Barred Owl - Advice

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Pumperkinz

Songster
Aug 14, 2021
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Upstate New York (Albany Region)
Hi all,

We have a new friend out here in Upstate NY. A friendly Barred Owl. I'm not sure if I should be worried about her or simply keep an eye in dusk/dawn. Or even if I should be worried about them at all w/ chickens. Has anyone had experience with Barred owls specifically.

To give you more insight this is a single solo adult female owl she looks to be a similar size of a large hen. I have a video of her but it's blurry and she was just hanging out on the fence in the yard watching us inside.

Thanks for any help!
 
Pumperkinz said:
Hi all,

We have a new friend out here in Upstate NY. A friendly Barred Owl. I'm not sure if I should be worried about her or simply keep an eye in dusk/dawn. Or even if I should be worried about them at all w/ chickens. Has anyone had experience with Barred owls specifically.

To give you more insight this is a single solo adult female owl she looks to be a similar size of a large hen. I have a video of her but it's blurry and she was just hanging out on the fence in the yard watching us inside.

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Owls generally hunt at night, but I know even a barred owl would go after a chicken. I wouldn't trust it. On the good side of them though, the farmer across the road has a Great Grey Owl that hangs out in the tree line, and she's noticed an absence of the rat problem.
 
Several years ago at dawn an owl flew into our patio door/window, the two cats were sitting there waiting for me to let them out. The owl, Barred owl flew off, I don't think it hurt itself. That reinforced my decision to never let the cats out until it was light outside!
 
I've had a barred owl that's lived at the edge of my property as long as I've lived here: it's huge. In 18 years I've only seen it twice in broad daylight, but I often hear it hooting in late afternoon and it's frequently active at dusk.

A couple times it's checked out my flock if there's any stragglers but it really doesn't care for the noise the guineas make, and my run is fully enclosed with a roof of corrugated polycarbonate.

Hawks are by far a bigger problem for me.

I wait at least 90 minutes after dawn to let my flock out: later in January to March due to the increased late-morning predator activity (11 to noon then). But keep an eye on the owl's activities. Sometimes if wild prey gets scarce they'll switch up their patterns.
 
I've had one chicken killed by what I think was an owl. I was out at a play one night until 11:00 and did not lock them up. I don't know what variety of owl it was, may have been a barred owl or some other type. It went into a shelter and took one outside and tore the head off. The chick was about 9 to 10 weeks old. It was in a run with electric netting so it just about had to be a bird.

The internet isn't that much help. I find some posts where barred owls aren't known to attack chickens but I have trouble believing some won't, especially younger or smaller chickens. And some people obviously don't know the difference in a barred owl to some other type. While chickens are not supposed to be a favorite prey, in my opinion there is danger from a barred owl.

I don't know what your facilities look like, are they in a run with a roof or are they vulnerable to flying predators. If the owl can get to them I'd be pretty diligent about locking them up at night.

Good luck!
 

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