Best thing to bait a trap with

[fancbrd4me02]

Quote:
This.

Small animal traps (the kind that snap shut on the leg) will catch them; but they are such beautiful birds. Can you cover the run?

You can't trap or harass owls or other birds of prey without a federal permit. They are protected by the migratory bird act. If it is owls, cover your run or shut up your chickens. It's cheaper, simpler and very effective.

 

[carrlr]

Quote:
I use cans of the cheapest (usually the smelliest) cat food I can find. I'd also use a live trap, just in case a neighbors can comes around. Canned cat food works on Cats, Foxes, Raccoons, Skunks and 'possums.

 

[illegal avian]

Quote:
This.

Small animal traps (the kind that snap shut on the leg) will catch them; but they are such beautiful birds. Can you cover the run?

You can't trap or harass owls or other birds of prey without a federal permit. They are protected by the migratory bird act. If it is owls, cover your run or shut up your chickens. It's cheaper, simpler and very effective.

Glad to hear these birds are protected.

Had a similar problem and set some traps. Owls. Totally surprised. All were released with no harm. Beautiful, beautiful creatures.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Actually, those with owl problems should consider putting up Barn Owl houses on thier property. The Barn Owl is seldom a predator of poultry as it is a small bird which mainly eats rodents. Usually predation occurs from larger owls, like the Great Horned Owl, etc. The point is that owls will stake out the territory, so if you have Barn Owls, less often your property will be visited by other owls. We have Barn Owls on our property, and they are fantastic for keeping the rodent population down.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I didn't think of owls. It could be owls, we've had a pair hooting at each other before. But don't owls eat their prey whole? These chicks were Orps, olive eggers and Silver Penciled rocks, so they had some good size to them. Would an owl eat on the ground? (because 1 was clearly eaten on the ground)

My dog is great at keeping things out of our property, so if it's nocturnal here it needs to be in a tree, or she'll catch it. She caught an adult jack rabbit before, so she's fast. She is inside at night, but she'll find it during the day unless it's in a tree (or underground). She doesn't even let wild turkeys on our property. We have seen fox before also, but not for quite a while.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Oh, and I'd never hurt a bird of prey. (owl included) I'm just trying to figure out what it is, so I can take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[the funny farm6615]

it sounds like racoons to me. when we had coons they left piles of feathers here and there. but when the owls came, wow, they took my daughters slightly more than half grown geese!!! and they took the whole bird and we didnt find any feathers, just a head once. we were loosing chickens and ducks- even thow we locked the birds up at night inside the barn, inside a old horse stall, the only way to get to them was to go into the barn, and into a 2x2 opening. then it would grab the bird and bring it out. we saw it bring out one of the geese one night. it landed on the ground just outside the barn and riped its head off and flew away with the body! i never knew owls would do that.

 

[aprophet]

molasses will catch coon and grey fox but for some reason dogs and cats do not seem interested in it it keeps non targets out of my traps you want the strongest smelling molasses you can find here that is a brand with an old woman on the bottle and I think it is called grandmas molasses

 

[Bunnyfeet]

peanut butter and honey sandwiches have worked really good for us for catching raccoons. hope you catch whatever it is!

 

[bobbi-j]

Waiting to find out what you catch.