To all dog kennel chicken RUN owners with no hardware cloth (graphic)

I want to tell everyone that an owl killed one of my precious Marans chicks- only 5 1/2 weeks old tonight. I looked out the window and saw the owl in action, so I know who did it.

He reached under the bird netting I had along the sides of the kennel and grabbed the chick through the chain link. Then pulled the chick through and ate it's head. I knocked on the window, scaring him off, and ran out there but it was too late.

One of the silkie roos had blood all over it, but was uninjured. I presume he tried to help. I should have listened to all the wise ones here on BYC...the posts that said that predators will reach through chain link and grab them.

I can only hope that my words will help save someone else's precious chicken. I removed all the chickens from this setup until I can reinforce with hardware cloth around the base.

Here is the picture of my setup before this happened:

Holy crap! Never heard of an owl doing that! Maybe a bobcat or raccoon but never an owl...Sorry for your loss We have lots of owls out here too. Must have happened during the daytime since you saw it? That owl must have been one hungry beast to come out during the day!

yep. Hardware cloth is a requirement for most runs.

My main run is about 25'x60' and has chicken wire along the bottom 2' with some buried out along the ground for a foot. It also looks like the TRex pen from Jurassic Park with all of the electric fence. Anything reaches through then it will be touching ground and hot wires. I had a hen get loose and try to get back in through the fence one day. I could tell that she got a zap or 2 by the squawks that she made.

So sorry for your chick loss.

Oh ChickensAreSweet!! I'm so sorry that happened! Thanks for posting the pic of the setting where this took place. I think it is very helpful for people to see the situations under which such losses occur. Hopefully, it will ultimately help save the lives of other chickens.

So so sorry.
My pen is also a chain link dog run. It has worked for me for a long time until recenty. It will be covered as soon as the weather warms a bit!
Hard to believe an owl would do that... but you are the eye witness! Wow!

Awww, I'm so sorry that happened, but thank you for posting this warning to others. We live & we learn, and sometimes have to learn the hard way. I had this happen to chicks kept in a tractor with chicken wire fencing. A red-shouldered hawk landed on the ground outside the wire and grabbed a chick through the spaces. I think the chick had run for shelter behind a bucket that was lying next to the wire. The chick thought it was safe because she was behind something but didn't realize she was also right next to the outside wire. Now I keep their sheltering things in the middle of the tractor.

so sorry it happened but better one now from an owl rather than the whole flock from a coon. I had that happen once where 3 coons worked in a team, one at each corner to scare the birds and another at one end to reach in and grab whatever they could. The result was almost all the birds mortally wounded and having died in the middle of the pen after being hurt, so the coons just kept on hurting them all until it was a massacre. They were only ever able to eat parts but that did not stop them. must have gone at it all night. Anyway I caught them and took care of em, not something you can do with an owl, but at least you can set up the hardware cloth now and be ok from here on. My personal advise is to cover the bottom as well with it then you can put dirt or sand over it. believe it or not the grass will grow over it as well as long as the chooks dont eat it all. I would hate for you to wrap the sides and not the bottom and have something dig under one day. (which one day it certainly will).

Again so sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. I learned the hard way the same lesson last year.

Quote:
Nightfall had just occurred. I had just returned from taking my kids to visit my mom. I walked in the door and looked out the window to check on my babies before going out to close them up.