Owl hanging around my coop

[NCcitychicken]

Owls are perfect killing machines. The feathers of an owl are sort of furry so they make no sounds they will swoop in and nail a chicken in a minute. Just they fact he was watching your chickens tells me they are on the menu. Good luck. Where I am killing a bird of prey is a large fine. But I think if you need to remove it you may be able to trap it. They make soft jawed leg traps that will not injure the bird but I would definitely call your dnr and get the scoop before you trap and relocate one. You may need a permit or it may be illegal. And I would throw a blanket over it and wear welding gloves when you unhook it. An owl can really hurt you. If you aren't a brave soul I wouldn't recommend it. We had screech owls nest and raise at my dads farm one year. There were 6 of them and they wore our poor ducks and chickens out.

 

[GodofPecking]

Wow you are crazy! But as a side note, I never said I was going to shoot anything or mentioned a gun. I was looking for helpful info so thanks for the help, and also everyone else's help. I hope and pray it is after the mice as you say. Thanks for your help.

Yes I am, 8^)

yes I admit the gun may have been in my imagination, which has a lot of spare time on it's hands 8^)

It is good to see that the facts and education about the Barred Owl does go a long way to understanding it. The Owl certainly does need a lot of food, and it needs to eat pretty much daily, and much more when raising young. Given that you haven't lost anything yet, it's obviously getting all of it's food elsewhere. I would think netting over much of the garden would just see the Owl flying over and past your garden to somewhere better to look for it's favorite food, probably mice, there are a lot of mice and birds in general love them, they are a good size and pretty stupid and can't thrash about like a chook with a foot that can scratch the owls eye.

You're welcome !

 

[bobbi-j]

As previously stated, covered runs would be your best bet. Whether the gov't is out there shooting the owls at will, I won't debate, but I believe it's illegal for us mere mortals to do so anyway. Keep your birds inaccessible to the owl for a few weeks, it'll likely move on.

 

[centrarchid]

If you have an owl sized similar or larger than a Barred Owl, then pen birds up. I watch my owls (Great-horned and Barred) closely. Probably 90% of what they consume is small rodents (voles and mice) with majority of balance being rabbits and the occasional songbird, they still go after chickens when they are exposed. The owls are very size selective targeting smaller chickens first but they can handle an adult turkey in a pinch. Mine come in even when they have not had a chicken for more than 6 months. Sometimes more than one owl at a time when young birds are involved. Most of my birds sleep under stars although I do have methods for preventing loss to owls. The owls still probe and get rodents made more abundant and vulnerable by my chicken keeping which is likely the norm for poultry keepers. Leaving uneaten feed out after dark makes everything worse.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Owls are perfect killing machines. The feathers of an owl are sort of furry so they make no sounds they will swoop in and nail a chicken in a minute. Just they fact he was watching your chickens tells me they are on the menu. Good luck. Where I am killing a bird of prey is a large fine. But I think if you need to remove it you may be able to trap it. They make soft jawed leg traps that will not injure the bird but I would definitely call your dnr and get the scoop before you trap and relocate one. You may need a permit or it may be illegal. And I would throw a blanket over it and wear welding gloves when you unhook it. An owl can really hurt you. If you aren't a brave soul I wouldn't recommend it. We had screech owls nest and raise at my dads farm one year. There were 6 of them and they wore our poor ducks and chickens out.

Owls, especially GHOs land on the same roost as the chicken then forces the chicken that they intend to have for dinner to fly down from the roost. The owl then follows the chicken down and kills it on the ground. This is usually accomplished by slow strangulation.

 

[GodofPecking]

You can discourage them, and it sounds like fun according to the user on here 'TheLizardKing' https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/772171/barred-owl-hunting-during-the-day#post_11015406

Quote:
there are other threads on this subject on here besides this one and the above one,

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