So, barn owls ....

..... 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 :eek:

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?

Lovely birds and a few around here.
Plenty of mice required :)
Nice big “tea chest” or box with a closed front enough for them to get in and out and they will take it up in days.
Nice one.
 


It's all a bit scary as we love the creatures we look after, losing any is terrible but we have loads of chickens, ducks & geese so it happens.

Amazingly the mallard ducklings we rescued, last spring, had drifted off but are all returning to breed.

They must have good memories 'cos we can still feed them by hand ... I suppose sex & grub are their two main concerns :lol:

The cats are still here but, being feral, we rarely see them except if we run the cctv from the night before.

We'll see how many eggs we end up with and start making plans for them. We don't want any idiots taking them so we might organise a programme of 'rough feeding' for some of them so they don't see us or get used to us. We'll keep 2 of them to hand rear so we can train them to fly to the glove. It would be magnificent if we can get them to fly to us across the lake. All a bit scary but we'll make sure they're all properly rehomed or released ..... if we can't we'll keep the lot of them :cool:
 
The pair were doing well and seemed happy in their new home, they both enjoy flying in the aviary and finding the food we hide around the place.

Around a fortnight ago the female Bonnie had a go at me when I went to clean out the nestbox ..... when I looked in there was an egg!

It seems they lay a batch but with a few days in between so the owlets don't all hatch on the same day demanding food.

It's amazing how her and Skye know exactly what to do, she sits on the eggs and he brings her food ... you can see some in the bottom right ;)

I'll keep posting, as things progress, if people are interested .... it's all exciting but a little scary hoping they're all OK.

They're obviously content and properly otherwise they wouldn't consider breeding,


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Missed the initial thread.
5 eggs with usually only 2 or maximum 3 making it to leaving the nest.
Would be interesting if in captivity you could beat 3.
Would be great if you could release the young ones in the wild.
What a cracking job you are doing.
 
Missed the initial thread.
5 eggs with usually only 2 or maximum 3 making it to leaving the nest.
Would be interesting if in captivity you could beat 3.
Would be great if you could release the young ones in the wild.
What a cracking job you are doing.

My problem mate, is our lass :lol:

She rescued a little scrap of skin & bone that was the 'runt' kicked out of a kestrel nest.

It laid there shivering with it's eyes and mouth tightly shut just waiting to die.

She wrapped a towel around a hot water bottle, plonked him on it and sat up 'til 5am until his mouth suddenly sprang open.

He eventually became so fit she could fly him like Kes ..... and that's what she'll be wanting to do with any 'spare' owlets :confused:
 
The pair were doing well and seemed happy in their new home, they both enjoy flying in the aviary and finding the food we hide around the place.

Around a fortnight ago the female Bonnie had a go at me when I went to clean out the nestbox ..... when I looked in there was an egg!

It seems they lay a batch but with a few days in between so the owlets don't all hatch on the same day demanding food.

It's amazing how her and Skye know exactly what to do, she sits on the eggs and he brings her food ... you can see some in the bottom right ;)

I'll keep posting, as things progress, if people are interested .... it's all exciting but a little scary hoping they're all OK.

They're obviously content and properly otherwise they wouldn't consider breeding,


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Love owt like this, more updates as and when you can please!
 
My problem mate, is our lass :lol:

She rescued a little scrap of skin & bone that was the 'runt' kicked out of a kestrel nest.

It laid there shivering with it's eyes and mouth tightly shut just waiting to die.

She wrapped a towel around a hot water bottle, plonked him on it and sat up 'til 5am until his mouth suddenly sprang open.

He eventually became so fit she could fly him like Kes ..... and that's what she'll be wanting to do with any 'spare' owlets :confused:

Wonderful mate.
 
Love owt like this, more updates as and when you can please!

This. Terrific stuff.

Just seen this for the first time. Love owt like this

Wow, didn't expect such a great response ... I usually get shot down in flames with most of my threads :lol:

I'm happy to chuck up photos, just hope the usual suspects don't come on bleating about attention seeking blah blah blah.

This photo is the pond we dug for the ducks & geese .... we left an island with a tree that looks really canny.

The mallards are the ducklings we rescued last year and are coming back to breed .... really brings a tear to your eye tbh.

We're really hoping they breed so we can watch the ducklings grow up.

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Mrs Reiver raised a kestrel chick that was abandoned as a bald little scrap ..... we rescued a Scops owl, brought it on and released it into the wild.

We're not clueless, just being humble ..... I expected the sensible people, on here, to realise that.

The bellends, on the other hand, will f***ing pounce on anything they think they can score points with.

There's some pathetic pieces of shit on this board tbh.
Was the Scops owl here in the UK? Didn't know we got them here. Used to love listening to them when we were out in Botswana. Noisy little bastards them like :D
 
My problem mate, is our lass :lol:

She rescued a little scrap of skin & bone that was the 'runt' kicked out of a kestrel nest.

It laid there shivering with it's eyes and mouth tightly shut just waiting to die.

She wrapped a towel around a hot water bottle, plonked him on it and sat up 'til 5am until his mouth suddenly sprang open.

He eventually became so fit she could fly him like Kes ..... and that's what she'll be wanting to do with any 'spare' owlets :confused:
Fantastic, that. I'm pretty squeamish when it comes to things eating things - nature etc, I know, I know. So I'm keen to know how things develop, but might have to avoid any pictures of dead things. :oops:
 
Wow, didn't expect such a great response ... I usually get shot down in flames with most of my threads :lol:

I'm happy to chuck up photos, just hope the usual suspects don't come on bleating about attention seeking blah blah blah.

This photo is the pond we dug for the ducks & geese .... we left an island with a tree that looks really canny.

The mallards are the ducklings we rescued last year and are coming back to breed .... really brings a tear to your eye tbh.

We're really hoping they breed so we can watch the ducklings grow up.

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There's an old orchard just down from us that a retired couple bought about 10 years back and have spent a lot of time and money doing it up. They've got a massive load of land with it and have geese and some huge hens strutting around, with a little lake they've dug out. It looks ace as you look in and see them all, just like your pic there.

Have you not got any avian flu warnings down there? I know when it comes out round here they have to keep everything locked up for weeks on end which must be a bit of a pain.
 
Was the Scops owl here in the UK? Didn't know we got them here.
Used to love listening to them when we were out in Botswana. Noisy little bastards them like :D

That was when we lived in the south of France mate, feisty little fella he was.

Really heartbreaking when it was time to release him tbh.

------------

The property has a massive lake as well which gets kingfishers, herons and all kinds of wildfowl,

There's always a chance they'll bring in summat nasty but, as you say, short of shutting everything away there's little we can do.
 
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Wow, didn't expect such a great response ... I usually get shot down in flames with most of my threads :lol:

I'm happy to chuck up photos, just hope the usual suspects don't come on bleating about attention seeking blah blah blah.

This photo is the pond we dug for the ducks & geese .... we left an island with a tree that looks really canny.

The mallards are the ducklings we rescued last year and are coming back to breed .... really brings a tear to your eye tbh.

We're really hoping they breed so we can watch the ducklings grow up.

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Pond? That looks like a lake. :lol::lol:

I also missed this thread first time, will read back through from the start.
 
Pond? That looks like a lake. :lol::lol:

I also missed this thread first time, will read back through from the start.

:lol:

Bloody hard work to get it done mate.

The lake is where the stream comes in and the pond where it leaves, to the right of the photo.

We allow the local animal rescue centres to use the lake and grounds to release whatever critters they've rehabilitated.

The head gardener goes mental if we release deer and rabbits :lol:

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Better than springwatch this, @Reiver rtg's very own Bill Oddie. You must have a canny size garden for your lake and owl kip. Good on you, must be class. I've got to make do with next doors puma chasing robins and blackbirds whilst a git fat wood pigeon eats all the seeds I've put out for the smaller birds.
 
I'll bet he f***ing does

Tell him it'll be moles next.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'll tell him!

Better than springwatch this, @Reiver rtg's very own Bill Oddie. You must have a canny size garden for your lake and owl kip. Good on you, must be class. I've got to make do with next doors puma chasing robins and blackbirds whilst a git fat wood pigeon eats all the seeds I've put out for the smaller birds.

:lol:

Yeah but Kate Humble has never shown me her tits ;)
 
:lol:

Bloody hard work to get it done mate.

The lake is where the stream comes in and the pond where it leaves, to the right of the photo.

We allow the local animal rescue centres to use the lake and grounds to release whatever critters they've rehabilitated.

The head gardener goes mental if we release deer and rabbits :lol:

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Rich bastard :lol::lol:

/Jealous
 

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