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| The Great Horned Owl on Little Utah Farm. This owl never harmed anyone's chickens. He would visit then fly away. Photo by Deborah Moen of Little Utah Farm |
Recently news came of a very large owl who hoo hoo was attacking free roaming chickens in our area. I have lived in Utah for 12 years now and never had any incidences.
My first response was to keep my hens and ducks safe so I kept them in the coop. The weird part of this was that he attacked night and day. I thought owls slept during the day. They do come out on dark cloudy days at dusk or dawn but not daylight, or so I thought. Thinking the owls were only night creatures gave us the freedom and confidence to let our flock roam in the back yard.
I felt very sad as our yard has always been safe haven with good fencing and tree cover. The girls know when a predator is nearby and they will either duck underneath the big fir tree or run for the coop.
I decided this was time to watch over our flock. This way they could get some sun and exercise. The dog's presence helped also.
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| The Winter Sun Room where the hens lay down and soak up the sunrays . |
When I let the hens and ducks out of the coop they run and find their food and water. First the hens go inside the Winter Sun Room ,where I have tossed some scratch and a clean bowl of water. There is a lot of scratching and pecking through the straw then they lay down in there soaking up the sunrays which is quite warm at 6,000 ft. in elevation. After a good warm sunbath they walk to the big fir tree and fountain area which has tall grass all around. The ducks continually waddle from water bucket to water bucket to splash and snorkel.
Father Raven always warns me of a nearby hawk. He flies really low overhead and calls out an alarm. I looked up and sure enough there is a hawk or falcon approaching. The ducks begin to waddle quickly to the coop and I take my herding cane and call out the cue to "go to bed" The hens begin to move out of the shadows and into to open space. They stoop really low and scramble inside. They are so smart! I close the coop door and they are safe.
Once Raven came by calling the alarm. I looked up and saw a large bird ( a juvenile red tailed hawk with a full white breast) tucked his body into a streamline bullet and began diving headfirst towards our yard. I grabbed my cane which we lovingly call our "duck stick" and I swung it over my head like a helicopter blade and gave the call out to go to bed . Like a fire drill they all file into the coop.
I have not yet seen the Great Horned Owl that was hunting chickens in our area. But I will continue to shepherd our flock. It is really nice to spend time with them. With winter here that time is cut short with the cold and snow but I allow them to stretch their legs while I fix up their food. As I carry the bowls back to the coop they follow.
Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm,
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| Deborah Moen of Little Utah Farm |
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THE ZEN OF WINTER ON LITTLE UTAH FARM
