Great-horned Owl Fun in 2015

[centrarchid]

Owls starting to try for live chickens in pens well away from where carcasses have been placed. Lucy and I ran to flush owl. In just over a minute is had flushed birds from roost in three pens. I do not think the owl would actually get at chickens on ground owing to measures used to repel marauding dogs. Hotwire and poultry wire make approach even for Lucy and I dicey. Lucy was beautiful jumping over the hotwires like a deer or coyote but with a lot more confidence. She was more into looking on ground but beat me in spotting owl perched in tree line to west. We are going to have to chase the owls multiple times before they get picture that going after chickens in pens is not worth the effort. I will break down the poultry netting near house at night as Lucy does not like jumping the 48" stuff when pens are just on other side. That was also where carcasses have been left out. Birds penned near carcasses not bothered but that will change.

 

[centrarchid]

Voices of juveniles GHO's changing. They are flying around a lot more with dogs investing a lot more attention in the owls resulting in a lot of barking and running. Owls also disturbed chickens in setup below resulting in dogs running around house each time to chase owls off.

Images below show how I keep chickens out of trouble using roosting arrangements. Birds roost on or in milk crates keeping them out of the owl's talon / beak reach. To keep owl from trying to flush chickens to near side of pen I place a cover over roosting spot on top of pen.

This level of activity I usually do not notice until November.

 

[centrarchid]

Close inspection of another fenced in group of pens like above had evident owl spent considerable effort going after chickens. Chickens already into the hard part of the molt cycle with pelage feathers coming off in a big way yet I could see feathers of a similar type coming off owl(s) indicating the latter are spending a lot of time around pens and being active. I even found a concentration of owl feathers that could only have been deposited by an owl trapped on the ground between electrified poultry netting and a pen which must have very unpleasant and risky owing to activity of the dogs. The changes in owl activity may reflect in part the change of the adults to the juveniles as the territory will need to be cleared before the next breeding effort can commence. The next breeding season will be starting fairly soon. The prolonged cold snap is also likely to be causing the young owls to have increased need for food.

 

[centrarchid]

Owls still causing trouble. Voices also still changing becoming coarser. They are moving about a lot more. Three chickens still kept free-range (by my standards) have resorted to hiding in buckets and best boxes that can only be accessed by flying up and walking under some sort of cover. Owls are spending a lot of time walking in same general area. Actual targets I think are increasingly cottontail rabbits. Voles have finally died back. All rabbits are nearly grown so owls having to tackle larger prey which may be a challenge for the newbies. I think the owls may be squabbling over what they do catch. Videos made of owls consuming chicken carcasses indicates they do not like sitting at table together and bigger (female) owls get to eat first.

 

[centrarchid]

SOB! I lost a 11 week old American Dominique pullet from cohort 3. Little numb nut has been reluctant to enter protected roost for several nights. She was the only one doing so. I left her on ground to move other birds a little ove2r a hundred yards away. Dogs penned up so pup would not get excited by move.. As I finished moving birds and closing up I heard a brief commotion in main poultry yard that sounded sorted strangled. Dogs started chuffing but topped quickly as no more noise produced. It took me 2 minutes at most to walk there. About half way there I heard a young owl begging excitedly for food making they quaking sound. When I got to pullet's location on ground she was already headless yet still twitching. First chicken lost to an owl for a while. I should ha e culled pullet some time ago for being stupid. At least I could have eaten her. That is something I am selecting my bird for when it comes to free-range keeping. They need to get up into protected roost and settle down quickly. Walking around in the dark in plain stupid.


I placed pullet in beehive to see how long it takes for one of the owls to take it. Carcass is just under 2 lbs to I think it will be flown off with,

 

[centrarchid]

At least one owl within 100 feet of me but not calling. I guess owls trying to figure out if it is safe to approach when I am so close typing on computer. At last one followed me from main yard to apiary.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl has come in twice so far trying to take chicken carcass. Each time dogs ran it off.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Centrarchid, I was wondering if you have a plan with your chickens though I don't mean to pry. Are you going to keep this batch out for experimental purposes to try to find ways to keep away owls or are you trying to find a good way to keep them safe from the birds?

 

[centrarchid]

They are not out for experimental purposes. One bird simply failed, repeatedly to get into protected roost and I did not intervene in time by only a couple of minutes. Once in all is good. Cohort 2 and cohort 1 (most of that lot to dogs) have suffered no losses to owls even when kept under similar conditions.

The experimentation has been with the carcasses lost to other factors (dog attacks). Otherwise owls have been here continuously since April without minimal actual trouble.

 

[aart]

Owl has come in twice so far trying to take chicken carcass. Each time dogs ran it off.

Might this situation be helping to train Lucy more, as well as Ben?