Owl

[kuntrychick]

Last night real late I went out on the back porch & heard an owl. Ugh...that eery echo owl sound....Hooo..hoo.hoo. (such a fitting sound for this time of year close to Halloween....spooky!) I shined a flashlight in the trees & never saw the eyes but have a good idea which tree it was in. A few nights ago, I heard it too, so it must be living in that tree or roosting there every night or have babies or something.

Should I be concerned? I mean, my chickens are in their coop roosting. Will an owl go to a chicken coop?

Do owls come around during the daytime at all while the chickens are free-ranging?

 

[annep]

They shouldn't go out during the day..We had one sitting in our crabapple tree one night, but haven't seen it since..

 

[desertdarlene]

We got one at the lake that eats skunks and sometimes take a duck or two. But, the only time you would ever see a great-horned-owl in the day is when it's really overcast. I hear they can't see that well in the bright daylight. So, your birds should be fine during th day at least from that predator. If you shut the doors on your coop, they should be fine at night.

You're hearing the male hooting. Do you hear a female, too? She kinda screeches. Just curious if you have a pair.

 

[cgmccary]

so it must be living in that tree or roosting there every night or have babies or something.

Great Horned Owls (and if you are hearing "HOO HOO," then it is GHO), nest starting in about January [setting on their eggs] so they wouldn't have babies this time of year -- should have finished up awhile ago. GHO will take skunks and that is why they smell like them (and one of the skunks only natural enemy) & they will even take a grown opossum. GHO will fly in an opening in a coop & will fly in barns and take birds.

If you hear, "WHO COOKS FOR YOU, WHO COOKS FOR YOU ALL," then it is a Barred Owl. Barred Owls have never bothered my birds.​