Owls

[chickenwhat]

I Am New To The Love Of Chickens, I Bought My First 4 Buffs 3weeks Ago, Then Got 4 More. Now I Spend Every Night Chasing An Owl Away! What To Do? Thanks Chickenwhat

 

[sourland]

Put a top on the pen and lock the coop up tight each night. GHO are extremely persistant and will keep checking out a possible food source.

 

[Caat]

 

[bburn]

....as will anything else that discovers your chickens. Cover the top. I am in the process of making Ft. Knox out of my coops and runs. Spent the entire day out there and am still not done. On the second racoon and hope I get him tonight! Locking up tight at night. Can hardly sleep and afraid I will hear something. Home alone as DH is out of town working....but the 22 is loaded and I can shoot. Just don't like going out in the dark!!!

Cover the top.
Put an apron around the run and bury it.
Use hardware cloth.

 

[berkeleysprings]

im sure u know about the 22 but it traveles a long way for people that dont a 12 guage is perfect with low brass bird loads or a 410 guage ....we used cattle fence makeing our fort knox and lashed it together with electris wire scraps from job sites and used 2x4 for support the roof fenceing and chicken wire 2 foot up from botten , we had a coon attack when the racoon pulled the poor white silkie threw the fence wile it was sleeping pice by pice right threw the 2x4inch holes looked like a pillow fight
welcome feathers everywere


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[bburn]

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[woodmort]

I'd first suggest keeping the chickens in a secure coop from an hour or so before dark until an hour or two after sunup--GHO will hunt at dusk and during cloudy days. Then keep cover the run with heavy netting--hardware cloth is the best but very expensive. These birds are very strong and persistent. Finally, remember GHO's, like all raptors, are protected by both federal and state law, killing one can be very expensive so your only recourse is to drive it off or call fish and game to see what help they can give you.

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

Most deffinatley get the coop secure, then drive off the owl. Go out and clap your hands etc. You can even leave a radio play near the coop for a few nights.

We had one grabbing mice off our front porch. 5 days in a row at 3 am it was there. They will NOT leave until the food source is gone if you do nothing! I prefer Owls here, they do their job very well and usually wont hunt during the day unlike Hawks.

But beware, on overcast days, especially if its been raining alot at night, they will hunt during the daytime hours!

 

[Hoss1975]

We have a lot of owls around here,never lost a chicken to one though,they are free range but return to the coop every night.Here is a pic of a little screech owl that has decided to nest under the eve of my house,they are feeding young right now but i haven't been able to get a pic yet.They are very tame and not afraid of me at all,they have landed just a few feet from me,to check me out i guess.