How to Protect Chickens from Hawks

Chickens benefit from the protection of fences topped by wire or netting.

Hawks can prey on chickens and other poultry such as ducks and turkeys. Protecting chickens from hawks can be a major problem. Anything that upsets the hens causes them to go down in egg production, and nothing will upset a flock more than having a hawk eyeing them and attacking them for a meal. You can take steps to protect your chickens from predation.

Things You'll Need

• Chicken wire
• Garden netting
• Fishing line
• Nylon string

Instructions

1. Cover the top of the chicken pen with wire or garden netting. Place support posts across the center of the pen if it is more than 5 to 10 foot wide. Tie the wire or netting to the top of the fence wire with nylon string and stretch the covering across the pen. Trim the lower limbs of trees growing in the pen so as not to interfere with the netting. Or crisscross the pen top with fishing line or nylon string to make a woven barrier that the hawk won't want to fly through.

2. Give the chickens cover to hide under for hawk protection. If the pen is too large to have a top cover, plant bushes. For example, a mulberry bush provides cover and the added bonus of berries in the summer. Allow stinkweeds, millet, broomcorn, sorghum and other tall plants to grow. Hawks like to catch things out in the open, so thick plant growth deters them and allows the chickens to feel safer.

3. Fence off a corner or two of the chicken yard, leaving a small pop hole for the chickens to get through. Feed the birds in this area so they learn how to get in and out. They can run into these protected areas if threatened. Or build small covered shelters in each corner with small openings to achieve the same goal.

Tips & Warnings

• Lock up the chickens in their coop at night if their pen is not hawk-proofed.

References

• Virginia Cooperative Extension; Small Scale Poultry Housing; Phillip J. Clauer; 2009