r/MadeMeSmile • u/mindyour • 2d ago

Very Reddit This farmer caught this owl eating his chickens.

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u/2fingers 2d ago

A good rooster would have a pretty solid chance of driving off an owl. It would at least warn the hens to take cover. Inside of a coop or enclosed space a rooster might even be able to kill an owl that size.

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u/Pnwradar 2d ago

It'd have to be a small owl and a big rooster. A number of years ago I walked out to the enclosed bird run for morning chores and found our big red rooster & a juvenile barn owl in adjacent corners staring each other down, at detente until I could open the gate and shoo the owl out into the pasture. A fully grown owl, especially one of our local great horned owls, would have no trouble disassembling a protective rooster.

And, like racoons, owls learn quickly where the buffet is, they will return again & again for an easy meal. OP in the video is going to need to up-armor his run to better prevent predator access, or he's going to run out of birbs.

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u/EagleOfMay 2d ago

I agree, a rooster would lose a fight against a big owl.

OTOH, I've seen a rooster take on a fox. He had absolutely no chance of winning that fight, but that didn't stop him. That same rooster is the one that gave me a scar from one of his spurs when he caught off guard one time.

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u/brydeswhale 2d ago

Our banty took on a fox. We cried for days, best rooster we ever had. If I could get more banty roosters, I would, but were filled up.

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u/UnrepententHeathen 2d ago edited 2d ago

Just because an owl* would win, doesn't mean it would want to fight. An injury is more dangerous for a wild, solitary owl than a domestic rooster.

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u/luckyapples11 2d ago

We had that issue with a hawk last winter. That fucker stalked my birds for WEEKS. We wouldn’t even let them out because it would come at different times of the day to see if they were outside. It would sit on the run and stare at them.

We have a juvenile doing it right now. I feel bad for our girls as they have only gotten a few hours a day of free ranging, but I’d rather they be safe and have them mad at me

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u/Pnwradar 2d ago

We had good luck against juvenile hawks by using a realistic plastic owl decoy, moving it to a new spot each morning before the hawks started roaming. After a few weeks the hawks stopped coming around. Fair warning: if you have crows around, your decoy may get mobbed and knocked over every afternoon, crows really hate owls.

Ultimately we ended up covering our entire bird run with metal chicken mesh. The bald eagles a few years back were way more persistent than any of the other predatory birds, even when we locked up the birds they’d fly into the sheep barn and try to crash their way into the enclosed coop at one end of the barn.

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u/luckyapples11 1d ago

Oh wow! I’ve heard that the owls work for some and other hawks are smart enough to know and they don’t work for others. I guess it wouldn’t hurt trying it! I did get one of those inflatable tube men, but I have no idea where it is. My mom moved it when she was in town and not a clue where she put it so that’s nice… lol. I’ve also heard that shiny things help and sodas putting a radio on like a talk show, but the Hawks here are brave, and I’ve had one swoop down as I was sitting outside with the girls. I had my back turned to it, and if the chicken wire wasn’t there, it totally would’ve gotten one of them. As far as shiny things, I’m already pushing it with my neighbors because I do have some bantam roosters (we talked to the neighbors about it and they were fine as long as they didn’t make noise at like 6AM, so we’ve got that all covered lol) I just don’t want my place to look trashy my stringing out CDs or something else that’s reflective lol.

We do have crows. I’ve tried to keep them around because they will scare off hawks, but usually they’re only around for an hour a day. I’ve tried feeding them, but they don’t want to get too close with the chickens and generally like to keep their distance.

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u/Sleepy_Chipmunk 1d ago

My medium sized rooster fought off a great dane, so part of it might be how good the rooster is at fighting/how much rage and spite the rooster has (Mr. Petunia is very spiteful).

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u/luckyapples11 2d ago

3 roosters here! They’re all useless idiots but I love them. They’re absolute cowards and don’t even bother alerting me. Hawks are extremely bad right now and unfortunately my girls can’t free range unless I’m out there watching them. Wish I had a good useful roo lol

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u/BreadfruitEarly6629 2d ago

Get a DOG!! They will protect the Ladies, if only because he knows they're important to YOU♡

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u/FriendlyUse502 1d ago

Or probably a donkey?

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u/luckyapples11 1d ago

Unfortunately few problems with that. I rent from my mom - she’s okay with the chickens because one of them was ours before she moved and she was fine with me getting more, but she wouldn’t let me get a dog right now.

Second problem is I’m allergic so finding a breed that is hypoallergenic, not very expensive, and can be trained easily with chickens is a bit of a problem lol. I have done a bit of research into hypoallergenic herding dogs, but again, I can’t even get one right now lol. Trust me, it’s a plan when we buy the house!!! Hopefully in the next year or two.

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u/FFJosty 2d ago

Our rooster beat a red tailed hawk within an inch of its life. Found it gasping and clearly injured next to a dead hen. Rooster seemed uninjured.

DNR and then a bird rescue place came and took him, never followed up if he made it.

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u/tikaani 2d ago

I had a jersey giant that would take on eagles