New member - Hello, my name is Martha.

[CluckerFamily]

Welcome!!

I agree with the free ranging before dusk and having a covered run. A covered run helps from areal attacks and helps with weather.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, Martha, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Good luck with discouraging the owl.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and welcome to BYC.

 

[DouglasB]

I have had backyard chickens for a few months now. A few months back I had some small ones that escaped the coop. One morning I came out to find a big pile of little black and white feathers, and no little chickens. We were sad. We assumed an owl, but never saw one. The next batch of chickens was not let out of the coop. Two nights a ago there was a tremendous squawking, and we saw an owl sitting on the top of the coop. We shot at it, it flew off sort of sideways, and we hoped that it would stay away. Alas, last night there was (I think) another one on top of the coop.

Any suggestions for potentially less lethal ways of getting rid of owls and not getting in trouble with the law? Are there owl traps? And if there are, any suggestions for what to do with the owl once it is trapped? Any ideas for spikes or something on top of the coop? Something to keep the owls from landing on it?

Thanks.

Martha

Welcome to BYC from the blue ridge. Sorry for your trouble with the owls, but they are owls, predators. Better to build a predator proof coop and run as they are a protected species. And, you can't kill em all. But you can protect your birds.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Martha and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us