Help! 3 owls and still counting

[twistedillusions]

They keep out smarting me! Been fightin the owls all summer. Lost a polish, a show girl, 3 silkies, 2 bb and a frizzle. Me and my kids are heartbroken. We are the only ones around for miles that have chickens and they watch our place like hawks. Lol they actually sit on the roof of our house waitin for a chicken to appear so i have my peeps on house arrest. How can i keep owls away. I put a top on my coop and they still grab any chicken that lays to close to fence and pulls them threw fencing. Not a pretty sight. Cant shoot the owls.. Winks. So what is another option?

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

Quote:
you can try a hardware cloth instead of chicken wire that is assuming if there able to pull it threw the wire its more then likely chicken wire. If there Great horned Owls all I can say is best of luck to you. there persistant and there really isnt any anwser for a GHO you can try keeping the girls locked up but they will just hang around till you break weak. the only true way to defend your birds from GHO is to secure your coop better and if its a pair of them they probably decided to take roost at your place so contact F&G and see what options you have.

 

[centrarchid]

Are the owls taking your chickens during daylight hours? My birds at risk right at dawn and dusk so they are not released until about 15 minutes after dawn and coop is closed before dark. I also mill about doing chores while owls still hunting.

If owls infact holding up in barn, then spend personal time with them by going out there and doing some work. Increased disturbance will very likely push them to move roost to another location.

My recent bout with GHO stopped by making it so chickens can not roost up against coop wire. As inidicated by MMPoultryFarms, hardware cloth can block penetration of talons and beak. Alternatively, I made roosting pole / stick so chicken can not sit on it within reach of owl(s) working coop perimeter. Same trick can work with racoons as well. Both predators my attempt defeating this by getting chicken to jump from roost to ground and come close to coop wall. Such disturbances are what bring me or dog into picture. Either will cause owl to move off.

 

[MeatBird]

Find a natural enemy of the owls. I have seen crows chase owls, maybe if you had some crow decoys set up around your yard.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Great Horned Owls catch and eat crows after dark.

 

[PineappleMama]

Eh, the scariest anti-raptor things they've got are patterned after the GHO... so that won't work.

And of course you can't shoot it, big no no.

I've heard of people stringing fishing line in zigs and zags and supposedly that deters hawks or falcons, wonder if that'd work for owls? Anyone tried it?

Agree with centrarchid if you can find where they're roosting irritate them, just being in the general area will do that I'd imagine, and if they get annoyed enough they may decide another roost is a good idea...

Don't envy you your guests at all.

Edit... goggling someone suggested paintballs... not 'real guns' so claim that it doesn't count as 'shooting'... but I wouldn't take their word on that... call local fish and game and ask them... but if it IS legal then that might be just the annoyance they need to move on.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

Quote:
I have a pair of GHO in my barn I run them out every day squirt them with water guns. I wont list all the things I have done to detor them from my property.

There is Nothing and I mean nothing you can do to detor them they leave when they want to leave Notice how calm they are while I took a cell phone pic a while back just looking at me as if to say shoo off pest. you can try to Call your local or state F&G but that will come up empty as they seem to worship these birds. "" Sir best advice I can give you is to let nature take its course"" (well sir what do I do if i catch him in the act killing and eating my birds.) "" Its the circle of life son""
I am not a back yard chicken raiser this is a poultry farm and I have over 350 birds that makes no difference to them what so ever. Sorry but it is the sad truth. SSS or wait it out and secure your birds thats the only 2 options you have here unless someone else knows a better solution.

 

[centrarchid]

MMPoultryFarms,

Show them who is boss. While owls are watching get up on those crossbeams and walk over to where they are standing. They will be scared of you then. If they hold their ground, then push them off with your foot.

 

[ga_goat]

Owls will usually sit on a post or horizontal limb in a tree and waite till it suits them to spring into attack mode ,, I had seen them sitting on the posts around my pens from time to time ,, I bought some carpet nail strips and cut them to fit my post tops and nailed them to the top of every post in the yard and to a few tree limbs , owls left . I did loose 2 or 3 chickens to them but with no place to sit they left .

 

[keith_m71]

I know how you feel I've not seen the owls yet but used to hear one now I hear 4 to 5 hooting all around. I live out in the country and love all my chickens. They seem to go after the smaller ones like young chickens or bantams. As soon I see one I will protect my birds at all cost. I love wildlife but I love my chickens and they have to be protected. Between my son and I we have 6 dogs one of my fav's kept getting out. After 20 something chickens and getting back in her pen I caught her. I love her but ended up getting so mad I killed her. Our little babies can't protect themselves so we have to do what we can to protect our birds. So if I were you I would kill them and tell no one. They won't stop till they kill all your birds.