A Great Horned Owl Story

I'm taking all the names out of this and only using initials. It's the story that I find very interesting and I really do think it needs to be written out and published in some way for kids.

Facebook conversation:

B: After he killed his 9th and wounded his 10th one of my laying hens, our elusive predator got shot last night. Sadly, he was a Great Horned Owl who looked VERY much like a bobcat with a chicken in his mouth when he lost his life. We've called the Game Warden, paid the fine, and hopefully the rest of my hens aren't too traumatized to begin laying again.

S: Are they a protected species--and are you just supposed to let them eat your hens!?

B: They are protected, and yes, when it comes down to it, you ARE supposed to let them eat your laying hens!

L: How much was the fine? If you pay the fine, can you stuff him and put him on the wall?

B: He gave us the lowest possible fine, $70.00, which was VERY merciful, as shooting a raptor can even involve jail time, although he saw the pile of headless hens by our back door, and noted that the framed face, triangular ears and yellow eyes are VERY similar on bobcats and these owls. And No, he took the owl away so we cannot stuff him and put him on the wall, which is a shame, because he was a gorgeous creature with about a 4ft. wingspan.

M: Sad for the owl;happy for the chickens!

J: Glad to hear your shot the predator.

G: relieved that you will now get to eat a few eggs alongside your 75 chicken pies.

M: You have to pay a fine, to protect your chickens? That's ridiculous, to me.

B: I guess that there are idiots out there that kill them and market their parts just for the fun of it, and that's why they're protected, but yes, there's a real conflict when it comes to which life(ves) to save!

C: Sorry to hear about the owl kill. They are such beautiful creatures - and just doing what God did create them to do - hunt. But I'm also glad your chickens are safer (I assume from this that they are not penned at all?). When was he hunting your chickens? Aren't they in a coop for the night? I've only seen Great Horned Owls at night, that's why I ask. And - is it legal to shoot bobcats?? I think it's strange that the owl only ate their heads (I assume that's all he could get down his throat?). What a waste! I think you need to get one of your kids to write up a report with all the interesting details about owls, chickens, Colorado laws and so forth just so I can read it! :-) I'd really like to know more about all of this simply because I'm very curious. You may have to do what my Uncle out at Calhan does - keep your chickens in a very large chicken-fenced cube to keep raptors, foxes, skunks out.

A: I think owls just like the brains..

B: C, My chickens were in an enclosure with 8ft. fenced walls, a little shed for them to roost in at night, and a tarp "tent" covering their feeder/waterer area, with only about a 4ft. margin of uncovered space w/in the fence and around t...he tarp so they could walk out there and get sunshine during the day. We have hawks around here often, but have lost very few poultry to them, as they instinctively run for cover whenever any shadows pass above. We really thought that our predator was a bobcat, because we'd seen cat tracks around the pen, and figured he only ate the heads b/c he couldn't get them over that 8ft. fence.

B: This owl was waiting until night, when all of the chickens were roosting in the shed, swooping down within the walls, then walking under the tarped area, grabbing them off the roost, biting them in the neck, drinking their blood (very neat kills, not a drop anywhere,)then eating only their heads, and starting on another one immediately. He did up to 3 per night for a week before A. shot him. Yes, it is legal to shoot predators who are in the act of killing your livestock if they are not a protected species, as raptors are.

C: Thanks, B. I can't help but think what a great example this owl is of sin in a person's life. Those chickens looked harmless and were easy targets for a creature that usually has to hunt all night for his dinner. Yet, in the end, they actually were his complete downfall (in his case, his death). Thanks for giving more details. Seriously, this whole event should be written down - it would make a great story for my grandson. Maybe he would learn something from it!

B: I have a safer, totally enclosed pen for my best layers inside the barn. He ate 3 of them before I moved them inside and put my older layers out in the pen I've just described. I knew that it was not a totally predator-proof pen. Just the same, the Game Warden said that this was extraordinary behavior for an owl.

B: Hey! we crossed comments! I was typing while you were. Yes,it's a very interesting story.

I highlighted the sentence in red because I found it very interesting in light of Revelation 6:8 "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." I think we are going to continue to see more and more strange animal and wild animal behaviors like this.