can a GIGANTIC owl eat my chickens? My ducks? My goose?!?!?

[swampwander]

Your throwing snowballs and yelling is non-lethal measure to ward off the owl, as are bottle rockets. You're fine there. Lock up your birds and let the owl take care of any rodents hanging around your coop. I would think twice about installing a light- my neighbor's security light is the barred and screech owls favorite hunting spot. The barred go after the rodents and the screech go after the moths the lights attract. Owls can see just fine in the daylight.

mjdtexan- I've had barred owls follow me through the woods when I was working. They do move around, but don't normally actively hunt. They will hunt during the day if they have young and have had difficulty finding prey to feed the young. Normally, owls are out-competed by hawks during daylight hours and mugged by crows, jays and other birds at the same time.

 

[Cara]

Quote:
This is not true at all. I've had to remove two, the one in this post:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113453

and another that was still in my completely-covered coop, eating one of my hens. The one in the first post was flying through our barn door, up onto the rafters, and then down into the coop to eat the birds. The second owl was still in my completely-covered coop and run eating one of my hens when I found it. Presumably he had flown up into the eaves and squeezed through into the hen house (that coop is an a-framed building split lengthways, open on one side). They will frequently walk through pop doors in runs or coops also.

 

[Buster]

Quote:
This is not true at all. I've had to remove two, the one in this post:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113453

and another that was still in my completely-covered coop, eating one of my hens. The one in the first post was flying through our barn door, up onto the rafters, and then down into the coop to eat the birds. The second owl was still in my completely-covered coop and run eating one of my hens when I found it. Presumably he had flown up into the eaves and squeezed through into the hen house (that coop is an a-framed building split lengthways, open on one side). They will frequently walk through pop doors in runs or coops also.

Thanks for posting that Cara! I remembered that someone had that happen and posted pics but I couldn't remember the specifics or who it was.

 

[Davaroo]

Owls are raptors, in the same family as hawks and eagles. They will eagerly hunt and kill chickens.
To stop them you have to use all sorts of trickery and deceptive means, trying to fool them into NOT following their natural instincts.

Unfortunately, I dont know what those things are, since I've never had to deal with them. I'm learning, here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WARNING: Personal opinion ahead. Do not read if you are sensitive.

It's too bad you cannot trap the bird(s) without breaking federal law.

I mean, we lay a tasty, chicken feast for them and they come, ignoring their normal patterns and prey food. Big surprise, right? In a real way, we have created the problem ourselves.

Then, when the owl does what it does, we get surprised or outraged. Yet we cannot reverse the situation through any action of our own - without becoming criminals. We must run to our government overseers to take care of the problem.

Raptors and birds of prey are protected, after all, and we can't have us little people taking matters into our own hands.
We have people with big, expensive college degrees to worry about them for us. Meanwhile your birds are taken, one by one.

But the solution is pretty simple and uses a natural quality of the bird itself. See, predators learn and owls are no different.
Trap and shoot a few and they get the point, moving back to the fields where they belong. It's an old concept.... and one you cannot take advantage of without advocating illegal action. I would not do that.

Like I said, just my two cents worth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[the1much]

owls are coolies,, i have 1 that sits about 20 feet from all my pens at night, and he makes his rounds all night long,, ive even seen him in my run,,, and i dont have ANY mouse problems

as long as you lock up the birds at dusk, let them out after sunrise, you shouldnt have any problems with them. their a predator, that if "used" properly,, can give you huge amounts of benefits.

 

[PortageGirl]

chickensducks&agoose :

uh... is yelling and throwing snowballs 'harassing'? 'cause if it is, I was totally joking... i actually spoke politely to it, and asked it kindly to not eat my birdies.... uh......

Very cute. Being polite and kind is always good!

I know it says harassment is illegal, and it is, but I have known two 'fish and game' types quite well, and several more than that casually due to my other friends, and they are looking more for seriously nasty types, people shooting, or even injuring with BBs and such, also putting out poisoned bait for them and stuff like that, which leaves them hurt, sick, suffering and dying. All raptors do serve a good purpose, and they really do keep down vermin and help us a lot. I suppose some hard-errrr... hard line types, (yeah that's what I meant) MIGHT say snowballs and such is harassment, but not many.

That being said, I don't want them eating my hens either... I think yelling and throwing snowballs would barely cause a raised eyebrow.

I would try to get your girls in earlier, and make sure it's full daylight before letting them out if possible, but on the bright side, all the mice and rats, squirrels, voles and other vermin attracted by the chicken feed, treats, chicken poop and also looking for ways into your hen house and YOUR HOUSE too by the way, are shaking in fear too.

With a little care, your hens should be fine. Yes, owls WILL eat them, but you can protect them. I know you let them run around free, (as do I) having a bit of a "entry-way run" which is fully enclosed so they can be protected when they first come out might be good.

Raptors are hungry this time of year... any feed left out that attracts mice and such will also atract preditors which could endanger the chooks.

Also, if you have an area where the hens tend to congregate the most, you could string line up high, across trees and the eaves of your coop etc, and hang things like CDs and odd things to distract, annoy, confuse preditors. My understanding is all raptors rely on movement to track their prey, so if there's extra things waving and flapping and shining in the breeze, it distracts them from their hunt.​

 

[enola]

More proof that you can learn something new everyday !

We have Bald eagles and red tailed hawks in our neck of the woods. I have not seen or heard an owl here yet.

 

[ivan3]

mjdtexan wrote:
I see that you took this picture during the day, I thought that owls were strickly night-time predators?

With preds, I've learned the hard way not to make assumptions (if it eats chickens it will arrive when I least expect it).
Here is another `daytime' shot Cass took in late Dec. of last year (around 3pm on a rainy day), the Downy Woodpecker cohort was busy working it over and Cass heard `em over the coop monitor:

Squeaky wrote: A hungry GHO will attack anything. I got buzzed by one when I was nine or ten years old

Barreds, though smaller, are capable of `menacing' behavior. I had taken the trash down to the road one night and, on the way back up the drive, heard what sounded like hissing coming from somewhere above my head. Thinking that maybe a opossum had gone over the edge and was about to dive on me I looked up. The head lamp illuminated two small Barreds perched on a big, low, branch of a White Oak. I stood there trying to emulate the hissing sound (they were calling their mother). The mama owl flew to the branch, dropped the macerated Bullfrog from her beak onto the branch and flew off again. A moment later, still watching the youngsters fight over the frog, I felt something rub against my left arm. The adult had flown around, coming up from behind me and, after making contact with her wingtip, rose straight up past my face and back to the branch, looking down as if to say `what are you going to do about it?'

Pinky wrote: We had a great horned owl land on one of the posts to my chicken run.That bird was huge!He just sat there,watching my chickens in the tree,waiting for them to come down.He was so eager to get one he didn't here me come out.Before I could scare it away(It shocked me to see how big it actually was!), My hen turkey came out of the coop the chickens never used, and flew right for the owl.

Having watched our Slate Hen in a protracted contest with a nearly 6ft. long Black Rat Snake (not sure if she was planning on eating it or just didn't like it hogging the ashes in the fire pit - snake escaped by going straight up an oak), I can well imagine!
Covering our runs isn't an option (big Hickories IN the chicken run) we use CD's strung across, shiny side up. The Red Tail watches but never stoops through all the flashing. The Barreds have yet to do so much as fly over the flock at sundown.

Sorry for going on about the owls. The GHO's don't seem to like the Oak/Hickory forests on the dissected uplands so we are not at war (just cautious); like to tell our grandsons that the horrible owl noises are the souls of the dead in the graveyard next door being given voice (they always ask for further embellishments). Below is a gratuitous shot I took coming home from work one very windy night back in `06. Barred sat still for the snap because the 50mph gusts had it pinned on the post:

 

[the1much]

im lucky,, ( not really

) we have no trees,,,, cept little ones right here,, they have to sit on my electric pole next to a busy road,,, i had a thread where i see 2 1 morning,, it was cool,, and sad

 

[pips&peeps]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=104318