Raptor deterrence

So, a few layer chicks have disappeared, with a wing from one being the only evidence left behind.  Given how many layers of fencing contain them, and the lack of issues with any other birds that a ground based predator would encounter first, I’m thinking raptor.  Owl specifically since there was an attack just an hour and a half ago (~3am) plus there was some ruckus around the same time a few nights ago too, before said wing was found.  The bird tonight appears to have mostly escaped harm, save a few feathers ripped off her back.  When it’s light we’ll do another head count.  All have since been locked into their coop/brooder for the rest of the night.  I did check and none of the other groups of birds had any obvious problems.

For at least the next couple weeks we’ll be locking them in at night of course.  But for the future I’d like to know if folks have had good luck with string and flashy things over the top of the chicken area for stopping owl incursions.  I know such strategies are usually effective with diurnal raptors, but at night I wasn’t sure if the small amount of light, especially on cloudy or moonless nights, would be enough for the flashy things to discourage an owl from flying into their area.  

I really don’t want to keep them locked in at night long term.  The layers are the kids responsibility, and I don’t want to have to parent them not getting up early enough (especially now over summer break) to let them out at a reasonable time, or failing to secure them at night.  I have plenty to parent them on as it is, and I have plenty to do for the other animals too.

Our chickens (we have 17) are not completely free ranged, as they've been known to decimate the garden. However, they have a very generous 30' by 30' fenced-in run, doubled fenced for extra security and privacy. They have a coop for nesting and roosting, plus fun "enrichment activities", access to sun and shade, plus a great compost heap to scratch through. As far as not being "free ranged," they've got a life of luxury, LOL

We have a huge bird netting across the top of the whole area. Something similar to this:  https://www.amazon.com/DQS-Netting-Poultry-Protect-%EF%BC%8CVegetables%EF%BC%8CFruit/dp/B07FNNRKYC/ref=sr_1_35?dchild=1&keywords=bird+netting&qid=1623929791&sr=8-35

The whole netting sits 6-8 feet high for people to comfortably walk under. It's stapled to all four edges. We have four center supports. Hubbie built them this way: 4 metal pickets pounded into the ground, with 8 foot lengths of PVC strapped to the pickets. At the top of the PVC are T-joints, with ropes inserted through. The ropes are attached to the edges, to the bird netting just rests on top of it all. (If I can take a video, I'll post it here later.)

I really think the bird netting has been a good investment. We have lots of hawks and owls that live in the woods that butt up to the chicken run. (The woods aren't ours.)

Overall our layers have at least a half acre to free range in.  The chicks have a 100’ circumference area inside that until they’re ready to integrate with the adult chickens.  So I can cover the chicks area easily enough, but for the rest of the chicken space, it’s really not practical.

That said, I despise bird netting.  Between how badly it tangles on everything and the low durability I’d really rather no use it.  I will if I have to.  But if I put a 10’ t-post next to the building for the chicks and run string to the fence around it and tie something flashy to the strings I’ll be happier most likely.  Assuming such would be effective. Which is my question.

Hi Andrew,

While I do free range my chickens at times.  During period when preditors seem to be more active, I have a covered chicken run.....actually, I have three covered chicken runs.  I use chicken wire over the top. It does not seem to tangle birds like netting, but it keeps out attacks from the air.

I have lost far too many chickens to leave mine unsecured at night.  It takes me less than 2 minutes to walk to the coop and close it in the evening or to open it in the morning, so it's as much a habit as brushing my teeth in the morning at this point.  For some people it may be more inconvenient than that, but for me, locking them in securely at night is the way to go.

I had a couple hawk kills one fall so started keeping the birds cooped until the afternoon when I got home and putting out scarecrows while the chickens were free ranging. Bit of a pain to put them out daily and take them back down, but supposedly if they're ALWAYS out then the raptors start to see them as stationary objects instead of a threat. I made it easy by mounting the scarecrows on pcv pipes that just slid onto short posts when needed. Seemed to work, didn't have any more hawk issues.

The way I knew they were hawk kills was because of the act in broad daylight, corpses left behind, and only neck and breast meat eaten.  

Sadly you really only have two options; barrier of some sort or lock them up.

I have watched some fabulous documentaries on Owl flight where they set up all manner of obstacles from fishing line to mesh walls to essentially a thicket of branches, then flew owls through this tunnel of obstacles and video taped it in ultra slow motion.

Owls ears are asymmetrical, one high one low, these more than anything are their "eyes" and the belief was they were almost echo locating, like a bat, to a significant degree. This is why I hesitate to suggest strands of fishing line, reflective or spinning objects or other methods as deterrents. I really think it is an ALL or nothing approach that is needed.

To secure them from flying predators you need not use plastic mesh "bird" netting, nor do you need to do their entire paddock, perhaps a safe zone around their coop?

Roofing could be solid, lattice, wood, fish nets, wire...even sheets or tarps. I get that it would be a huge pain, to secure them from flying predators, but it would be pretty much a "one off" project that would do it's job with no further effort required on your part, once built. If you used wood/lattice it would be fabulous to grow beans and other runners over providing shade and food for the hens.

The only other option is to fully secure them every night, and either move them to a smaller roofed area or coop them.

Now that you mention that, I've seen that video.  Been quite a few years.  I had forgotten about it until you said something.

We've never had a problem with owls before.  I'm thinking that maybe if we just keep them locked up at night for a few weeks  it'll move on to more productive areas.  Plus, as the chickens grow they'll eventually be too big for an owl to want to take.  They're vulnerable on the ground to other predators, so anything they can't fly away with may be too risky to want to attempt (unless starving - that will drive any predator to risk taking behaviors they normally wouldn't exhibit).

You may want to try to identify the Owl(s) as to species; a Great Horned could, likely, take a full size hen, whereas a Screech or Barn would be less likely. Easiest way would be to Google owl calls, and listen to what they are "saying".

As it is baby season, I would not be so sure they would move on after just a few weeks... Identifying the bird would give you insight into the nesting/hatching/branching timeline. The last thing you want is their babies being taught how to hunt on your birds!

I remember as a kid on my grandpa's turkey farm we had issues with owls. Grandpa sat leg hold traps on the tops of the corner posts and catch them. You can't imagine how terrifying those things are up close to a 3 year old. He'd throw a burlap bag over it, release the trap and scream at the owl when it got out of the bag.
He didn't want to kill them, he just wanted his livestock left alone. He figured they'd stay away after that treatment.
I like to believe he was right...

Hi Michael,

What is a leg hold trap?

Bald eagle killed an old hen this morning too now.  Saw it myself.

John,
It's simply a trap that grabs the critters leg and holds it until released. They ones he used were a scaled down version of the traps used on a trap line for skunks and possums.

Micheal: not sure if this would be legal, nowadays...I would check wildlife regs in one's area before attempting this; plus I would be concerned about injury to the bird or human attempting to release the trapped bird.

Understand, but this was the 60's and I didn't have much choice in the matter. I'm not advocating this form of protection, just sharing my experience.
I definitely agree one should check regulations. Thank you for pointing that out! I didn't think anyone today would even consider doing this, so I overlooked the law aspect.
I don't know how effective  grandpa's method was. I don't know how many were repeat customers. If you kill one, another will take its place.
Most, if not all, raptors are protected by law and one could get themselves into a whole, big ball of worms by molesting one. I always advocate proper fencing and secure buildings for livestock over killing wildlife.

Yeah, killing a raptor is very bad federal juju.  Heard about a guy that traded weed for a dead eagle.  Got a fine for the drugs.  Got 3-5 years for possession of the eagle.  And he wasn’t even the one who killed it.

I have a friend that had some predators watching his chickens.
No top cover on his coup.
So small birds would come down and get food too.

Well the small birds didn't like the hawk and chased it away.
I've seem small birds harassing big birds before.
Not sure how to encourage that behavior.
Small bird houses, feeders and baths near your chickens?

Not much help if it's a night bird but sounds like it might not be.

An owl got one of the chickens on my grandma's farm.
Got home to feathers all over the yard.
I later saw it sitting on top of the chicken coup getting ready to go in.
I scared it away, but not far enough away.
Went and got my bow and arrow.
Shot it toward him, he went a little farther away.
I stalked that owl for over an hour shooting arrows toward it.
Aiming low not trying to hit it. But he didn't know that, ha.
It left and we never lost another chicken to birds.
Musta told his friends about me,  ha.

Hi Andrew,

We have an eagle that circles our property daily.   Fortunately, we have a good many overhanging branches where are small goats are. And, as I commented, the chickens are under cover.

We have lost a couple of chickens to predator birds.   But after doing a few things, it stopped.  It's been a number of years, now since we lost one.

As recommended by someone here, the first thing I did was confront the hawks.  The crows usually gave them away.   When I heard the crows, I would go out, and sure enough, there would be a big red tail hawk or sometimes two in the trees above the chicken yard.

What you do is walk out and bark out "HEY!!!"   The hawks will spin their heads and look.   Stare intently at them and yell at them while walking toward them.    They typically will fly a couple of trees away, and look back.  You follow them, staring and yelling and maybe throwing rocks in their direction.

It seems that once they know that you are targeting THEM and yelling at THEM, it unnerves them, and they stay away.   Especially if you can do it more than once.

The second thing we did was give them covered areas to run to.   We have under the coop, a couple of big dog houses, and a truck shell sitting on top of cinderblocks.

That yelling thing works on a lot of animals, in my experience.   I bet Grandpa's catching and yelling at the owls worked 100%.    It's awesome that he would release them.   A lot of old timers believe in the three S's....   Shoot, shovel and shut up.     A lot of farmers around here still believe in that, but I'd rather work with nature rather than kill it.

Also, for what it's worth, we feed the local scavenger animals in a set area about 1/4 mile back in the woods.   Chicken guts and carcasses, fish heads and anything else like that, we take to the spot.     I once put a game camera out there, and everyone fed.   Coyotes, foxes, skunks, possums, coons, hawks and eagles showed up, especially in the winter.   And since doing that, we haven't had a single fox or coyote mess with our chickens.

We have a dog that guards the birds at night.    He will occasionally kill a possum or coon that tries to get to the coop.   It's rare.   They mostly smell his urine and stay away.

But I digress...

Something else that might help is getting a remote coop door closer.

I made one for $45.   Was a $29 linear actuator from Amazon, and a  $15 remote controller.

Here is a video of the one I made:  

We mainly do it to keep the rooster from crowing at 4:30 AM, but it keeps the chickens safe at night.

I do (did, I don't have chx anymore) use heavy 30 lb test monofilament line over my 40x30 range yard.  My fence is regular 4' 4x2 welded wire mesh, with a 10 foot piece of EMT wired to every post.  That hangs a 5 foot section of nylon bird net.  That makes it pretty much varmint proof.  I string the mono from the top of each piece of EMT and criss-cross it over the whole area.  I first saw this done on restaurant decks down the Jersey shore to keep the gulls out.  Works great.  I've never had a raptor or owl attack, they simply won't fly under it.  

Great Horned Owls are notorious for snacking on house cats in some areas (for instance in Vermont, where farm cats can be more like an annual crop than a perennial). I think they'd be well able to snatch even a large chicken.