Siddiqir
179 posts
Feb 07, 2005
8:13 AM
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Cameron, I am in New Jersey and I do not fly birds from Nov. 1st to March 31st. No worth flying because I either lose them to hawks/falcon or they scare the birds and they go far away from home and never find way back home. You need to find the hawks’ migration season and lock the birds up during that period...this is may be not the response you are looking for but that is how I save my birds from hawks.
There are few posts on this forum talks about hawks/falcon which you need to browse that may help. Thanks, -Rauf
Last Edited by Siddiqir on Feb 07, 2005 8:21 AM
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Leo
61 posts
Feb 07, 2005
11:10 AM
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Hey Cam, I live about 45 min south of you, put your birds up till april, you can fly pretty hawk free till october,.Ive lost most of a great kit this past oct.I see hawks, waiting in tree tops, circling my barns an coops,by april theyll be movin on,,,and ill be flying again....LEO
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JUrbon
56 posts
Feb 07, 2005
6:41 PM
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Cameron, I know how you are feeling and believe me when I say this that if you want to be able to fly birds on a competitive level then you must have the will power to lock them down. I will tell you that I have been flying rollers for better than 20 years which is not as long as some but certainly long enough to figure this problem out. I have had the same family of birds since 1988 and I was not able to put out a competitive kit for the big flies up until I decided that I was not going to feed the preditors just so that I could watch birds fly every day.You will really thank yourself when the world cup comes around and you still have some of the good ones left to fly (because those are always the ones that go first when the hawks start comming aroung). Have fun,enjoy the birds when you can and apreciate them when you can't. Joe Urbon
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2701Dunn
10 posts
Feb 08, 2005
6:09 AM
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Guys thanks for all the support and helpful hints. I can not thank you enough. The problem is that the hawks are residental hawks. last august they got me and they were here all winter. so its like if they were migrating that would be great but i dont think they are. i actually told a buddy of mine they pretty much got me started about doing the mobile kit idea. he is all for it and we are going to get together and put a cage together and try this out. what do you guys think about that. i guess breed at my house and train and fly elsewhere where it is safer for my birds. let me know what you guys think.
thankt a lot !!
cameron
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J_Star
201 posts
Feb 08, 2005
6:58 AM
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Once the rollers are mature enough, they should be able to outrun a hawk. When they come to land and there are obstructions around such as large trees and other structures that will give hawks leverage to ambush the rollers. You could have some defense mechanisms. If you live close to wooded areas, you can set traps and relocate the hawks. Or you can use your smokestack to scare them off or possibly use firework bottle rockets if the weather is not dry enough that will cause fires. You need to experiment with methods available to you and see what works for you.
This time of year, there is a hawk in every neighborhood. Each covers about 10 miles diameter area but they will move out at around the end of March. This subject is touchy due to the protection act in place; therefore, you need to develop your own method that will work for you and stay within the law limits.
Jay
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dj
2 posts
Feb 24, 2005
6:06 AM
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One way to distract the hawks is keep a metal trash can lid aroung and a large stick or baseball bat. Friend of mine hits the lid whenever he sees a hawk chasing his birds. The noise makes the hawk leave. You did not say what kind of hawks they were. If Red Tails, then probably the one chasing your birds was a young one. Nice to have them around. The adults can't catch my birds and they keep the coopers away most of the time. I have a pair 2 blocks away. They even help get the birds up on days they want to fly low.
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