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BARRED OWL. NO threat whatsoever. That is actually a good look at an owl. No ears (so NOT GHO), no black chin (so NOT GGO), you can see the barring underneath the head and the heavily streaked paler under parts plus head and tail size relative to the body -- is an easy I.D. - Barred Owls have NEVER been a problem for my outside roosting birds (and I had them overhead the roosts with a bantam outside). Barred Owls eat small mammals (mice, voles, shrews), frogs, snakes, fish, large insects, small birds (sparrows, finches), crabs, crayfish -- most chickens are way too big for them -- they'd take a Nankin or a Serama or small Bantam hen perhaps if outside in a tree at night but I have not heard of it (they don't go in barns at night or through holes to get a chicken like a GHO will)-- Barred Owls are not out hunting chicken.
Probably in support of statement above, barred owls have only demonstrated themselves a threat only to my juvenile American games that were at most 1.5 pounds, which is smaller than typical bantams. Based on evidence from remains, the barred owl had difficulty processing even such a small chicken as they could not fly far with it. They do appear to have a knack for getting adult sized (5 to 6.5 lb) dominque and dominique cross chickens to get off roost. I could see activity in full moonlight over a series of nights. It appeared to be an act of aggression against rather than effort to prey upon the much larger chickens.
BARRED OWL. NO threat whatsoever. That is actually a good look at an owl. No ears (so NOT GHO), no black chin (so NOT GGO), you can see the barring underneath the head and the heavily streaked paler under parts plus head and tail size relative to the body -- is an easy I.D. - Barred Owls have NEVER been a problem for my outside roosting birds (and I had them overhead the roosts with a bantam outside). Barred Owls eat small mammals (mice, voles, shrews), frogs, snakes, fish, large insects, small birds (sparrows, finches), crabs, crayfish -- most chickens are way too big for them -- they'd take a Nankin or a Serama or small Bantam hen perhaps if outside in a tree at night but I have not heard of it (they don't go in barns at night or through holes to get a chicken like a GHO will)-- Barred Owls are not out hunting chicken.
Probably in support of statement above, barred owls have only demonstrated themselves a threat only to my juvenile American games that were at most 1.5 pounds, which is smaller than typical bantams. Based on evidence from remains, the barred owl had difficulty processing even such a small chicken as they could not fly far with it. They do appear to have a knack for getting adult sized (5 to 6.5 lb) dominque and dominique cross chickens to get off roost. I could see activity in full moonlight over a series of nights. It appeared to be an act of aggression against rather than effort to prey upon the much larger chickens.
