Caught in a trap...

[John K Jordan]

The other day I found a dead guinea, partially eaten, on the ground under a big tree where they all roost. After dark that evening I walked down to the barn to check on things and found all the guineas huddled on the ground in a corner, frightened out of their tiny wits. Looking around a found another guinea on the ground, dead but not yet snacked on. It must have just happened since it was still warm.

Thinking of raccoons or possums I set up three small traps baited with peanut butter. Then on a whim I set up the big coyote-sized trap and threw the "fresh" guinea into the back.

Checking on the traps before daylight I found this in the big trap:

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We got a better look at the guinea hunter in the morning. Looks to be a great horned owl. The thing was huge! It was mad, too, hissing at me and clacking it's beak.
The talons looked strong enough to crush steel. It ate most of the bait that day.
I knew owls could look behind them - I saw it could turn it's head way more than 180 deg both directions.

owl_pic2.jpg

Several of our cats were very curious but very cautious too!

owl_pic3.jpg

One older horse was curious but wasn't concerned. The baby horse, however, freaked out when I walked her near the cage later that day, even though the cage was covered with a tarp to keep the owl out of the sun.

I know birds of prey are protected but I wish this one would visit some other buffet. Maybe the day in detention convinced it to go elsewhere. It turned out the guineas killed were two of the six relatively young I hatched and raised this summer.

I've never heard of someone catching an owl in such a trap. Sir Google tells me there are plenty of effective trap designs. Trapping a bird of prey on purpose may require a special permit in some states. I see a lot of hawks here but so far they have left the guineas and chickens alone, perhaps because of the abundance of rabbits and squirrels!

JKJ

[Thomas Wilson]

In my area, a lot of chicken pens have chicken wire over the top. One nearby has strings of pennants over the cage too. My guess is that the pennants are to prevent the hawks from hurting themselves.

It is neat to see the predators, but I am sure you will find a way to discourage them. I hope you managed to let the owl out safely, both you and the owl.

[Andrew More]

That's a pretty amazing catch John! Thanks for sharing.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

My father was the county Game Warden back in the 1960's through 1980's. My parent were away and a construction guy knocked on the door and handed my a cardboard box. and said this rolled out of a tree we cut down to make way for a new road. He turned and left. I took the box inside and looked inside. A downy chick about 7 inches tall. I was 15 and knew it was an owl, but my parents would not be back until two days later. I got on the phone and tried to call all kinds of places. There were no rehabilitators back in the mid 1960's and the state still had a bounty of $10 on Great Horned owls. I finally reached a bology professor at a college nearby and he said to mix bone meal and hamburger. And to use tongs to feed it so I didn't get a finger bitten. I rode my bike to the far side of town and got bone meal at a feed mill. Thawed some hamburger and fed the little guy. By the time my parents returned, I had named him Igor and had him sitting on my wrist and was feeding him with my fingers. I had Igor another three years till I went away to college. He stayed on a perch in a dark part of an enclosed porch during the day and I would take him out and let him fly almost every night. In the morning he would be in the tree outside the porch and would come down and land on my wrist. I stopped by the vet's house once in a while to see him, they built a box in the top of the barn for him so he could come and go as he wished.. He would come down once in a while for a treat but was no longer as friendly. and then the last time, about in the late 1980's, the vet told me that his wife died, and Igor stayed for another few months and then stopped coming back, he guessed because no one was feeding him treats like his wife did.. I've had a few exotic pets, but Igor was the only bird.

[Mark Hennebury]

Wow, nice to see one of those up close! Hopefully he will move on to new hunting grounds.

[Mark Hennebury]

Nice Story, thanks for sharing.

My father was the county Game Warden back in the 1960's through 1980's. My parent were away and a construction guy knocked on the door and handed my a cardboard box. and said this rolled out of a tree we cut down to make way for a new road. He turned and left. I took the box inside and looked inside. A downy chick about 7 inches tall. I was 15 and knew it was an owl, but my parents would not be back until two days later. I got on the phone and tried to call all kinds of places. There were no rehabilitators back in the mid 1960's and the state still had a bounty of $10 on Great Horned owls. I finally reached a bology professor at a college nearby and he said to mix bone meal and hamburger. And to use tongs to feed it so I didn't get a finger bitten. I rode my bike to the far side of town and got bone meal at a feed mill. Thawed some hamburger and fed the little guy. By the time my parents returned, I had named him Igor and had him sitting on my wrist and was feeding him with my fingers. I had Igor another three years till I went away to college. He stayed on a perch in a dark part of an enclosed porch during the day and I would take him out and let him fly almost every night. In the morning he would be in the tree outside the porch and would come down and land on my wrist. I stopped by the vet's house once in a while to see him, they built a box in the top of the barn for him so he could come and go as he wished.. He would come down once in a while for a treat but was no longer as friendly. and then the last time, about in the late 1980's, the vet told me that his wife died, and Igor stayed for another few months and then stopped coming back, he guessed because no one was feeding him treats like his wife did.. I've had a few exotic pets, but Igor was the only bird.

[Lee Schierer]

Taking birds off the roost is typical of Great Horned owls. They get wild turkeys that way all the time. Please release it safely, maybe some distance from your farm.

[Derek Meyer]

My neighbor wanted to have chickens, so he built a nice run and coop in his backyard and got some laying hens. The run was fenced with 4" steel wire fence panels. One night, a raccoon came up, reached through the fence and pulled one of the chickens out. So, he went in and put the 1" hex chicken wire inside the steel panels to keep the raccoons from getting the chickens. That worked fine, but a couple of weeks later, while they were out in their back yard, they watched a hawk come down, snatch one of their chickens up and fly away.

Now, he has netting held up by a PVC frame over the top of the run and coop. I don't think he's had any more issues with predators, but he put up a motion-activated light to try and scare animals away at night. I see it come on once in a while at night, after they've gone to bed, if I have to let my dogs out.

[John K Jordan]

Taking birds off the roost is typical of Great Horned owls. They get wild turkeys that way all the time. Please release it safely, maybe some distance from your farm.

I have reason to believe it was released in horse country about 50 miles from the farm. No reports of injuries.

Even after losing two the guinea flock is still about 16-18 strong.

I’ve had hawks kill chickens and a raccoon pull a very young pullet through a 1/2” gap under a door, leaving no evidence but a pile of feathers. These incidents are mildly disturbing but none has really upset me except for the time a big skunk dug a hole into a peacock house, then climbed up on the roost and killed and ate part of a young peahen I was raising. I caught that skunk the next night when it came back for her brother. Those birds are worth at least $100 each.

JKJ

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am glad you used a live trap! It is too bad about your Guineas. I bet the Owl will keep its distance for a while.

[Steve Demuth]

My son raised chickens on our farm until he went off to college. He had a big, red rooster with an independent streak who wouldn't go in at night to be locked up with the flock, preferring to roost in trees. Big Red spent much of his time fossicking in the house yard, where the rest of the flock wouldn't go because of our cats. One morning we're all sitting at breakfast, with Big Red grubbing worms 15' away through the big South windows, when a Red Tailed Hawk landed on the rooster after a spectacular stoop. There was an explosion of feathers when the hawk hit the rooster, followed by two birds in an honest-to-goodness cock fight - circling, stabbing, pouncing - right in front of us. My son ran out to break up the fracas, and the hawk lumbered off into the blue, leaving Big Red half denuded of feathers, and wotj some rather nasty puncture wounds on his back. He shortly went back to grubbing for worms and made a fully recovery. Best live breakfast entertainment I'd had since the old gander grabbed the pony hard by the tail, and the two circled the yard with the pony at a dead run, and the gander gliding and flapping two feet off the ground in his rear, dodging the ponys frequent attempts to kick him off.

Big Red took up roosting in the lockup with the rest of the flock that night, and ever after.