Great Horned Owl killing baby chicks

[ChristinLewin]

It looks like the bait can be accessed from either side but only one side has the trip plate. Is the correct?

Interesting how the chickens seem to be awake and watching the owl in those pictures.

the trip plate is in the middle.
I think it’s because they heard him landing on the metal bars of the trap and also there is probably enough light being so close to my house that they could likely see the owl right there

 

[iwltfum]

the trip plate is in the middle.

That might be why nothing was caught in the trap. With a double sided live trap, it's best to attach the bait to the plate so they trigger it while trying to take it or while eating it in the trap. Any animal could have just taken that from the non-trip plate side and been gone in a flash without ever being in danger of triggering the trip plate - especially if it was a smaller animal that had ample room to turn around in the trap or a large animal like the owl, who would have possibly just been able to reach into the trap to take the bait without actually walking into it. Usually you can set those types of traps so that one door is open and one is closed, in which case you would set the bait behind the trip plate.

 

[lovesfarms]

Best of luck in getting the predator! There is not much worse then knowing the predator is still at large, and dreading finding something bad the next time you come out to your animals!