Wendall Gee
Central Defender
Wrong forum, however having been on a Owl Experience day at Lady Hill Farm at Simonburn in Hexham, I would strongly advise you turn them over to experts. From what I can remember Barn Owls will only fly for food, they have to be kept at a certain weight, and have to be kept at a certain temperature when their feathers moult...... does anyone have experience of keeping them?
We've just taken all the glass out of an old 30x20 metre greenhouse and were left with a wonderful steel frames structure that was too good to destroy. We decided to turn it into an aviary and see what turned up ....... so we were at the wildlife rescue centre, yesterday, picking up 21 rescued mallard ducklings. When we mentioned the aviary he took us to see a pair of rescued barn owls
Some lunatic, in Southampton, had bought them as a birthday present for his girlfriend and they were living in their house .... as they were bred in captivity he daren't release them as they won't be able to fend for themselves. So we've put a shed in the 'aviary' plus a couple of nestboxes and various perches etc.
We've also dragged a dead tree, from the forest and set that up in there and put a beautiful but knackered old stone fountain for water.
After that we're clueless as to how to look after them .... help?