Owl hanging around my coop

[AuntNomi]

Today while I had the chickens out free ranging they started acting a little strange and made noise I had not heard from them before. They did this 3 different times. The third time they did it I saw an owl fly up to a pine tree branch and land. I have never seen an owl before here in my yard. Some of my chickens in their coops, some went to the tree cover and me ran to the shed. Now I have no clue what an owl will do to my chickens, but I knew it was a blem from how they reacted. Since all 36 went to different directions I was scared and grabbed a hoe. I shut the coop that some went to and then went to trying to get the others in their coops, took me a while. But I got it done with no loss. I just do not know though, does this owl live in the woods here, or do they kinda come and go? I only let my chickens out when I can be with them, but I do not want to keep them cooped up forever. I will be letting them out tomorrow. I am hoping this owl will relocate. However if it does not what can I do to get it away from my property, if anything at all? Thanks

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Here is an older thread, but it talks about almost exactly what you asked.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/772171/barred-owl-hunting-during-the-day
The best advice I have seen for dealing with raptors is stringing heavy duty fishing line between your trees, if a raptor cannot dive on its prey, it cannot catch it. With you there, the owl, may not feel the chickens are worth the bother. If the owl is small it may be hunting for rodents. Hope that helps!

 

[AuntNomi]

Here is an older thread, but it talks about almost exactly what you asked.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/772171/barred-owl-hunting-during-the-day
The best advice I have seen for dealing with raptors is stringing heavy duty fishing line between your trees, if a raptor cannot dive on its prey, it cannot catch it. With you there, the owl, may not feel the chickens are worth the bother. If the owl is small it may be hunting for rodents. Hope that helps!

Thanks, I read all that. Good info. I can't very well cover my yard though as it is too much for me to do so. And we do not exactly have a run. We live in Florida so we basically have I guess warmer weather coops, and they are all very large so we never did make runs as we were just free ranging since we spend hours a day in the yard it has always been easy to do it that way. I think I will have to get to planning where and how we can make each coop a run and get that done in the these next few weeks as the kids and I will be off from school and work. And then I will just cover the top of that so that no owl or hawk can swoop down after my babies! Thanks for your help.

 

[GodofPecking]

Today while I had the chickens out free ranging they started acting a little strange and made noise I had not heard from them before. They did this 3 different times. The third time they did it I saw an owl fly up to a pine tree branch and land. I have never seen an owl before here in my yard. Some of my chickens in their coops, some went to the tree cover and me ran to the shed. Now I have no clue what an owl will do to my chickens, but I knew it was a blem from how they reacted. Since all 36 went to different directions I was scared and grabbed a hoe. I shut the coop that some went to and then went to trying to get the others in their coops, took me a while. But I got it done with no loss. I just do not know though, does this owl live in the woods here, or do they kinda come and go? I only let my chickens out when I can be with them, but I do not want to keep them cooped up forever. I will be letting them out tomorrow. I am hoping this owl will relocate. However if it does not what can I do to get it away from my property, if anything at all? Thanks

WOOHOO, you got an owl !!! LUCKY YOU.

It's after all the mice !!! the mice that eat the food. Oh there is a lot of luck !!!! I wish an owl would take up resident guard in my coop, that is so cool.

 

[GodofPecking]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/478781/barn-owls-and-chickens-problem

 

[GodofPecking]

See if you can put up a few nesting boxes so that you have an owl to show off to friends who drop by, they are so cool. They'll eat the mice that hop about.

 

[Percheron chick]

WOOHOO, you got an owl !!! LUCKY YOU.

It's after all the mice !!! the mice that eat the food. Oh there is a lot of luck !!!! I wish an owl would take up resident guard in my coop, that is so cool.

not really. I lost 7 guineas and 4 hens to owls this year that insisted on roosting in the rafters of the barn. They are cool but encourage them to move on.

 

[GodofPecking]

not really. I lost 7 guineas and 4 hens to owls this year that insisted on roosting in the rafters of the barn. They are cool but encourage them to move on.

He, if you get an owl THAT BIG, you don't mess with it, just throw down your cash and car keys and GET OUT OF THERE !!!!

AuntNomi's owl may be a different, smaller kind of owl, if it's less than 250kg or so, I think she might be ok to keep it and put up a nest box. It is too cool not to research, owls are so noble and the symbol of wisdom.

why is my pasted text blue and I can't delete the blue part? strange !

 

[Tumbling K]

cool to have an owl?

isn't there a thread on this very page that discusses an owl taking down and eating chickens?

 

[Percheron chick]

Nomi's owl may be a different, smaller kind of owl, if it's less than 250kg or so, I think she might be ok to keep it and put up a nest box.

I will definitely be running from a pony sized owl. Probably don't have much of a chance.