pavman Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Long story short We have some dead poults and its not like a Charlie kill had a quick look this morning on way to work, spoke with my Fox guru Grandalf and he thinks it could be Tawny owls and suggested I go back and pluck feathers to look for talon marks on body where they would have been held down………… Anyone else had this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul041075 Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 (edited) I believe that if there heads have been ripped off its probably a Tawny Edited August 10, 2011 by paul041075 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuttyspaniel Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 I believe that if there heads have been ripped off its probably a Tawny Thats been my experience as well. We have some dead poults and its not like a Charlie kill had a quick look this morning on way to work, spoke with my Fox guru Grandalf and he thinks it could be Tawny owls and suggested I go back and pluck feathers to look for talon marks on body where they would have been held down………… What like are the dead poults? e.g. whole, heads of etc? Nutty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Put up lots of old CD's suspended from tree's around the release pen. We had this too this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 Tawny owls are way down in numbers around Suffolk over the last couple of years. About ten years ago they were very common. I was loosing poults every night on the wheat stubbles around the release pens. Observation with bino's under a full moon revealed tawny owls attacking pounts that had jugged down in the stubble for the night. (Like partridges do). Stupid things hadn't found their way back into the pen. The owls were not eating many of the birds - just killing them. I took this to be young ones practicing their hunting skills. The only mark on the poults was talon marks on the back. I think they just died of fright in most cases. Cured the problem when a local keeper advised me to get a couple of flashing road lamps and suspend them, on about 5 feet of cord, to swing above the release pens. Modern lamps are super because they incorporate a light sensor that deactivates them during daylight and have a high intensity strobe light. Being able to swing about in the wind they disorientate the owls and they stay away from the pens. We still use them even though the owls are way down in numbers. I don't know if they help keep the foxes at bay but the electric fences and my 22/250 do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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