Barred Owl Hunting during the Day

[Usedtowanna]

We've lost 6 chickens in the past week to an owl - barred or great horned. Four of the ones missing were taken during the day. A few months ago, one of our chickens was wounded by an owl during the day but pulled through. They definitely hunt during the day!

Last night and tonight, just after dark, we heard loud clucking from the shed where a few liked to roost. We ran out seconds later and found nothing amiss other than one less chicken than before. Of the six gone now, we've found only one carcass around the property. They're just....gone. Tomorrow will be a busy day building up the shed so it's a safer place. It's so sad. I hate the thought of having to lock them all up. They are so happy free ranging.

 

[centrarchid]

We've lost 6 chickens in the past week to an owl - barred or great horned.  Four of the ones missing were taken during the day.  A few months ago, one of our chickens was wounded by an owl during the day but pulled through.  They definitely hunt during the day!

Last night and tonight, just after dark, we heard loud clucking from the shed where a few liked to roost.  We ran out seconds later and found nothing amiss other than one less chicken than before.  Of the six gone now, we've found only one carcass around the property.  They're just....gone.  Tomorrow will be a busy day building up the shed so it's a safer place.  It's so sad.  I hate the thought of having to lock them all up.  They are so happy free ranging.

Daytime this time of year is very unlikely. How big are birds being lost?

 

[Usedtowanna]

Two were full grown, taken after dark. The other four were 16 weeks - ish and went missing sometime during the day.

 

[aart]

We've lost 6 chickens in the past week to an owl - barred or great horned. Four of the ones missing were taken during the day. A few months ago, one of our chickens was wounded by an owl during the day but pulled through. They definitely hunt during the day!

Last night and tonight, just after dark, we heard loud clucking from the shed where a few liked to roost. We ran out seconds later and found nothing amiss other than one less chicken than before. Of the six gone now, we've found only one carcass around the property. They're just....gone. Tomorrow will be a busy day building up the shed so it's a safer place. It's so sad. I hate the thought of having to lock them all up. They are so happy free ranging.

Two were full grown, taken after dark. The other four were 16 weeks - ish and went missing sometime during the day.

Did you actually see an owl take the bird(s)?
Cause it could be any number of predators given your description.

Definitely build them a tightly meshed coop for night time protection....and a run is a good thing to have against daytime predators, doesn't mean you can never free range again but when daytime predators strike there's a good chance they will be back until all your chickens are gone if you don't protect them.

 

[Usedtowanna]

I guess you're right, in all fairness it could have been something else since we didn't see it. We're basing our conclusion on owl because 1) we see them often lurking near our coop 2) we see them flying around frequently during the day 3) the injuries one chicken had to her back are consistent with what a bird of prey could do 4) the two chickens taken at night, the predator would have had to scale a fence to get to the bird and get it out again and we don't think he/she'd have had time from the time we heard the clucking to the time we got out there to check.

I'd be interested to hear any other thoughts?? It does seem hard to imagine that an owl could fly off with a full grown chicken.

 

[aart]

I guess you're right, in all fairness it could have been something else since we didn't see it. We're basing our conclusion on owl because 1) we see them often lurking near our coop 2) we see them flying around frequently during the day 3) the injuries one chicken had to her back are consistent with what a bird of prey could do 4) the two chickens taken at night, the predator would have had to scale a fence to get to the bird and get it out again and we don't think he/she'd have had time from the time we heard the clucking to the time we got out there to check.

I'd be interested to hear any other thoughts?? It does seem hard to imagine that an owl could fly off with a full grown chicken.

I guess a great horned might be able fly off with a full grown chicken, but probably not most other owls.

Since owls are protected you can't kill them......so tight coop and run are your best bet in protecting your chickens.

 

[microchick]

I have a series of game camera pictures that were taken several years ago when we set up our camera in our back yard just for fun. We had several big acorn oak trees and we wanted to see if deer were coming up in the yard to eat them. To our surprise what we caught was a series of three photographs showing what is probably a barred owl swooping across our yard to take out a squirrel that was enjoying the surplus of nuts. This happened in broad daylight. Our squirrels are big fat grays and standard brown squirrels so it definitely took on prey that was larger than a vole or mouse and it carried it away and as the picture was taken in September, I doubt if it was hunting to feed chicks.

We often find regurgitated skeleton and hair remains that owls have left behind in our yard along with evidence of their hunts in the form of blood and hair. One of the most interesting finds was evidence of a hunt in the form of two lines where wing tips had been dragged in the snow as the hawk or owl came in low for a kill.

One thing I have learned in my years as a country girl is no animal behavior is absolute. I mentioned to my husband yesterday that I would love to be able to give our chickens the freedom to free range but with owls (barred, great horned and barn) hawks of all shape and variety and yes even bald eagles sited around our farm, that wish could never be fulfilled. It must be a horrible way to die for the chicken and as birds of prey are protected by law, they have the right of way to do as they darned well please, even if that pleasure is taking out one of our flock without fear of being shot for their efforts.

Best to just keep domestic fowl penned and the pen netted if you have a healthy bird of prey population around you.

 

[centrarchid]

I have a series of game camera pictures that were taken several years ago when we set up our camera in our back yard just for fun. We had several big acorn oak trees and we wanted to see if deer were coming up in the yard to eat them. To our surprise what we caught was a series of three photographs showing what is probably a barred owl swooping across our yard to take out a squirrel that was enjoying the surplus of nuts. This happened in broad daylight. Our squirrels are big fat grays and standard brown squirrels so it definitely took on prey that was larger than a vole or mouse and it carried it away and as the picture was taken in September, I doubt if it was hunting to feed chicks.

We often find regurgitated skeleton and hair remains that owls have left behind in our yard along with evidence of their hunts in the form of blood and hair. One of the most interesting finds was evidence of a hunt in the form of two lines where wing tips had been dragged in the snow as the hawk or owl came in low for a kill.

One thing I have learned in my years as a country girl is no animal behavior is absolute. I mentioned to my husband yesterday that I would love to be able to give our chickens the freedom to free range but with owls (barred, great horned and barn) hawks of all shape and variety and yes even bald eagles sited around our farm, that wish could never be fulfilled. It must be a horrible way to die for the chicken and as birds of prey are protected by law, they have the right of way to do as they darned well please, even if that pleasure is taking out one of our flock without fear of being shot for their efforts.

Best to just keep domestic fowl penned and the pen netted if you have a healthy bird of prey population around you.

You must see / record the owl catching something. I see them flying and hunting small stuff during the day a lot during the day but not going after larger prey. What you have is circumstantial at best.

 

[microchick]

Won't argue with you Centrarchid. We had the photographed sequence of events and know what we saw in them. Others have seen it also and varified that we captured an owl hunting a squirrel. I stated that the hunt was documented by our game camera. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

[centrarchid]

Won't argue with you Centrarchid. We had the photographed sequence of events and know what we saw in them. Others have seen it also and varified that we captured an owl hunting a squirrel. I stated that the hunt was documented by our game camera. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Show me the pictures. I am qualified as anyone, wildlife biologist included, in accessing what images depict.