.
You should also cover the feeding area so that your chickens are safe while they eat, and won’t be attacked when they are the least watchful.
9. Limit roaming
Restricting how far your chickens can roam without any protection increases their safety. Whenever your chickens are free to roam without protection, you have given hawks free access to your chickens, so always give them covering and protection.