4 Chicks for the Barn Owls

4 Chicks for the Barn Owls

May 31, 2017

We are pleased to announce that the fourth and final egg hatched on Saturday 27th May.

This screen shot accentuates the size difference between this chick (typically weighing only 13-14 g) and the first owlet that hatched just 8 days before is quite apparent. The youngest looks so tiny sitting below the other three. It will be interesting to see how they all progress over the coming days and weeks.

Natural selection?

If you have been watching, you may have noticed that the older one is getting most of the food. It is quite normal for the owlets to be fed in order of descending age and size. However, we are a bit concerned that the youngest might not be getting enough to develop, which is curious when the male is such a good provider. This could be for several reasons, none of which we can know for sure: The youngest owlet will not call for food for the first 24 hours but after that time it does not call so loudly for food at the older ones and could be overlooked; there could possibly be something wrong with the chick, although this is not apparent at the moment; or, this may be natural selection, the youngest may just not be pushy enough.

To feed her young at the moment, the adult female will tear bit of food off and feed it to the owlets. But from about 2 weeks old they can swallow a whole shrew and will start to feed themselves!

Keep watching, as even though Barn Owls development is slower than some other birds (8 to 9 weeks to fledging compared with a Kestrel’s 3 weeks), you will see them quickly grow over the coming weeks.

To read the whole story visit our Barn Owl Blog page.