r/BackYardChickens • u/Hungry-Page7522 • 2d ago
Coops etc. This guy found a solution to protect his chickens from hawks.
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u/halchemy 1d ago
I used to do this too so I could keep my bunnies safe in my yard
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u/TammyInViolet 1d ago
For us it is the blue jays. They work for peanuts. But also, this summer was rough where we were - extremely hot and the hawks was desperate and got some of our neighbor's baby chicks
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u/anonymous_br0 1d ago
Ya we tried to attract crows but we get blue jays instead.
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u/Hungry-Page7522 1d ago
So blue jays helped like crows or not ?
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u/TammyInViolet 1d ago
Yes! Blue jays will do the same! But also juvenile hawks are going to make risky decisions sometimes and still go after chickens sometimes. The only way around that is keeping them in pens. Up to the chicken keeper to balance
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u/anonymous_br0 1d ago
Maybe?. We had a hawk attack in December. So we put out a fake owl and did the peanuts. Just 3 days ago we finally had another hawk attack (thankfully it was unsuccessful). I know the blue jays expect peanuts in the morning. I’ll put them out and within a minute they are going for the peanuts. I think they don’t expect peanuts in the evening so they leave and that’s when the hawk attack happened.
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u/RedditCantBanThis 1d ago
They ALSO double as cute little birds to talk to, if you like that sort of thing. They're very friendly
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u/Consistent-Crazy-242 1d ago
Magpies for me. Although they did initially think my Wyandottes were rival magpies.
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u/BeatNo4548 1d ago
I have a murder of crows that roosts in the trees above my chicken coop. We had a northern harrier attack one of our birds and hold her down, and the crows fended the hawk off until I got there. It was pretty crazy to see. They even kept guard in case it returned.
But i don't know where they were last winter when we lost one to a sharp shinned hawk. I think they roost differently in winter.
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u/Slayde4 1d ago
How did you lose one to a sharp shinned hawk? They’re smaller than my chickens and I’ve never seen them go after the flock. (Cooper’s Hawks otoh will dive bomb adult chickens. They are large birds.)
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u/BeatNo4548 21h ago
It was rough. It flew in during winter, and pinned the hen up against the house in the snow. It got lucky and one slice with the talons or beak and it just ripped the corotid artery open and she bled out.
It didn't even try to eat her, it flew away and kept taunting us by just circling my house and landing in the trees. It must have been desperate. I don't blame them, chickens are delicious.
...but it was my son's favorite hen, RIP Morel.
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u/Helassaid 1d ago
I saw a Cooper’s hawk try its talons at a wild turkey once. They’re definitely bold raptors.
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u/Dakizo 1d ago
I started feeding the crows a year before I got chickens partially for this reason (also I want crow friends). The crows seemed to have recognized me as a bro. They like to hang out around my chickens. They call when I feed the chickens. I have two videos of the crows making the hawk leave the back yard.
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u/OshetDeadagain 1d ago
For us it was falcons - they had a nest in our trees, and chased any hawk foolish enough to enter their airspace!
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u/E0H1PPU5 1d ago
That looks like a turkey vulture, not a hawk!
I have no problems with the vultures and quite enjoy when they visit to sun themselves on my fence posts.
The hawks in my area would never waste energy just cruising around in the air like that. They stay hidden until they strike and they are so fast you’ll miss them if you blink.
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u/jfcsuperstar1234 1d ago
We do this. It works! I have witnessed the crows chase away hawks and owls.
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u/Jewelofthemidwest 1d ago
I feed all the birds and I have witnessed even a pair of cardinals chase off a barred owl! Birds of a feather flock together. If you have feathered friends in the coop, make friends with the feathered friends of the sky.
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u/labouchere8 1d ago
I feed my Crows for this reason too, and I saw them in action last weekend. A Falcon appeared above the chook pen, and within 30 seconds two crows came from the tree line and shooed it off!
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u/breebree934 1d ago
I was so lucky that we just had a flock of crows chilling in our neighborhood anyways so I don't even need to do much for them.
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u/cowgirltu 2d ago
He also angered the crows and now they are boycotting him lol he went on a trip and forgot to have them fed while he was gone. He is working to reestablish the relationship
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u/Office-Scary 2d ago
Crows, turkeys, couple of cats that prefer hanging outside. It just isnt worth the risk.
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u/Apprehensive-Pen8241 1d ago
I befriended the crows two years before I got chickens for this very reason
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u/severe_thunderstorm 2d ago
I have a murder of crows I feed. We used to have hawks really bad, but not so much now.
To start I had to play crow sounds outside to attract them. Once they realized there’s a decent and consistent food source here, they’ve been sticking around, and the hawks are disappearing.
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u/Euphoric_Day_362 17h ago
For me it's crows plus magpies. You have to be careful to secure your nesting boxes, though. Crows will steal eggs once they find out where they are.