Last night I went out to kennel up my geese. When I went out the boys were sittin out in the open sounding the alarm? At first I looked around and saw nothing so I figured they were just losing their minds, or there was a coyote at the fence line. I opened their coop door & told to them go in. They would walk up to the door & at the last minute run away. After about the 3rd time of this I goto their door to look in their coop to see what's inside that is going to eat them lol....... and I hear a hoot hoot. I of course froze cuz owls here are so super huge! And sitting about 3 foot right above my head is the biggest owl i've ever seen! He was perched right on top of my chicken coop! I start making a scene & scare him off. I made sure to put ALL animals in covered coops last night. (we have 3 that arent covered)
I wake up and this owl is sittin on the corner of my house! I once again scare him off, and now he's sitting in the tree just outside of my property line. I've tried to get pics, but he hears me coming & flys to the other side of the property. I didn't see him this morning until AFTER I let the girls & boys out to free range! So now i've made a buffet of birds for him!
He's not trying to get them yet, but he did get two of my girls while I was on vacation. So we're figuring he thinks hey easy meal & now he won't leave. Our dilema is.....Our coops are big enough for everyone to roost at night, but NOT for everyone to stay in all day! If I take the ducks, rabbits, goats, & baby turkeys out of their uncovered coops & put em in with the other 38 birds in the 3 covered coops they will be to crowded and possibly overheat! I go back to work tomorrow & our heat is horrible so leaving them penned is really not an option! 2 of our uncovered coops are covered by a mesquite tree & has been sufficient coverage till now for the goats & turkeys. Our rabbits have a hutch in their coop & we'll hutch em up while gone. They free range all day too & it'll make them mad but oh well right?
What to do what to do? And here I thought owls only hunted at night!
I wake up and this owl is sittin on the corner of my house! I once again scare him off, and now he's sitting in the tree just outside of my property line. I've tried to get pics, but he hears me coming & flys to the other side of the property. I didn't see him this morning until AFTER I let the girls & boys out to free range! So now i've made a buffet of birds for him!
He's not trying to get them yet, but he did get two of my girls while I was on vacation. So we're figuring he thinks hey easy meal & now he won't leave. Our dilema is.....Our coops are big enough for everyone to roost at night, but NOT for everyone to stay in all day! If I take the ducks, rabbits, goats, & baby turkeys out of their uncovered coops & put em in with the other 38 birds in the 3 covered coops they will be to crowded and possibly overheat! I go back to work tomorrow & our heat is horrible so leaving them penned is really not an option! 2 of our uncovered coops are covered by a mesquite tree & has been sufficient coverage till now for the goats & turkeys. Our rabbits have a hutch in their coop & we'll hutch em up while gone. They free range all day too & it'll make them mad but oh well right?
What to do what to do? And here I thought owls only hunted at night!
