owls hunting at night in the dark

[moxeeguy]

Owls use sight but even more important...they use hearing. Sleeping
poultry that are sheltered from sight and obviously are quiet are not
at risk...provided they remain silent. Funny that my chicken
roosters...just 2 remaining are remarkably silent once they go to
roost until the sun begins to comes up...but then (of course) the owls
go to sleep by that time.

Kelly

--
a Message from "Guinea Fowl Assn of America" your personal guinea friends group

[Geoffrey Edgar]

Owls hunt by perching on snags and poles and watching for prey, or by gliding slowly above the ground.   From high perches they dive down to the ground onto the prey. They use sight and sound to locate prey.   A high roost sheltered by a pitched roof would make the best form of shelter for a guinea to sleep unobserved by owls and able to survive many years.  Roosting in a tree would clearly be more dangerous.  Low structures like a chicken coop allow for mammal type predators to come into the loop.  If a guinea structure is lifted 6ft off the ground on PVC posts...odds are a normal chicken coop would suffice.

[Peeps]

I do not have any experience with owls and their hunting habits, nor
do I know for certain that I have ever lost any Guineas to owls. My
Guineas are strictly free range and roost in a chosen oak tree or 2
every night. Other than knowing owls hunt at night, I don't know much
else about them. But here's an owl experience of mine....

Sometime last weekend I think, I spotted and heard an owl wayyyy up in
a BIG TALL pine tree at dusk, he was hooting, I could see his
silhouette and my Guineas were very restless and being noisy in their
roosting tree. I am pretty sure they knew he was stalking them, they
get noisy on occasion after dark, and sometimes they do the "Guinea
Chant" all night long for unknown reasons. I always go scout around
with a flashlight, but never see anything. This just happened to be
the first time I actually saw anything that might be the reason for
the constant chanting. he owl was about the size of one of my male
Guineas, so I am sure he could have easily killed one or more of my
flock if he was indeed actually after them. So to avoid any Guinea
losses, I went and grabbed the shotgun and blasted a shot in the owl's
direction. I heard the rabbit and squirrel shot hitting the tree and
away the owl flew. Hopefully he got the hint that my ranch is a no
hunting zone. After that the Guineas were quiet the rest of the night,
and they were all accounted for the next morning. Too bad for Mr Owl!

[K M Edgar]

Peeps,

Whatever works is great. My guinea flock roost in a slightly safer
situation. I tried to explain on another forum that guineas have been
roosting in trees for millions of years and have managed to survive
and flourish in Africa. Trees do not offer perfect roosting
protection but perfection is hard to attain. I am convince that a
tall shed with roosts more than 10ft off the ground with walls that
can't be climbed would provide a perfect roost for guineas. Owls can
get to guineas in trees but undoubtedly trees are fine....just not
perfect. Its the low to the ground chicken shacks with 2-4 ft
roosting bars that are deadly...especially when the birds are locked
inside only to find that a raccoon figured out a way to get in as
well.

Kelly

[Peeps]

So far the only bad thing about my Guineas roosting in the trees is
that they are not all that sheltered from the wind and the rain. They
usually pick pretty branchy trees so it gives them good overhead
protection from owls tho. And they do have the choice to join the
goats and horses in one of the many sheds here, but they don't. And
unfortunately once they get soaking wet and cold they have a hard time
getting up into the trees at bed time. So they are slow, wet cold, and
on the ground making them easy pickins for predators that are more
weather proof. That would most likely be the only time I would use an
enclosed coop and run, to give them a safe place to dry off and warm
up.

[K M Edgar]

Peeps,

The tall shed I've described wanting to build would do for your flock
or you could add more roosting poles in one of the existing sheds. I
was wondering what your guineas do for cover from December through
April when the oak trees finally shed their leaves. It must get a bit
perilous at times for the guineas. You do mention coyotes. They are
pretty much gone from around here...at least on our 20 acres...we have
had just an occasional sighting...and its been more than a year.

IF I were you...I'd do what I could to get the guinea flock into a
safer roosting place. If you can get them to roost in a shed...they
should be roosts that are totally out of reach from raccoons. Can't
have posts that can be climbed up to the roosting bars. The walls
have to be slick. I know there are raccoons in your area...lots of
them. Your predator losses would likely drop off significantly if the
guineas were roosting up 10ft inside a pitched roof of a shed. My
Game Fowl chicken flock have sorta "trained" my guinea flock to roost
in the implement shed. My food bill is a 50# sack of feed a
week...$600 a yr. Selling 75-100 guineas pays for en entire yrs food
for my entire menagerie of poultry.

Kelly

[Peeps]

The Guineas just usually tuff out the bad weather, it's their choice,
they don't want to go into any of the sheds, they prefer the trees,
even thru the harshest weather/storms. Sometimes they come hang out in
the carport that's in front of the garage and roost on the tailgate
and sides of the bed of my truck, but that gets messy. Every once in a
while I will be able to catch one that is excessively water logged and
cage it until the rain stops and it's had time to dry off. That's why
I'd like to have a tall shed/coop AND an attached run, so I could lock
everybody up when I know the weather is going to be rough on them. I
seriously doubt they would roost in a shed unless they were locked in,
they would still go for the trees. So when/if I go to the expense of
providing them a tall shed, it will have to have a run attached to it
so I don't just throw money into the air for a shed that doesn't get
used. I guess eventually after they are used to roosting in it while
locked in they would figure out to always roost there and it could be
left open, but who knows, they do what they want. Pea brained birds, I
swear.