Chicken killin owls?

[GoodOlBoy]

Anybody got a sure fire way to trap an owl that is sneakin in on me in the wee hours every other mornin and snatching chicks? It has gotten 6 in the last two weeks.

GoodOlBoy

[DogYeller]

When I was a kid we had that same problem. Dad put a steel trap on top of a pole close to the chicken house. It didn't take long for the problem to stop.

Today you may be expected to try to reason with the Owl before you resort to the trap.

[FIJI]

find a local birder or better yet, bat fanatic, and borrow a "mist net"

you can buy them via OBC.org (Organization for Bat Conservation)

[Leadbutt]

Be carefull on posting like topics remember we are not the only ones reading them and OWLS are a protected bird.

[skeet]

What DY said. But bait the area next to the trap. If ya catch him...consider that the crows just love to dive bomb owls. You can have a great crow shoot with an owl for a decoy. Protected?? Holy cow!! They be pertected?? Not if they are depredating....er...ah...maybe I think! The 3 S rule comes into effect here ya know. Shoot shovel shutup. If ya do catch it...take it 40 miles away and turn it loose..yep...turn it loose

[Swift]

Originally posted by skeet
The 3 S rule comes into effect here ya know. Shoot shovel shutup. If ya do catch it...take it 40 miles away and turn it loose..yep...turn it loose

[BILLY D.]

Again, be very careful about transporting these critters as some may have Chips installed for studying migration habits and other movements.

3 S works best. Add another S for soup.



Best wishes, Bill

[skeet]

Most critters that they catch and put them chippies in usually have a leg band too.... cept wolfies. Oh and if'n it's an owl...it will probably be a spotted owl that would have a chippie Now I know this ain't politically correct but in my opinion...we have wwwaaayyyy too many owls now days. Just my feelings ya understand. Same with hawks. Back when we used DDT in this country the populations of raptors was down...but it sure ain't now. Hey GOB...I know you like huntin skwerls. Them horned owls eat skwerls big time. So if'n ya see one...ya know he is a depredator. Plug 'im. Waaayyy back yonder I had me a crippled horned owl. Nastiest disposition of any bird I ever did see. Hard to keep fed up too. I almost shot all the skwerls in a 5 acre woods keepin him fed up.. He mighta been a bad dispositioned bird cause I used him for crow shootin. He didn't seem to like them too much...er maybe it was the shootin around him Nah...it was the crows

[GoodOlBoy]

OOOOOKay

First - These are not snow owls, or any other rare breed, OR and migratory breed. They are plain old east texas barn owls.

Second - I have already spoken with the local game warden etc and I am well within my rights to blow their feathered arses into the next county since I have lost 120+ chickens to them in two years.

Third - we actually have an INFECTION of them in my county. Every conservationist group around has been contacted. They come. They see they are plain old barn owls that nobody gives a hoot about *ahem* and that won't get them any press and so they move on.

Last year another local farmer caught fourteen of them in nets he rigged up in three days. He offered them to every zoo within 500 miles and every conservationist group he could find. Within a few weeks he was told by the county he had to either let them go or kill them (don't know what that was all about) so like an idiot he took them into the national forest and let them go. The national forest is 4 miles from him, and about 900 yards from me. Now not only is he overrun again, but my place is in a direct flight path to his. If I could catch them at it (and have in the past) then I could get rid of them. I will try the trap on a pole.

By the way the state office estimates there are around 1500 of these birds in my county alone. Sometimes on a nice clear spring night the hooting will cause you to go deaf and insane.

GoodOlBoy

[gumpokc]

My grandad told me once what he and great granddad did when owls were getting into their pullets.

they took some of their thrownets (like you use to catch minnows or baitfish) and strung them up to catch them.

[YoungBuck14]

we had this problem and we contacted the local zoo and the bird expert guy told us owls are very protective of there feathers and never want to ruffle them too much so he said if possible run some fishing line over the chicks pen or where ever they are getting caught and after the owl flies into it he will be so scared he won't return even if the line is gone...this worked for us but they have to be flying into the chicks pen not just landing and walking cause we had a hawk that would just land in our chicken pen and walk around the roost pen trying to figure out how to get in

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I have seen the fishing line crossing the top of the pen work ...something else I did but it was a goose poop problem at the lake camp....I put white chalk line around my camp grounds and the geese only walk to it but won't cross it....for some reason....now I have had only one or two (maybe blind) that got in but as a whole, I have every camper now doing it...it works...I just laid the white line on the ground ....I have 3 ducks I hand feed...and they will walk to the string....but not cross it....hum..if that works everywhere?....not sure but it works for me.....only one thing to do with the owls...and any other overpopulated critters that are gettin to be a pia....

[Nulle]

Got in a little jam a year or so back and it wasn't from the locals but the Feds. (dont figure). Dog Y has a good reply on these pests.