I think I have been feeding a Great Horned Owl

[chickendaddio57]

I'm a newbie here, so please go easy on me, but I think I have an owl problem. One of my hens was killed in the pen last night.
I got home late but checked on them, and they were roosted in a tree above my coop inside my pen, so I figured they wouldn't be vulnerable to a fox or raccoon, and I left them perched in the tree. I didn't see owls listed among the predators in the predator section of this site, so it didn't occur to me to pull the hens down and put them in the coop. I won't make this mistake twice...I am trying to figure out how to cover the coop inside the pen with either wire or netting ASAP...

 

[speckledhen]

Any birds who aren't behind a locked door at night are vulnerable to predator attack. No one has a completely predator proof pen, not if a predator has enough time to figure out how to get in--that is why my coop is predator proof and they are in there every night, without fail. Sorry for your loss, but yup, owls can be really bad if they find your flock and can get to them.

Welcome to BYC, but wish it was under better circumstances.

 

[Sissy]

You may want to staple netting or wire
To your coop roof.I have metel roofing nailed on.
But also have an attached run with wire stapled
on the top and all sides.
Sorry of your loss.

 

[krissdani]

So sorry you lost a hen.

I too live in the forest - we use "berry netting" over the coop - it weighs pretty much nothing and you can drape it over / work it around trees. Just make sure to throw a handfull of leaves up on it so the owls etc see it before swooping in and getting tangled in it.

I know we have owls as they were "stalking" the coop within a week of us getting our hens, in daylight! But they haven't gotten one as we got the net up quick.

 

[wildeflowers]

Sorry you lost your hen.

We had to chase our roo down from the top of the coop last night in the dark for fear of owls. We used lightweight poultry netting over the run. It's all attached with zip ties.

 

[PortageGirl]

Yep, I'm sorry you lost her too. It could have been an owl, but it could have been a raccoon too! Raccoons can usually climb over a fence and birds go into a sort of torpor at night and they just sit there when a raccoon climbs up the tree and grabs one. Regardless of what did it, you obviously see that locking them up securely is the best way to keep em safe so it hardly matters exactly what got her, but I just thought I'd mention that about how goofy they get after dark.