I live where there are lots of hungry rodents. Some live in trees (Gray Squirrels, Flying Squirrels) most on the ground (mice of various kinds, voles, woodchucks),
I use traps and repellents, and sometimes fast propelled objects to try to thwart them, but lately I’ve been working to recruit some backup help - Barred Owls. I always have seen them around and I assumed they were making a good living, but when I saw this video I was psyched about bringing them to my garden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E5I1Y705zQ
Barred Owls are pretty common in the Northeast and are even an ‘invasive’ species now in the Northwest, so their range is pretty wide. They’re about the body size of a small chicken, and if they live near you in late winter you will know. That’s when they court and argue over territory, and some nights it will sound as if there is a troop of chimpanzees screaming and whooping outside.
As the video shows, they will eat lots of things, including salamanders,crabs,voles,and squirrels. So, I’m ready to build nesting boxes and put up hunting perches. The owls seem to prefer open horizontal branches that give a good view of the ground head high up to 8 feet, but I’ve seen them on dead limbs only a few feet above the ground, waiting to pounce. I’d like to encourage nesting because that’s when the adults go into overdrive hunting to feed the kids, and they keep in up for a while even after the kids have started flying. Spring is also a good time to put a damper on the rodent reproduction.
We had a young fledgling take up in our yard 2 years ago. Today Tubby rules the yard. Is not bothered by humans one bit. And entertains himself teasing one of our guardian dogs. We basically lack rodents. But he has also ran off our songbird population.
Great story! I don’t want to scare off birds, but it would be nice to have an owl guarding things.
I am surrounded by forest in every direction. i have several owls that hoot out their territory to owls in other locations and the other owls hoot back. My Aussies cannot figure out what they are and they howl back like werewolves.
Anyways… i cannot recommend Aussies enough when it comes to rodents. Mine have dug voles, moles… and they team up and kill squirrels and chipmunks. A few times i have found what looks like a mortar went off near a bramble or fruit tree… they dont give up until they find that vole.
So long story short… i have lots of owls, several birds of prey, snakes, foxes etc. And my Aussies still have a place in the food chain. I think a study found that Australian Shepherds are 96 percent similar to a Wolf.
Mine do not bother my birds which i feed and want… but they will kill a squirrel or chipmunk that goes to the feeder.
They also hate deer and kill and eat fawns.
I have been pleased to find Barred Owls and fox on the game cams at the orchard in winter.
I have wondered which breed would be the best for rodents, so thanks for the tip.They sound like they have the relentlessness and focus, and the ones I’ve observed make good mannered companions. Would the Road Warrior have had anything else?
Barred Owls are relentless on rodents. It is their prefered food by far. They do not even bother our chickens. We have more problems with little Screech Owls biting chickens. And Horned Owls but those are infrequent here.
Mad Max had a blue heeler (Australian cattle dog)… which i had and just lost her two weeks ago. Best dog i have ever had bar none. She was beyond excellent at everything. One is all you need. However if they bond with you they will never not want to be with you. Mine guarded me and my family every second of her life…
I have Australian Shepherds as my farm dogs. Tough as nails, rain snow mud… doesnt matter to them. They are killers. Yet to their owners they are as sweet of a dog as you could ask for. I advise two or more if you own a farm/ranch. Aussies will guard the farm every second of their life. I want at least one more. They never want in the house…ever.
Ive had Rat Terriers and one Jack Russell. The Jack was probably the best vermin dog that you could want… but the lack of an off switch just doesnt work for me. Doesnt fit my personality. They are both the kinds of dogs that will destroy your house for fun while you are at work.
We have an old Feist who once upon a time was a fearsome ratter. These days she is a very fat sausage roll who digs up yard grubs and that is it.
I knew I wasn’t remembering that right. Interesting that you don’t see that breed very much, though The Shepherds are around, at least in VT. I have friends who have had Terriers that were pretty wired, but they did a good job on voles. Sorry to hear that your heeler went so recently.
Brian, thanks for the fantastic video of the Barred Owls. It inspired me to call out to them although I’m not too sure about finding any very close to me. Then, on a bicycle ride throught Edwin Warner Park in Nashville, I spotted one perched in a tree near the roadway where I was riding. Now, where to find a Barred Owl nesting box.
Barred Owls have some kind of thing to perch low on trees near ditches and streams. It is always a good place to look. I would never recommend offering one a tasty live rat{wink,wink,without gloves and arm protection and a falconry licence.}
Barred Owls really are not big enough for hunting game. But they are very fun.
HaHaHa!!! Very good and humerous statement, Danny.
We are in dire need of a couple of barred owls. We have an infestation of voles in our veg garden and have been at our wits end fighting them off. I use castor oil and peppermint Castile soap to spray the area and I put some kiln fired shale rock in the beds to make it physically difficult for the voles to dig around the plants that i want to keep. They destroyed five of my blueberries and five of my hybrid tea roses last winter. Part of that was my own fault for layering out a bunch of leaves giving the voles plenty of hiding places.
They say Barn Owls are more specialized rodent killers. Barred Owls will fish and catch snakes for their diet. If you are up north you may have other Owls we do not have.
My sympathies, we have voles but not to the level you do! It sounds like you’ve tried everything in the usual arsenal. Eliot Coleman wrote about his method for trapping them in a greenhouse by putting the traps in boxes with small entry holes. He believes the voles are most likely to look for cover while eating.
There are smaller owls up here, Screech owls and Saw-whet, which hunt rodents, but they are more rare where I am (and harder to notice unless they call). I wish we had Barn owls, but they are only found in open landscapes.
If I could catch the little screech owl here I’d mail him to you. He delights in landing near your bedroom and cutting loose.
I went to The Cedar Place here in Nashville today with some plans and designs for a Barred Owl nesting box. It’s near time around here for house hunting and mating so I hope to have that baby up pretty soon. I’ve been out back calling with my computer. Wish me luck:
We don’t have Barred owls here but I’m hoping I get some barn owls. San Diego has lots of hungry rats and around here they have wised up to all my trap methods. I watch them on the trail cam run around with whole fruits in their mouths. I just put up a barn owl box as a last resort before getting feral cats.