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

[everyonesmomtwo]

I have an owl problem here in Az. A momma owl decided our Palm tree was a good nesting site and my chicken house and run was her dinner. She took our duck out of his pool one morning and also took chickens right off their purches.
I found her one day inside the chicken house getting a drink from the chicken waterer.
When 2 of her young fell out of the nest, game and wildlife had us raise them as they didn't want them moved from their parents who would bring them parts of birds all night as well as into the day.
I have seen the owls hunting during the day as well as night.
I have tried shinning flash lights at them and it did nothing.
I raise rabbits and they picked off almost all my rabbits. I even stopped an attach between the owl and the rabbit and they were both on the ground. The owl had flow in and grabbed the rabbit but it was so heavy he dropped it so he dropped to the grow as well and they were having a face off. He didn't fly off untill I chucked rocks at it.
There has been reports recently of dogs being picked up by owls as well.
We also have hawks hunting during the day so my poor chickens have it coming no matter which way they look.
Anyway we got the 2 baby owls raised. They perched on the haybales on the back of my chicken coop. they flew away when raised but mom and dad stayed on.

 

[crtrlovr]

chickensducks&agoose :

They free range all day, wander where they can (i have to shovel them paths!), and then at dusk, they go into their coop. Once it's dark, I go out and latch them all in... I only have 11 chickens, so i count them... and then i make sure the 3 ducks and my goose are in their goose hut, and lock them in... maybe I should lock them in right at dusk... be more on top of it? would it go INTO the coop to eat them?

YES. A young owl killed one of my ducks because I had forgotten to latch the door and it was partially open. The owl flew INTO the house, grabbed a full grown duck by the head, but the grip strength of the talons was so strong the owl's talons went through the skull and he couldn't let go. When I found them the duck was still warm & limp, and the owl was on his back in the wood chips with "angel wing" marks where he'd tried to flap back upright and get away. I had to wrap it in a towel and pry his feet out of the duck's head before I could release it. If there's an owl around, you should wait until well up in the morning to let your chickens out, and put them in no later than dusk. Hope your chickies can stay safe.

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

Quote:

I haven't seen anything here but very small owls about the size of a bantam but it about got me. I was driving to work one night and was taking a backroad because of a traffic jam on the interstate. I had the windows down and the breeze blowing and all at once had a strong intuition to raise the windows. Just as I did one of those tiny owls slapped into the side window very hard and made a crack in the glass.

The crack was right beside my head! I pulled over the little owl was lying on the pavement and looked dead. I looked through my car and found a clothes hanger and unraveled it and punched it. It jumped to it's feet, hissed at me, and flew off.

I would cover the run totally.

 

[Davaroo]

Like I said...
Owls - 1
People - 0

Its a shame.

 

[Mahonri]

We've had a couple of large owls hanging around our house. Chickens are safe in a covered run.

BUT... I've noticed that many of the free range chickens in the neighborhood to the south aren't out and about like they usually are... wondering if the owls have set up shop and are eating well.

 

[ninny]

I wish they would make it so if you caught them killing you stock you could shoot it. I saw a show where they had set up poles and a run ropes across the tops. They said the owls couldn't drop through them at the angle that they fly. Maybe something like that would help.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
You are allowed to defend yourself from a attack by a wild animal. And remember you are always defending yourself when explaining to fish and wildlife. But don't expect them to believe you. I had a friend who was arrested after shooting a bear that was charging him. The charges were eventually dropped and he did get a apology.

 

[PortageGirl]

I said earlier that if you have an area where the hens tend to congregate the most, you could string lines up high, across trees and the eaves of your coop etc, and hang things like CDs and odd things to distract, annoy, confuse preditors. Having extra things waving and flapping and shining in the breeze, it distracts them from their hunt. I saw a pic somewhere of someone who got a bunch of those triangle 'used car lot' pennant streamer lines and had them strung zig-zagged all OVER their huge lot! hilarious, effective, but more than I'd like.)

Also, they eat mice and vermine mostly, so that's good, one bad part is that once they clean up your rodent problems, if they've been living large on your mice and rats, they could decide the chooks are next. Most (I said most!) don't usually go straight to the chook option. Keep spilled and available rodent feed to a minimum because the fewer rodents you have, the less reason for the owls to establish your yard as a hunting ground.

Take precautions and be wary because they ARE predators OF COURSE, but they aren't necessarily planning to dine on your hens immediately.

 

[Cara]

Quote:
You can, we did. The Game Warden just had us hang onto the dismembered chickens and the dead owl for him to collect.

 

[everyonesmomtwo]

They are protected here so we are not able to do anything to them.
I just have to keep a sharp eye out.
MY cat is even afraid of them as they have tried to carry him away. He stays in at night now.

I might try hanging cd's in my tree as the main door to the coop is right under the tree, but the one own flew right under the tree and into the coop.
Ruth