Would an owl attack an adult peahen?

[little blue]

i know someone around us had an owl take her peahen.i have seen them take our roo that was prob 12lbs or so.owls hawks they all suck nothing you can do to them.we do feed crows at our house an the hawks hate them so they stay away as long as the crows are hanging around.i would say keep anything you want alive locked up at night.

 

[Exotics R Us]

Yes, an Owl will attack and kill free range peafowl and sometimes in there pens when we first got into peafowl 15 years ago I built the outside roost in the pen to high or the netting to low and an owl swooped down hit the net grabed the peahens neck and tried to pull it thought the netting losing her head.

Ricky
Exotics R Us

 

[Kedreeva]

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That's an excellent idea. I forgot how much crows hate owls they see in daylight! Will definitely keep this in mind

 

[KalikoFarms]

We have been looking for some mini donkeys due to coyotes. The tooked two of my favorite setting hens and about 36 eggs ( one of the hens woke up I guess all that was missing was a few feathers). Then we found pepe LaPue (skunk) out by the chickens and they take the eggs and kill the chickens just to suck the blood.(I know its gross, but true) We put the peafowl in a fence that we. have a cow fence and 6ft dog fence plus they are in chain link fence, hopefully this works. Coyotes will take their prey off and eat it which is why we know that the coyotes were here. Absolutely no sign of anything, feathers, bodys, egg shells. But coyotes will also take the watermelon out of the field and roll them with their noses out away from the watermelon patch and eat it.

 

[reveriereptile]

Since she won't nest in the coop have you tried making a wire enclosure to run her into at night? She may feel more comfortable outside being able to see around her. A wire enclosure might feel more comfortable for her. You might have to do a wire apron though or a wire floor with dirt on top of it to make it more comfortable for their feet and help avoid attacks. Hopefully you find the problem of what is causing the attacks.
Another idea I thought of is see if any friends have tree cameras for deer that you could put up around the area and see what shows up on it.

 

[roracrittercorner]

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I have now seen it with my own eyes! There were three owls and they all went after her at once! She was sleeping less then 20 feet from the house with a motion light and lots of cover and yet they attacked her and took a little one! I'm guessing we have at least 5 Great Horned and 4 Barred owls. I can hear them all hours and see several even in the middle of the day. Just way to many! Not that anything can be done about it. Seriously thinking of getting out of birds they are so bad. They take something every day and have to date taken over 200 birds. Just way to heart breaking for me to handle. I don't think it fair to keep them all locked up all the time. I now have to be out in the yard to "protect" them or not ever let them out. It is so sad to see them look at me from in the fenced area. Thank you everyone for all the advice and I wish I had more crows!

 

[roracrittercorner]

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I can't believe I'm even saying it, but I'd rather have coyotes. We use to have real issues with them but not so much any more. We killed several and my large dog kills any that come around. She is part chow and coy dog mix we recently found out, and simply hates anything unfamiliar. The owls are just to darn difficult and you can't kill them!! So sorry to hear of your loss, it is so very upsetting! I hate losing anything! Cry every time. Just a suggestion that may not be needed but doesn;t hurt is to put a strand or two of electric outside your fence, unless thats the cow fence your talking about. Just never leave it off! When the coyotes were a problem here they would often test the fence! Watermelon is just weird! Never had a skunk... yet but we have mink and weasels that do the same thing!

 

[roracrittercorner]

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I have actually been trying that with no success. It really sounds like a simple and great idea, yet my girl is uncooperative! Now I can't even find her at night! She changes her place I think every night. Next year she will have her own pen inclosure and will not come out. We will just have to give her as much fresh greens and fruit as possible to make her happy. Not losing them next year or I'm getting out of it all. The deer cameras would be an awesome idea to! I actually just slept on the couch every night with the window cracked while she was close to the house so was able to see it all happen. Only wish I could have stopped it, but they are not scared of me either! I absolutely HATE owls at this point. I remember thinking before how useful they were and beautiful, now they are just over populated and a nuisance!

 

[Kedreeva]

Owls have very sensitive hearing, I wonder if there's a sound repellent you can use? I know most "bird scaring" products revolve around producing predator calls or prey distress calls... which probably wouldn't help. There are also strobe light machines which can disorient birds- but again that might affect your peas. *shrug* Worth a shot?

http://www.bird-x.com/products-visual-scare-devices-c-5_7.html

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Have you tried motion activated sprinklers? They are made to spray predators and drive them away. You could mount on a post or two to get them higher up.

LGD = livestock guard dog, we have two Great Pyrenees and they will take on anything and everything including bobcats (got to witness this recently)

These might be an option in place of CD's and pie pans