How can i scare off a HUGE owl?

[DuckDuckGeese]

I know this thread is quite old, but to all those who might still have ideas, it would be appreciated. Just last night I lost a pekin to an owl and my flock is not free range. They are in a pen with a wood cover that I am assuming the owl squeezes through. I'm a bit heartbroken over the loss of her so I am offering my advice as well: do not under any circumstances underestimate an owl. It isn't his first visit and now a third of our flock is gone. It is a bit tiresome trying to sleep at night when you're worried every sound your birds make is one of terror. I did my best to fortify their pen but only time will tell and I'm worried I'll have no show birds left for fair. (Not to mention the fact that my ducks are my babies)

 

[centrarchid]

Try putting deer netting over locations owl is accessing run through. Assume it will walk in on ground as well. If owl does challenge deer netting it may get hung so be prepared to use towel to subdue and scissors to cut netting for release. Such will likely give owl pause for subsequent visits.

 

[Carolyn]

I caught one in a catch and release trap after it decapitated my chickens thru the wire in a covered chain link dog pen. I would recommend 50 miles away to release it and consider that getting one out of a trap or netting entanglement communicates an open door for future visits.
It put me out of the chicken business and jerked my grown angora rabbit out of it's coop in broad daylight and killed it.
After the food I supplied was gone I came home to find a bloody massacre had occurred on my porch one day with no sign of the victim.
Carpenter cloth inside my chain link which has a hard cover and a tarp and an end to free ranging helped. I have an electric fence additionally.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Are you talking about owl or raccoon?

 

[Carolyn]

Lol!!!!
A barred owl!
I could not believe it myself when I went to check the trap.

I am way passed retired and have raised chickens off and on many years but living at the edge of a woods and raising chickens has taught me things about animals they never print in the books.

 

[crazyhen]

Oh My! I have two very vocal owls at my house They are vocal at different times all day off and on. They are day and night hunters. Thank goodness I have a covered run and big closed coop for them at night too. They are the Barred owls. I also have Screech owls. Foxes,snakes etc. I live in the edge of the woods. I would not try to have chickens if I could not get them a secure spot. They would be killed the first night. Good luck with yours. My Grandmother use to string string across the run, hanging aluminum pie plates from it to scare things away.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'd be very careful about shooting anything at a Great Horned owl that could kill it (like a pellet gun) - they are protected. How secure is your coop? Do you have an enclosed run? Do your chickens go in at night? Some solutions - Make sure they're in the coop well before dusk and don't let them out too early in the day. Beef up your run. Beef up your coop. There is always some risk to free ranging (if you're doing that). If they're safely in a coop and run, they should be fine.

It is forever more illegal and a Federal Crime to shoot any owl, that is unless you are a member of the US Forest Service in which case certain members of the Forest Service get paid to go forth and shoot Barred Owls all day long. It seems that our friends at the Forrest Service discovered that cutting down trees

was not what was killing off the Spotted Owl but rather the Spotted Owls were interbreeding (or is it outer-beeding) with Barred Owls. Even the Forrest Service employees have a hard time telling the difference between an endangered Spotted Owl and a non-endangered Barred Ow so it is a fair question to ask them how many endangered Spotted Owls have they killed by mistake. The saying in the Spotted Owl community is "Once you go out with a Barred Owl you'll never go back to a Spotted Owl

Oh the Feds have a song and dance about how the bigger, stronger, more aggressive barred owl is killing off the

smaller, weaker, less aggressive Spotted Owl but it is all BS because no one wants to own up to destroying the lives, families and fortunes of the forest workers in the Pacific North West who lost their homes, businesses, and lifesavings because of incompetent environmentalist.

Now if you were an Alaskan Native you are or at least you were allowed to trap and kill owls. The reason being so they could enjoy Kentucky Fried Hoot Owl for Sunday Dinner.

Speaking of trapping, don't ever set a small foot hold trap on the top of a wooden fence post and attach the chain to the top of the post. It is a Federal crime to startle an owl. It is also illegal to erect a tall pole (oh say 10 foot or so above the ground, run a hot wire up one side and across the top and a parallel ground wire across the top and down the other side then attach the first or hot wire to your electric fence charger. This is guaranteed to cause any owl that closes the circuit to forget about chickens and force it to eat rats and mice.OH the horror of it, forcing an owl to eat rodents. What's this world coming to?

I met an old Cajun once who told me that Great Horned Owl taste just like chicken. I believe him because in my experience a Great Horned Owl family will kill between 4 to 10 chickens a week if they need and want them and have access to your flock, and owls taste like what they eat.

 

[oldhen2345]

Will crow decoys truly work? I have a trio of owls perching on trees around my house. ( I thought they were lone hunters, but yep, there are three- a family maybe?)
At first, it was only occasionally. Now, they are here nightly. I have chickens who go in their coop every night and let themselves out in the morning - they free range a fenced in backyard. I came out of the house to feed them the other day at daybreak and there were the owls in the trees waiting for the chickens. They stayed about 10 minutes, not at all afraid of me. I locked the chickens in. Last night, they had resumed their watch at dark. I also have a couple of dogs that are under 9 pounds. I fear for them at night. I hate to think I have to lock the chickens in and unlock them every day, also lock up my dogs every night and watch them at daylight and dusk to be sure they are ok. I would rather get rid of the owls. I can't shoot off fireworks, don't know if the Nite predator lights work- and are expensive - or if a crow decoy would work. Anybody know for sure- can't afford to make a mistake on this.

 

[silarajc]

After coming to open the coop one morning last week and being greeted by what I think is a great horned owl, and one dead and one mortally injured bird, I added more fasteners for the wire fencing that makes up one wall of my temporary coop, and strung string from the wire wall out to the end of the area my pullets frequent. Then I tied mylar tape all around. Hoping this will deter more attacks. I lock the chickadoodles in every night. I know free ranging runs risks, just hoping to keep the numbers down.