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Hi,

I have an 18 month old Barn Owl, called Bobby. As of today, I have owned him 11 days, so not long at all, but the learning curve I have been on in this 11 days has been intense.

I have taught / re trained my Barn Owl to fly to the fist for food, as of yesterday to a distance of 10 meters.

The training is on going, dont laugh, but I intend to enjoy hunting with my barn owl, albeit for mice, frogs, etc.

I will start a diary, so you can follow the progress.

just out of interest do you teach your owl to fly to the fist as with a harris hawk by reducing food to get a response, as I have been given a brother and sister recently, they are about 9 months old and I would like to get them free flying if possible, but have had no experience with owls only hawks.

Hi Buckland Hawking,

exactly the same way, having read understanding owls, Jemima explains cutting the weight down rapidly to reduce the time the owl is hungry, which I did, I let the barn owl go just 24 hours without food, though ensured there was water at all times in a shallow clean bath.

When I went in to feed on the 24 hours, Bobby was keen to come to me, so I rewarded him with a whole doc, then half an hour later went in with a half a chick, which he came for. (Maybe I over fed him at this point, but I wanted to install the flying to me again with a reward, plus felt guilty for leaving him for 24 hours without food lol)

Then every feed time after that, the barn owl didn't come to the fist, I walked back out, 10 mins later walked back in and repeated this until he came to the fist and ate.

Within a few days, he was coming to the fist first time, every time.

I will add, after the first day, I introduced a dog whistle, so he soon associated the whistle with food, I then only had to whistle to get him to the fist.

As soon as possible after your barn owl is coming to the fist, add the variable reward system.

Then I added a creance and had the barn owl flying to the fist over 50 meters before I trusted him loose.

I will state here, Barn owls as you know, have a straight through stomach, a Harris hawk have a crop.

So when you do start flying free, the size reward should be a thumb nail size. When the training is over, feed the owl its daily allowance when it is safely back in the transport box or aviary.

Also, for other people who read this, weight management is important, please feed your owl as much as it will eat for a week or so and weigh the owl daily on accurate electronic scales before attempting cutting food down, keep a diary of the daily weights. We are not starving owls to make them fly, just giving them an appetite.

Atb, Mark

hi, just wondering if anyone could help?

i have a male barn owl he is about 13 now. it has come to that wonderful point of the year where the continual shrieking is now in full swing. i am assuming this is to do with the mating season? is there anything that you can suggest to help with this. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Hi Jake, welcome to the owl forum,

Did you have to open with a hard question?

Unfortunatly I have no sensible answer, hope someone else can help?

Atb,

Mark