An Owl wiped out my PW flock (pics included)

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
Yes the owl took their heads and ripped into their chest cavities. It breaks my heart that they died that way. It also breaks my heart that the owl died the way it did. Its just a sad day all the way around.

Laurie

May I suggest you bring the owl to the local high school if they have a taxidermy class OR to the parks department; they offer education to the public about owls. I'm sure they would appreciate it.


(You may even consider bringing a dead chicken -- for education purposes -- assuming you still have a body available.)

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
Yes the owl took their heads and ripped into their chest cavities. It breaks my heart that they died that way. It also breaks my heart that the owl died the way it did. Its just a sad day all the way around.

Laurie

May I suggest you bring the owl to the local high school if they have a taxidermy class OR to the parks department; they offer education to the public about owls. I'm sure they would appreciate it.


(You may even consider bringing a dead chicken -- for education purposes -- assuming you still have a body available.)

Because they're federally protected, I'm pretty sure you need a permit to have even a dead one in your posession. We have a neighbor that does taxidermy, and he had to surrender all of the owls and hawks that he'd done. He donated them to a museum because it was illegal for him to have them, even though the birds were either roadkills or died of apparent natural causes.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
May I suggest you bring the owl to the local high school if they have a taxidermy class OR to the parks department; they offer education to the public about owls. I'm sure they would appreciate it.


(You may even consider bringing a dead chicken -- for education purposes -- assuming you still have a body available.)

Because they're federally protected, I'm pretty sure you need a permit to have even a dead one in your posession. We have a neighbor that does taxidermy, and he had to surrender all of the owls and hawks that he'd done. He donated them to a museum because it was illegal for him to have them, even though the birds were either roadkills or died of apparent natural causes.

Yes, if one were to go find and pick up a dead owl in the woods, for instance, you are correct. This instance is a bit different. There is NO reason the OP should hesitate to call the wildlife department or the parks department to inquire about the disposition of the bird.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Quote:
My husband opened run door (6 ft door) and the Great Pyr ran inside and immediately grabbed the owl that was sitting on the ground in the corner. My husband said that he hadn't even seen the owl until Lady had it in her mouth. All he saw was bodies all over the place. When he saw that Lady had the owl and was shaking it, he told her to "drop", her command, and she immediately did. He went over to see if it was okay but it was already dead. I think Lady probably broke its neck from the shaking. She's a 138 lb dog and recently broke the neck of a coyote that was going after my geese. She only shook the coyote 3 or 4 times as well.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Quote:
The owl entered the coop from above. We have avian netting that is pretty strong and would probably normally survive an aerial attack but there have been several factors that have probably weakened it.

1) Its 3 years old and the sun does damage and weaken it after a while.
2) The netting has been through sun, wind, snow, and a tree fell on it this past winter. There was no actual breech in the netting but I'm sure it weakened it.
3) I don't believe that owl was actually after my chickens. It was probably after a rat which ran into the pen, the owl would have been traveling at high speed to get the rat and would have gone right through the netting with the sun damage.

I have some pens that have no netting at all on them, (some of my duck pens) and none of them have been bothered by this owl that's why I think this was accidental on his part.

I believe that this happened during the middle of the night. My husband said that the bodies of my chickens had been killed at different times. Some of the bodies were cold and some of the bodies were still very warm. So being trapped in the pen all night, it was like he was trapped in a restaurant. He couldn't leave so he might as well eat.

I want to reiterate that I have no ill will towards the owl. I feel really badly that my Lady killed him. If my husband had seen the owl he wouldn't have let her in the pen but at the time, he didn't know what had killed the birds, just that something had and he opened the door and because he didn't tell her to stay, she ran right in.

Every single bit of netting on our property will now be going through rigorous testing (having our almost 10 year old grandson swing from it. LOL) to test it to see if we have to replace it. All in all, its been a really sucky day.

 

[EweSheep]

Call the authorities what happened and if you want to have it mounted or give it to a taxidermist, ask them about that as well. Sometimes paperwork is all it is needed and sometimes owls have bands on their feet for ID. I do not know about microchipping but our falconer said all captured and released birds by the wildlife personnel would be microchipped. Not all birds will.

Not your fault, not the dog's fault at all. No one will get into trouble once you report it. Things happen and the dog didn't know what predators are bad and good. She is doing her job, so good dog!

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

I'm giving this opinion because of an owl I hit with a tractor trailer in the early 90's and my dealings with DNR. Bury the owl and get one of the mods to remove this thread. No kidding, absolutely do not show any interest in keeping it and having it stuffed. I will never call DNR again for anything!!!

The owl I'm mentioning lived and I took care of it over the long weekend Christmas holidays until DNR opened. It's a shame but I will never touch another protected animal again. I finally drove the owl myself to a rehab center 2hrs away for treatment. I later watched it's release at my local lake.

I don't mean for this to come off as harsh, but to be treated like a criminal for trying to do the right thing is just wrong.

 

[KyBlue]

Laurie, sorry to hear your sad news. I know how proud you were of your PW flock.

 

[tadyergey]

I am so sorry for your loss. I am also touched by your compassion for an animal that caused you so much pain. Thoughts are heading your way!

 

[mtngrl812]

Quote:
The owl entered the coop from above. We have avian netting that is pretty strong and would probably normally survive an aerial attack but there have been several factors that have probably weakened it.

1) Its 3 years old and the sun does damage and weaken it after a while.
2) The netting has been through sun, wind, snow, and a tree fell on it this past winter. There was no actual breech in the netting but I'm sure it weakened it.
3) I don't believe that owl was actually after my chickens. It was probably after a rat which ran into the pen, the owl would have been traveling at high speed to get the rat and would have gone right through the netting with the sun damage.

I have some pens that have no netting at all on them, (some of my duck pens) and none of them have been bothered by this owl that's why I think this was accidental on his part.

I believe that this happened during the middle of the night. My husband said that the bodies of my chickens had been killed at different times. Some of the bodies were cold and some of the bodies were still very warm. So being trapped in the pen all night, it was like he was trapped in a restaurant. He couldn't leave so he might as well eat.

I want to reiterate that I have no ill will towards the owl. I feel really badly that my Lady killed him. If my husband had seen the owl he wouldn't have let her in the pen but at the time, he didn't know what had killed the birds, just that something had and he opened the door and because he didn't tell her to stay, she ran right in.

Every single bit of netting on our property will now be going through rigorous testing (having our almost 10 year old grandson swing from it. LOL) to test it to see if we have to replace it. All in all, its been a really sucky day.

Thank you for the response and my chance to learn a little more about owl behavior. If they didn't stand so still you DH would have probably seen it before Lady, but Lady's nose knows!! The Grandson test should be adequate ... and fun. Good luck with building your flock back up. Sorry for the loss of your little ones. I hopefully things work out, usually things happen for a reason.