# Owls killing my chickens



## Kshobbit (May 14, 2002)

For the first time in many years I had a huge loss of poultry due to predators.
It took much too long to discover the culprits was a pair of owls. We have the big "barn owls" around here and when they are feeding their babies they are voracious hunters. I lost a lot of chickens and all 4 of my ducks, set out a live trap with no results. I suspected owls but it wasn't confirmed until last night when the pair was trying to find the last 10 chickens and got frustrated and noisy. I will build a new and better chicken house with a totally enclosed yard and start all over again. One of the surviving hens is setting in the barn in one of my open dog kennels so hopefully she will not be harmed.
Any suggestions on how to discourage the owls will be appreciated. I think they are a protected so shooting them would be out of the question even if I could get them in my sights.


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## Emmy D (Sep 7, 2009)

We had two Great Horned owls move through the area this spring, they didn't bother our flock because they are all locked up an hour before dark. They hung out in one of the trees and watched the girls, but in the daylight they didn't seem to feel the need to hunt. I haven't seen true "barn owls" since I was a kid in the 70's they are rare to non-existant around here.

Do you put your chickens in a secure house at night??

Emmy


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The only thing I can think of besides putting them inside at night is to cover the pen with netting. Be sure there are no roosts near the net or the owl can attack them through the netting. A friend had a bunch of pheasants lose their heads until he figured that out.


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## bluetick (May 11, 2002)

I just bought aviary netting to install over my bird yard in the hope of discouraging hawks and owls. At the moment I only have 4 goslings, but expect to have chicks by the end of the month.

Until the netting goes up, I keep the goslings in a 6'x12'x6' high dog kennel with shade cloth firmly attached to the top. They go into a coop at night.


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## duckidaho (Dec 31, 2008)

Owls are very much protected. That said, we have them in the barn and they don't bother our chickens. Like above, the girls go in well before dark and the owls seem to prefer bunnies which is fine with us. Keep the rabbits out of the garden.


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

I feel your pain. I lost many young turkeys before I figured out how to protect them....even after I did the turkeys would get out of the netting on top and fly out and up high where I could not get them and even with me running out and checking and making noise and flipping lights every 10-15 mins- they still got one by midnight. Best advice is to lock up the birds before nightfall...they start hunting before nightfall sometimes. I put all my birds in the coop or in a covered coop soon as I hear the owls starting to hoot back and forth to each other. Any young stock I have is locked up in the coop (with windows shut) or are in my spare room in a brooder or cage soon as the sun is thinking of going down. Since then, our only loses have been from hawks- with people in the yard 5 ft away! We now keep the chickens and young stuff in covered pens during the day and stopped ranging them. The turkeys are allowed to range during the day in the non-breeding season.


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