On April 8, in Qinglong County, Guizhou Province, a chicken farm owner sparked attention for using firecracker launchers to scare away hawks that frequently preyed on his free-range chickens.

Mr. Li, the farm owner, said he raises tens of thousands of chickens using a free-range method. Before taking protective measures, hawk attacks resulted in the loss of over a thousand chickens each year. On one occasion, as many as 18 hawks attacked at once — yelling at them didn’t work, and the hawks simply feasted on the chickens in the open.

As birds of prey, hawks often use the terrain for cover to launch sudden attacks. Free-range chickens, lacking a strong group defense mechanism, struggle to effectively resist these predators.

To reduce losses, Mr. Li installed launchers and began regularly setting off double-bang firecrackers ("er ti jiao"). The loud explosions and bright flashes frightened the hawks and drove them away. Since then, hawk attacks have significantly decreased, and the farm has seen a major drop in losses.