Will an owl take on a full grown rooster?

[AmyRey]

We don't see owls very much at all. Of course, this is not very surprising. So I really don't know what kind they are.

Although, both those links have audio samples of the calls and it's definitely not a screech owl. It's the really low "hooo hooo hooo" sound.

I was thinking that maybe their hunting styles would keep them from targeting a roosted rooster. That they hunted from a perch, and swooped down onto things on the ground. I imagine that the leaves would make it more difficult for an owl to get a clear shot at our boy, but when winter comes he won't have the cover of foliage to protect him.

*sigh*

Guess I better start fencing him in. He's not gonna be happy. lol

 

[AmyRey]

Okay, after looking in my bird book and searching calls of those owls that are known to live in our area, I believe our birds are probably Great Horned, which are plenty large enough to take him down.

Sorry, Cocky... you gotta sleep inside from now on.

 

[twentynine]

Yes!
never happened to me but yes it can happen.

 

[ISSOLA]

A great horn owl will eat smallish animals like cats, small dogs and definitely chicken-sized fauna....

 

[Sappy]

Yes, the owl can and will taken on a rooster. One of my best buddies is a Falconer, and he claims that even hawks are afraid of owls. That says a lot right there.

 

[gsim]

They will take down a rooster. And get this: They no doubt saw your roo in the tree. Could be they could not tell if he was a hawk or what tho. Get him indoors if you want to keep him.

 

[TarzantheChickenMan]

great horned owl will take about anything, ive seen them take on wild Canadan geese at dusk and win
ive lost a few duck to the owl around here just cause they wouldnt go in the pen at night needless to say i dont keep ducks anymore.

 

[poirotgrl]

I have recently lost all but two of my birds, a hen and a roo to an owl. I've always really admired owls (think, Labyrinth and Harry Potter), but right now I'm just really angry and depressed because of them. I know they're just doing what owls do, but I know the inevitable is coming until all my birds are gone. There's plenty of other critters around here for them to eat, but I guess everyone prefers chicken. It's just so sad loosing your flock, and I feel so responsible for them. Not sure if I want to do birds, again, but if I do I know I'll have to do things completely different. So, yes, OWLS WILL EAT YOUR CHICKENS AND YOUR ROOSTERS. Hell, in these parts I believe they'd come after a small child.

 

[cmom]

This is an older thread but pertinent. I had an issue with an owl. I covered all of my pens with some good heavy duty netting to protect my birds from aerial predators but ran short. I bought some netting online but it wasn't what I thought it was and turned out to be poor netting. I put it up anyway thinking it would deter any aerial predators and it did for quite awhile until a GHO decided it could plow through the netting and get a bird which it did. I replaced the netting with another piece of the poor netting and the owl went through it again and killed a bird. I replaced the netting again with another piece of the poor netting because at the time that is all I had. I moved the birds to another coop and put a camera up and the owl can back and went through the netting again. I bought some new heavy duty netting and put it up and the owl tried to go through it but got caught. We managed to get it into a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it. They said they had a release area and that it shouldn't come back. I have seen other owls since.