Barn Owl Trust

Waterleat, Ashburton Devon TQ13 7HU Tel: 01364 653026

Email: info@barnowltrust.org.uk

Feeding Barn Owls

LEAFLET No 13
Reg. Charity No 299 835

This leaflet provides information on food for wild or captive Barn Owls. It explains what food to use, where to obtain it, dietary supplements and some safety and hygiene precautions.

Choosing the right food

The natural diet of the Barn Owl in the wild comprises small mammals, mainly field voles, common shrews and wood mice. A Barn Owl will usually eat small prey items complete, swallowing the animal whole. This "whole food" diet provides the owl with all the vitamins and minerals contained in the prey item's internal organs and also ensures sufficient roughage for a pellet (containing the indigestible fur and bones) to be formed and regurgitated. It is much better to provide small food items for Barn Owls rather than small parts of larger animals. Items such as slugs, worms and insects are not suitable, but the occasional small bird or frog may be eaten.

Dead chicks (culls) can sometimes be obtained directly from hatcheries but it can be difficult to find one with surplus chicks available. Always ensure the chicks were gassed with carbon dioxide, not with chloroform (ether) or carbon tretrachloride. Also be careful with home freezing of fresh chicks; slow freezing can allow bacteria to reach dangerous levels. High quality blast frozen chicks can be obtained from specialist animal feed companies, often in boxes of 200. Please contact the Trust for details. Many pet shops sell smaller quantities. Rats It is not advisable to use wild rats as roughly 70% carry leptospirosis (a serious disease) which can easily be transmitted to humans. It is especially important to avoid contact with the urine of wild rats. However domestic rats can often be purchased (frozen) from pet shops and their nutritional value is excellent. The best ones are small to medium sized or weaners. Domestic mice These, like rats, are generally easy to obtain frozen from pet shops but they are the most expensive food available. Also, domestic mice tend to contain low protein levels but a high fat content and too much vitamin A. Using them to add a little variety to a chick diet is OK but a diet based on domestic mice should be avoided.

In an emergency
If you have a casualty owl to feed and need to give it something just to keep it going for a day or two you can use raw lean shin beef or chicken muscle. Do not use these foods for a longer period. Even a diet containing only 20% beef will be nutritionally deficient. For many new casualties, water is often more important than food, but injured or starving birds will not normally drink voluntarily. Please call a vet or the Trust for advice. Wild food items Almost anything that your cat brings in can be used to feed owls provided that no rat or mouse poisons have been used nearby. Voles, shrews, mice, small birds, nestling rabbits and moles can all be given directly to the owls. Dead day-old chicks The most common food used for captive Barn Owls is dead day-old cockerels which are a by-product of the poultry industry. They are economically priced, readily available, convenient to use and provide a high protein, low fat diet, with good levels of vitamins and calcium. Chicks do contain yolk and can become rather messy, however, the routine de-yolking of chicks dramatically reduces the levels of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A and E and is not recommended.

Foods to avoid
Do not use pigeons as they often carry one or more avian diseases which could be transmitted to the owl. Rabbits should be avoided because they are too big and if chopped up there is a risk of long sharp bone fragments being swallowed which could damage or even kill the owl. Never feed anything which has been shot; just one lead pellet is enough to cause lead poisoning which can kill a bird of prey.

Vitamin and mineral supplements

Providing that you give Barn Owls a diet of chicks with occasional small mammals there is no need to give any supplements. If for some reason only dead mice or perhaps quail are given (for more than a few days), you should use a supplement. SA37, Abidec, Adexolin or Vionate are sometimes used and are often available in

Barn Owl Trust - Conserving the Barn Owl and its Environment

pet shops. Do not overdo the supplement. A tiny pinch of SA37 for each owl every few weeks is normally sufficient. Too much supplement can be harmful.

roosting site during severe weather. When disturbed, a wild Barn Owl in a building with a nestbox will often hide in the box rather than fly out of the building. You may contact the Trust for further advice. Note that Barn Owls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). It is illegal to disturb them when they are at or near their nest. It is also illegal to release captive-bred birds into the wild.

Food handling and storage

If you are feeding owls long-term you must have enough freezer space in order to ensure a continuous and reliable food supply. Always allow the food to cool and always divide it into small lots before freezing. Using polythene bags, place a small number of food items (about 10 if you have just one pair of owls) in each bag. Do not keep food items frozen for more than three months otherwise the levels of vitamin E become depleted. Food should be defrosted at room temperature, Never give frozen or part-frozen food to owls and never re-freeze defrosted food.

Further information
The Trust provides a wide range of free leaflets on encouraging wild Barn Owls and several relevant to captive Barn Owls. Please refer to our Information leaflet which lists all the titles.

Reference Feeding
An adult Barn Owl in captivity will eat 1 to 2 dead day-old chicks per night. When feeding captive-bred Barn Owls, use common sense. Increase or reduce the food supply according to the amount the owls are taking. You may find that they will eat more in cold weather than when it is warm. Some pairs will eat 3 chicks per night between them, others will eat 6. At breeding time, increase the food supply at the rate of one chick per night from the night that the first egg is due to hatch. If using small mammals, remember that 2 mice are approximately equal to 1 day-old chick. Captive Barn Owls can be fed at any time of day except during periods of extreme heat or cold, when the food could either deteriorate or freeze. Wild Barn Owls are very vulnerable to prolonged periods of bad weather - rain, snow cover, and severe drought. It is possible to feed wild Barn Owls although not always easy. A hungry wild owl will look and listen for moving prey and it may ignore dead food. The way around this is to place the food where it is most likely to be discovered by accident, i.e. - where the owl regularly perches. Being a creature of habit, the wild Barn Owl will normally roost in the same position every day or may alight on one particular perch every evening - this is where the food should be placed. However, you should avoid flushing the bird out of its Forbes, N.A. and Flint, C.G. 2000. Raptor Nutrition. Honeybrook Farm Animal Foods.

Barn Owl Trust 1989 latest revision 2010

The Barn Owl Trust is a registered charity dedicated to the conservation of the Barn Owl and its environment. You can become a Friend of the Barn Owl Trust and support our work by making a regular donation. Friends receive our biannual magazine Feedback, our Annual Report and a badge. The Trust provides a wide range of free leaflets on Barn Owl related matters. For details of these and further information about the Trust and its work, please write including a large SAE to: Barn Owl Trust Waterleat Ashburton Devon TQ13 7HU Tel: 01364 653026 Email: info@barnowltrust.org.uk Web: www.barnowltrust.org.uk

Barn Owl Trust - Conserving the Barn Owl and its Environment

Restoring the Balance

Weve lived side-by-side with Barn Owls for centuries. But in modern times wild Barn Owls have become increasingly rare - and the reasons are all man-made. The Barn Owl is a symbol of our relationship with the countryside: the decline of this beautiful bird reflects our attitude towards the environment. No species can prosper in isolation - not even human beings. All things are connected and if we lived in balance with nature then Barn Owls, and so much other wildlife, could thrive.

How you can help

You can help to conserve the Barn Owl by Becoming a Friend of the Trust and making an annual or monthly donation to support our work. If you are a UK tax payer and complete a simple Gift Aid declaration the Trust can reclaim the tax paid on your donation and significantly increase the value of your gift at no extra cost to you. Standing order and Gift Aid forms are provided below. Please consider paying by Standing Order as this greatly reduces our administration time and costs.

BECOMING A FRIEND
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If you are a UK tax payer completing this Gift Aid form will enable the Trust to reclaim the tax paid on your donation, thereby increasing the value of your gift at no ext a cost to yourself. r

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STANDING ORDER FORM

Name __________________________________________________________ Date_________________________________ Address_________________________________________________________ Postcode_________________ _____________ Please pay on the first day of each month*/year* (* delete one) starting in the month of _____________

and a like sum on the same date each month*/year* until further notice to the account of the Barn Owl Trust (a/c no. 1027812) at Lloyds Bank (sort code 30-98-69) 31 Fore Street, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5HH My signature _____________________________________________________ Account Number________________________ To the manager___________________________________________________ Bank_________________________________ Bank Address ____________________________________________________ Postcode_____________________________
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