Barn Owl Blog – A sad week for our Barn Owls
June 23, 2017
It is very sad that our youngest of the three chicks has now died. We don’t know why for sure, but it could have been the heat, it could have had something wrong with it or the older chicks might have been getting all the food. It could have been a combination of all of them or something entirely different.
Even though it is not easy to watch, it is usual for this to happen. One of the reasons why the young hatch in stages is to ensure the survival of the biggest.
It could be argued that we should have intervened and tried to save the dying owlet but we believe this this would have been the wrong thing to do. Not only because too much disturbance could stop the parents coming to feed them, or that the dead one could be a life-line for the others in times of food shortage, but also because it is the way it is for these owls. It is the way their breeding was designed to happen and it is good for us to understand the way it works for them, ensuring that only the strong survive. And they will need to be strong to get through their first winter!