True owls are predators by nature. The seemingly harmless bird is equipped with sharp claws and a beak, with which it grabs and torments suitable animal prey. These feathered individuals have sufficient intelligence and know that quiet and unnoticed hunting can bring great rewards.

Today it has become very popular to tame wild predators, and owls are no exception. If you decide to keep pet owls, you need to acquire important and very useful information about care.

Brief description of the species

For about ten million years, these smart birds have lived in the north of the American continent. They can also be found in areas of hot deserts, in spacious steppes, on the slopes of high mountains or near human habitation. Owls have a huge responsibility: they diligently ensure that the population of fast-breeding rodents, capable of destroying a large number of crops, does not exceed the optimal mark. There are about 17 species of these interesting animals on the territory of the Russian Federation.

On a note!

You should be very careful around wild owls, as they can carry infectious bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract. The risk of getting sick in this case is very high.

The breeder must remember that in every bird the love of freedom and the innate needs of the body are naturally preserved. Over time, domestic owls will begin to forget about the rules of life in the wild, and without the help of the owner, her hours will be numbered. It follows that having adopted an animal, you must bear great responsibility for it, especially if you decide to buy a pair and want to see offspring in the form of small and healthy owlets.

These feathered predators are very gentle creatures and react sharply to changes in the external environment, although they seem formidable and harsh. It is very difficult for an animal to adapt to new conditions. Owners should be prepared for the fact that the owl may not survive the initial stage of meeting people. On the other hand, after this gentle animal has become accustomed to the breeder, a long separation has a serious impact on the psychological health of the feathered pet.

Domestic owls require specific nutrition and conditions of detention. If a person is not able to provide her with all this, it is more humane to abandon the venture of the establishment. The bird has a repulsive smell, and when you try to pet the pet, it will not reciprocate, like cats or dogs. The bird will be betrayed, but only on a mental level.

Domestic owl behavior

A cage is by no means suitable for this feathered predator, as it can be seriously injured when trying to perform any maneuver.

Best for owls separate spacious room without interior details, which the bird can spoil.

• The windows of the room must be curtained with thick material that does not allow light to pass through.
• Special shelves resembling tree branches are mounted on the walls. Be sure to cover them with softening material. An old cabinet is good as an artificial hollow for owlets. The chandeliers will have to be dismantled, as your pets will definitely break it.
• These pets love to bathe, so they need a small tank in which the water should be changed daily.

Predators need wholesome game: rodents or small birds. To maintain health, you should feed your pet not only dead carcasses, but also fresh carcasses. An owl must consume its food along with feathers and bones. When raising a baby, hand feed it in small portions, but do not forget to be careful. Once a week, the pet should be put on a diet, giving only water. In this way, you will protect your pet owl from obesity.

Important!

Eight to ten hours after the feast, the bird should regurgitate pellet, a mixture of everything undigested in the stomach. If this does not happen, there is a high probability that the feathered animal is sick.

The health of the bird (adult or small owlets) is primarily determined by the consistency of the droppings. In a pet that is not sick, the feces have a white base color with dark and hard inclusions. Very thin droppings with a bad odor and bright color indicate a disease. The pellet should also not emit a stink or be mixed with blood. A sick bird has no appetite, no inherent activity, remains motionless for a long time, and the plumage becomes dirty and sticky. If any of the symptoms appear, you should contact a specialist.

There is a special form of vaccination for domestic owls, providing immunity from most known avian pathologies. Along with the injection, the specialist prescribes vitamins and minerals, since birds lose a lot when living in city apartments.

How to make friends with a predator?

The first time after meeting, many birds do not eat anything at all and timidly hide in a corner. Soon the owl should become active and take the food offered by the owner. When the predator understands that you do not want to harm him, you can begin the training process. Wear leather gloves to protect against claws . Be patient and wait until the owl stops hissing or clicking in response to your manipulations and voice. No imposition will bear fruit in taming.

If the owner wants to walk with his pet, it is worth purchasing fetters (leather cords connecting the bird’s paws and the owner’s glove). Wear the device from the first days so that the animal gets used to it. The domestic owl is not averse to playing with balls, but you should hide objects that are too small from it, as the bird can swallow them.

Purchasing a pet

Suitable for content those species that are distinguished by unpretentiousness and mental balance (tawny owl, barn owls, owls). You should only buy an animal from specialized nurseries that practice banding birds. There must be a mark on the ring that matches the information written in the documentation for the animal.

There is no need to think about how to catch an owl. Wild birds are difficult to train, begin to miss nature and are capable of carrying pathogenic bacteria. Domesticating a bird from the forest is very dangerous and inhumane.

Little owls best suited for domestication. They tolerate the adaptation process more easily and are several times more pliable when trained. The cost of an owlet can be 12,000 rubles. Rare species are valued twice as much.

This article covers the main aspects of nutrition of owl species common in captivity in our country (former CIS countries). It applies to representatives of such genera as: tawny owl (Strix), eagle owls (Bubo), long-eared owls (Asio), owls (Athene), scoops (Otus).

All species of owls, tawny owls, eagle owls, noctuids, and owls are polyphagous. They willingly switch from one food to another, focusing on the abundance of a particular biological species. In nature, owls actively hunt not only rodents, but also birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and worms. The percentage of animal types and classes in an owl's diet depends on the size of the owl and the availability of food. For example, during a period of mass emergence of cicadas or locusts, even large eagle owls can switch to feeding only on insects for several weeks.

Polyphagia, or polyphagy, is the use of various animal and plant foods by polyphagous animals.

When compiling a diet for owls kept in captivity, one should proceed from the principle of maximum variety of food and the degree of mobility of the bird. Thus, the diet of an owl kept in an apartment without active flights and training will differ from the diet of owls living in an aviary all year round, and even more so from the diet of owls with whom they actively “work” and engage in hunting or free flights.

An owl should not be fed boneless meat or chicken. The owl often consumes the entire body of its prey, including fur/feathers, bones, and all organs. Undigested food remains - wool, feathers, bones, scales, thick chitin in the gizzard are compressed into a dense, odorless lump, called pellet, which is regularly belched by the bird, while the cuticle (the hard and exfoliating part of the gastric mucosa) is partially renewed. When feeding meat or chicken fillet, the functioning of the entire gastrointestinal tract of diurnal birds of prey and owls is disrupted, which leads to a whole cascade of unpleasant and harmful consequences for the body and ultimately to the death of the bird.

In this video, a barn owl (Tyto alba) swallows a small rabbit whole.

If such a period occurs (let’s be realistic - everyone, even the most responsible owner of owls, has encountered a situation of lack of food animals, including through no fault of their own) that it is not possible to feed the owl with whole animals, then you can TEMPORARILY use wool, gammarus, grated carrots, shrimp or their shells for coating cut pieces of meat (turkey, chicken hearts).

Additional food for the barn owl: quail meat coated in feathers, raw shrimp, carrots, apples. Photo Niki Kuklina.

If the owl is not actively engaged in training, training, or free flights, then, due to a sedentary lifestyle, high fat content of food will lead to fatty liver degeneration and atherosclerosis, so subcutaneous fat must be removed from adult rats and quails.

Birds that are actively involved in hunting, training, and free flights may not limit the fat content of feed animals, but this does not negate the rules for purchasing feed animals from good sources, where they are raised on nutritious feed.

All types of owls need to have “fasting” days - do not feed the birds once a week.

An important aspect that many keepers miss is that in nature, many species of owls store food. Thus, in winter, owls have several spare “storehouses - hollows”, which they fill with caught mice and birds. Moreover, the number of animal carcasses can be very large. Owls can spend the night in such hollows or visit them from time to time to replenish supplies or eat them. Naturally, the “reserves” go rotten, but this does not stop the owls from feeding on them.

Similar behavior is observed in owls kept in enclosures - they hide the uneaten remains of food animals and eat them later, when they are already highly fermented. In owls kept at home, the intestines of rats and mice are scattered, and if the owners do not remove such remains immediately, the owls eat them after 2-3 days, very rotten.

On this video great eagle owl (Bubo virginianus) returns the next night to the carcass of the killed chicken.

This is an important aspect of maintaining the normal intestinal microflora of owls and the activity of their digestive enzymes.

Fish in the diet of owls:

Tawny owls, eagle owls, and long-eared owls actively catch river fish in nature.

On video barred owl (Strix varia) eats fish.

Gray owls in our latitudes also actively hunt fish. Sightings of Great Gray Owls ( Strix aluco) in the Oksky Biosphere State Reserve showed that, in addition to mouse-like rodents, tawny owls caught perch, pike, ide, swimming beetles, and spindles, and fed their chicks with them.

Fish in the diet of the gray owl (Strix aluco). V.P. Ivanchev, R.B. Bobkov, M.V. D Idorchuk, M.V. Onufrenya, O.P. Empty. Russian ornithological magazine 1997 Issue 7.

It should be clarified that sea fish should not be included in the diets of owls. Only river fish should be given.

Plant food for owls:

Many will be surprised to learn that owls happily eat fruits, berries, vegetables, sometimes even foliage and herbs (the latter relates to self-medication of animals). Here is an example of an interesting observation in this video gray owl (Strix aluco) eats oak leaves.

Owls eat apricots, cherries, grapes, ripe pears, tomatoes, zucchini. Owls have also been observed in captivity to consume bell peppers and chilies, plums, bananas, fresh herbs and dandelion flowers, clover, plantain. Small insectivorous species - little owls, scops owls and other noctuids - are especially prone to accepting plant foods.

In this video, an adult female Great Eagle Owl ( Bubo virginianus) eats grapes. Interestingly, this bird is tame and free; it is clear that the bird lives on the territory of the site, reproduces and at the same time maintains a connection with the person who fed it.

A barn owl eats zucchini. Author of the photo Nika Kuklina

When kept in captivity, it makes sense to try to offer plant food to all types of owls, because. farmed food rodents, poultry, and insects are depleted food compared to their natural equivalent. In their natural environment, owls obtain plant food by consuming whole carcasses of animals and insects, along with a stomach and intestines filled with semi-digested crushed plant food.

Little Owl (Athene noctua). The owl has eaten blueberries, as can be seen from the color of its beak. Author of the photo Nika Zubra.

It is worth noting that owls are more adapted to processing and assimilation of plant food than diurnal predators, due to the presence of paired cecums (they are reduced in diurnal raptors), which contain specific microflora involved in the fermentation and breakdown of plant components at the final stage of digestion .

After eating large quantities of berries or fruits, owls may experience occasional diarrhea, especially if the owl eats these foods for the first time or very rarely. There is no need to take any special measures to eliminate diarrhea in these cases.

Birds in the diet of owls:

In nature, all species of owls occasionally consume commensurate species of other birds. During the breeding season in the warm season, the share of bird prey in the diet of owls increases due to the chicks and fledglings of various species that are easily accessible for hunting.

Pearly owl (Glaucidium perlatum) got a lovebird. This photo illustrates the dangers of keeping small owls and other birds together. .

In captivity, Japanese quails, day-old chicks and grown-up chicks are used as additional food. It is better to choose egg-producing quails rather than meat-egg quails (large, heavy breeds), because the latter, due to the rapid “broiler” weight gain and fattening, as a rule, have a high fat content. According to the age category, pullets are preferable, i.e. quail at the age of 1-2 months, whose skeleton is already sufficiently formed (which means the owl will receive the required amount of minerals from the food), but the quail has not yet had time to “put on fat”. From the carcasses of adult quails for owls kept in an apartment and having little opportunity to move, it is advisable to remove visible deposits of subcutaneous fatty tissue; most often they are located in the area of ​​the knee fold, abdomen, in the interclavicular fossa under the quail crop. If you doubt the availability of veterinary care for poultry stock at your quail supplier, then it is necessary to gut the gastrointestinal tract, wash away droppings or cut off the bare parts of the legs of the carcass - this is necessary to minimize the risk of transmitting pathogenic bacteria, helminth eggs, protozoan cysts that may carry quail for themselves due to crowded housing and “conveyor” breeding.

Young quails up to one month of age and day-old chicks are inferior food and can be introduced into the diet only for variety, since such food items are poor in calcium and phosphorus, and the yolk sac (located in the abdominal cavity of chickens and quails) has a high fat content, so before feeding It is better for an owl to remove the yolk sac from chicken carcasses; however, from time to time, it can be left and offered ungutted day old chicks:for owls living in an apartment - no more than once a week, and for owls living in an open-air cage (especially those wintering outdoors) - up to 3-4 times a week.

Insects in the diet of owls:

Small species of owls - owls of the genus Athene and scops owls (brown owls, collared owls, Ussuri scops owls) - in their natural habitat are predominantly insectivorous species, although they do not neglect other food (mouse-like rodents, small birds). It is advisable to enrich the diet of these species in captivity as much as possible with a variety of insect cultures – least They should make up 50% of the feed. Other species of owls in nature also do not hesitate to catch and eat large beetles, dragonflies, and grasshoppers.

On sale you can often find a variety of food insects to enrich the diet of an owl in captivity - all this

It is best to offer insects fresh. To increase the nutritional value of food insects, it is advisable to feed the cockroaches/crickets with herbs or vegetables several hours before feeding or freezing them for future use.

Live insects are good for enriching owl habitats, as seen in this video of little owls feeding live cockroaches.

All insects are easily digestible protein. Crickets and cockroaches are rich in chitin, which serves as a mechanical stimulator of gastric motility and excrement material, and is also a natural hepatoprotector, i.e. participates in the restoration of liver cells. Hawkmoth caterpillars are rich in calcium (thanks to the specific diet on which they are raised - wheat germ) and have a minimum of fat. All three of these food crops can be given to owls without restrictions.

Mealworm, zophobas, wax moth - also contain chitin, but in smaller quantities, while they contain more fat (especially in zophobas) - these crops should be given only for variety and in limited quantities.

“Street” insects collected from nature can be offered, but with a caveat:
1. Insects must be collected in an ecologically clean area where plants are not treated with pesticides and herbicides;
2. collection should be carried out away from highways and major roads due to the accumulation of heavy metal salts by plants that serve as food for insects;
3. collecting certain types of insects that can be given to owls as food - May and June beetles, grasshoppers and grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, “non-hairy” caterpillars, butterflies and moths are suitable for this.

Other foods for owls in captivity:

Rabbits, guinea pigs, adult rats: carcasses with bones, meat, wool and organs can be used to diversify the diet and are given in portions approximately 1-2 times a week. As with other food animals, it will be more useful for owls to use adult rodents and lagomorphs for food due to their well-formed and mineral-rich skeletons compared to young animals (“pubbleheads”, “furry ones”, “runners”, etc.).

Variety of feed obtained North American armyworm (Megascops asio). The male feeds the female on the clutch - crustaceans, fish, rodents, amphibians. .

“Snowy owls in Montrose Point, on the north side of Chicago, prefer to hunt rats. In the southeastern part of the lake, birds dominate their menu. And in the area of ​​the airport in Midway, on the southwest side of the city, voles are most common. In other words, they will eat whatever is available! But this is only information obtained from pellets and stomach contents, which suggest a limited view of only part of their diet.”

It is difficult to pass by this beautiful and unique bird with big eyes. However, if you think that an owl is a poultry on a par with parrots, you are deeply mistaken. Having decided to adopt such a beauty, you need to carefully weigh all the pros and cons, because in this case your life will change dramatically for at least fifteen years.

Is it worth keeping an owl at home?

Recently, it has become fashionable to have exotic animals at home. They are bought in special stores, ordered or brought from exotic countries. At the same time, among the exotic, and therefore so desirable, pets are not only animals, but also birds. The latter are most often purchased at the poultry market or found in the forest.

To make the right decision, you need to understand the characteristics of the life and character of a predator:

1. These birds are active at night;
2. They feed on live rodents;
3. During mating periods, birds make loud sounds similar to meowing;
4. They have a fairly large wingspan and fly fast and high.

In connection with the above behavioral features, before purchasing a predator, think about what you have to do when it appears in your home:

• You definitely won't have to sleep at night. Because during activity the pet will rattle with various objects and fly from place to place. Such a predator is suitable for those who are just like him is nocturnal. In this case, you won’t be bored together;
• Do not expect to feed your pet store-bought meat, since the structure of its intestines is such that it can eat only the whole loot, with fur or feathers. Therefore, you will have to look for food for your pet in pet stores or markets. These can be live mice or chicks of quail and chicken;
• At night, in addition to noise, the bird will make screaming harsh sounds, so if you plan to keep it in an apartment, you will need to take care of sound insulation;
• The pet cannot live without flying, and its flights will require a lot of space.

What to feed your pet owl?

Features of the digestion of birds of prey:

1. They devour the victim whole and only if the size of the carcass is too large, tear it into pieces;
2. Some time after eating, the predator regurgitates undigested remains.

In addition to meat, many owls eat:

• Frogs;
• Worms;
• Insects.

Therefore, you will have to provide your pet with fresh, small-sized carcasses. These could be chickens, quail chicks or rodents. If it is not possible to offer them to your pet alive, then you need to choose the freshest carcasses. An owl needs at least two of these a day.

This diet helps the bird maintain healthy microflora and vitamin balance. Limiting such foods will lead to intestinal problems and serious illnesses.

In this regard, it is much easier to keep a pet in a private house than in an apartment. There you will have the opportunity to grow your pet's food yourself.

Before moving in a new guest, you should carefully prepare:

1. The owl will not be able to live in a cage and will quickly die. Therefore, if you still decide, remove all valuables from open areas. These birds are playful and love to tear and tear apart their toys;
2. Remove light fabrics from the interior, especially tulle. During the flight, a bird can become entangled in it, get caught in its claws, and even break its wings;
3. However, you cannot leave windows without curtains, as a bird may fly into the glass. The same goes for mirrors;
4. Place perches on the walls for the owl to sit down after flying. These should not be just sticks, but wood covered with soft material, artificial grass or carpet;
5. Birds love to swim, so a bath in the form of a container with water should be specially equipped for them.

Remember that the bird will occupy your entire apartment or house. It is impossible to restrict her movement, this will have a detrimental effect on her health. If you are not ready for such sacrifices, you should abandon this idea.

Where to buy a predator?

According to the law, keeping wild animals at home is prohibited. Therefore, when purchasing a bird at the poultry market, you risk:

• Break the law and be punished;
• To be left without a pet;
• Buy a sick chick.

If chicks are found in the forest, the risks are the same. The only official way to acquire a bird is to buy it in a specialized nursery. There the birds are ringed and special documents are made on them. This way you will protect yourself from fines and seizure of your pet.

It is important that owls from nurseries are already accustomed to people and behave much calmer than wild ones.

As for health, after the bird is in your hands, it should immediately be shown to a special veterinarian - an ornithologist. The fact is that many diseases in birds can go unnoticed, so you should take all the tests and take an x-ray.

Only after all the procedures can you bring your neighbor home and introduce him to your family.

Problems with pet owls: reviews from forums

Negative points There are several things to keep an owl at home:

1. It is impossible to train her to defecate in one place. The droppings she releases quite often smell very bad and scatter widely;
2. Predators will not be able to carefully eat the carcasses of their victims; after eating, there will certainly be uneaten parts and masses that the bird regurgitates after the meal;
3. Their predatory instincts are very tenacious and therefore owls are difficult to train;
4. After a sudden change in diet and habitual lifestyle, a bird can become seriously ill, and there are quite a few veterinarians specializing in these birds;
5. Pre-purchased carcasses for your pet also require space. They can be cut up in advance and stored in the freezer or placed alive in an aquarium.

Thus, although the bird may be in your home, it is impossible to say that the owl is “domestic” and is fully suitable for keeping in these conditions. This bird has a too freedom-loving character and it is unlikely that she will ever adapt to you. On the contrary, you will have to radically change your lifestyle.

In this video, Daria Ovsova will show her pet, how it eats, and talk about the features of its maintenance:

In this case, a large number of organizational questions arise: how to arrange a home for an owl, what and when to feed it, what diseases are typical for them, and is it even possible to keep an owl at home? In this article we will consider in detail all these and other aspects related to keeping an owl at home.

Undoubtedly, today there are domesticated owls. However, you must remember that every owl, even domestic ones, is a wild one, which has a sharp beak and long claws. These cute and funny (at first glance) creatures are capable of piercing through any prey and tearing it apart. The owl will also defend itself from the offender, using its weapon, sharp as a knife.

Owls are quite smart birds. They are very quiet, as their wings make virtually no sound, which means owls can sneak up on you at any time. If you have pet rodents, a hamster, a cat or small breeds of dogs living in your house, owls are not for you. After all, they are capable of tearing to shreds a prey that is several times larger than the bird itself, and domestic animals will be the first, because owls see them as their food.

Don't forget that all owls are predators

Thanks to the excellent ability of owls to turn their heads two hundred and seventy degrees around themselves and one hundred and eighty degrees downwards, it will be impossible to approach an owl unnoticed. Even if you (or your pet) do not pursue the goal of approaching the bird, it will still notice you and will watch you.

Is it possible to keep an owl at home?

In principle, if you really want to, you can place this bird in your home. However, living it requires following certain principles. First consider where your bird will live, as in some countries cage keeping is simply illegal and permanent cage housing is inhumane for any large bird. If you keep a wild bird at home, you will have to work hard to create a comfortable environment for it.

First you need to come to terms with one fact - owls live about sixty years. Therefore, suppose: if you are over 35-40 years old, you must decide who you will leave the owl to if it outlives you. Owls quickly get used to their home environment, and if, after living at home all their life, it ends up in the wild, the bird will die. You should pay great attention to this point before taking the bird into your home.

Video - How to keep an owl at home

Types of owls

There are a large number of species of owls. Below, in the table, we present the most popular varieties for home maintenance. Of course, keeping a dwarf decorative owl is much easier and more convenient, but, if you want, you can tame a bird of any other species.

Table 1. Types of owls

Title and photo	Description
Long eared owl	Its height is about 32-35 cm, its wingspan is slightly less than a meter. These are birds of a gray-brown variegated color with a white chest. Ear feathers are visible on the head. Along the edges of the owl's face there is a small border that makes it stand out. This species of owl is common in coniferous forests in Europe or northern Asia.
Great Gray Owl	This is a large owl, whose height reaches 85 cm, and its wingspan is one and a half meters. The color of the bird is smoky, the eyes are yellow, framed by a dark stripe of plumage. Under the owl's beak there is a black spot that resembles a beard, which is why the species got its name. The owl has no feathered ears.
Owl	The owl's height is about 70 cm, its wingspan can reach almost two meters. The eagle owl is considered the largest owl. The eagle owl has long feathers above its eyes that resemble ears. The color of the bird includes light and dark tones of brown and red.
Great Sparrow Owl	This is the smallest owl. The bird's height is only 15-20 cm, and its wingspan is about 38 cm. The bird's weight is no more than 90 grams. The color of the bird includes brown and white colors. White feathers are located on the owl's belly.
Little owl	The bird is slightly larger than the previous one. The height of this species is no more than 27 cm. The plumage is brown with white spots throughout the body. The eyes of the little owl are yellow-green and large. The head seems to be slightly flattened.
Barn owl	This is one of the most beautiful species of owls. The main feature of barn owls is that the frame of the front part resembles a heart. Birds reach a height of up to 40 cm, with a wingspan of about a meter. The color of barn owls is light (white, sometimes red, with specks). Another feature of barn owls is their ears. The left ear is located above the eye, and the right ear is opposite the beak. Due to this, the hearing in such birds is even more developed.
White (polar) owl	The bird's height is 60-75 cm, its wingspan is one and a half meters. The color of the polar owl is very beautiful: these are birds with white plumage, each feather of which has a dark tint at the tip. The bird's beak is black and its eyes are yellow. Now this species of owl is listed in the Red Book.

Where to buy an owl and how much it will cost

It is best to take an owl for home keeping from nurseries specially designed for this purpose. In such establishments you will always be given its documents along with the bird, and you will also be sure that the bird is ringed. The number will be stamped on the ring, which is also indicated in the rest of the owl’s documents.

The price of poultry varies: it depends on the breed and its age. On average, you will pay 10,000 rubles for a young owl, and about 30,000-40,000 rubles for an adult bird.

If you think that this is too much money and you cannot spend that much on buying a bird, there is another option. You can go into the forest on your own and catch a bird. Fortunately, chick owls are found quite often. In addition, they do not yet know how to fly well, and therefore it will not be difficult for you to catch it.

To do this, you just need to quietly approach the bird and transfer it to a stick, and then put it in a cage or cover it with some object. The main thing is to remember that this method has a strong stressful effect on the chick, so think twice before catching an owl yourself.

The main inconveniences in keeping owls at home

The main disadvantage of keeping any bird, not just owls, at home is the smell of the toilet. It is impossible to train an owl to a single place to relieve itself (a potty or a tray), and therefore it will go to the toilet wherever it wants. Moreover, the droppings that a bird releases can fly one and a half to two meters, which is why after a short period of time the cage (and the whole apartment) will smell terrible. But this is not the only source of odor - food debris (dead mice and birds) also belongs here.

The next most important disadvantage in keeping this bird is the search for food. In order to feed the owl, you will have to try pretty hard. It is a mistake to believe that an owl will eat regular meat or chicken - for proper digestion, it needs the same menu as in nature. And wild owls, as you know, feed on rodents, small birds, frogs and similar animals, eating them whole, with skin and bones. Most often at home, owls are fed mice, hamsters or chickens, large birds are fed small rabbits.

There is another delicate moment in feeding an owl - the bird is quite capable of killing its prey itself, and not every person can calmly feed a cute little animal to a predator. In addition, the food supply for the owl needs to be stored somewhere.

For example: depending on the size and appetite of the bird, you will need to purchase from five to fifteen teenage hamsters or mice for the bird to eat. Next comes the question of storing the meat: you can leave them alive and give them to the owl regularly one at a time, or kill them all at once and freeze the excess meat for later. Not every person is capable of such manipulations. You should not assume that the owl will “forgive” your humanity and “agree” to eat meat from the supermarket. The bird will either completely refuse the food offered, or will soon become ill from the destructive diet.

And the last disadvantage of keeping owls in the house is their poor adaptation. Even after 3-4 months in apartment living, an owl will be considered a wild bird. You will not be able to predict her further actions, she can do anything, and therefore you must always be careful and extremely attentive.

Video - Why you shouldn’t keep an owl at home

The main positive aspects of keeping owls at home

Keeping owls is characterized not only by disadvantages, but also by advantages. So, some owls can become your best friends; they can be very obedient and playful. You can pick up such birds, play with them, stroke them, and so on. With them, you can even organize some kind of performances for guests or other audiences (if the owl is tame and trusts you), because looking at owls, people get aesthetic pleasure.

If you are not confused by the above disadvantages, feel free to go to the nursery and buy yourself any owl you like. You can find out about the difficulties that you will have to face in the future from the professionals from whom you are taking your new family member.

Important point! Before getting an owl, we recommend meeting with ornithologist specialists several times, visiting a nursery, or visiting a person who keeps owls. This is the only way you can get the most complete picture of how these birds live.

Instructions for arranging a room for an owl

In relation to their place of residence, owls are very demanding. You will have to follow the following instructions:

Step 1

Provide a separate room for the owl.

Step 2

Remove all glass, porcelain and other items that could break from the owl's room. It is also advisable to remove small and bright things (gadgets, chandeliers, mirrors).

Step 3

Cover the windows with dark, smooth and thick fabric, but you need to get rid of tulle and curtains, as the bird can become entangled. It is better to choose a roller blind.

Step 4

Place a large tank of water in the owl's room where the bird can bathe.

Step 5

Place a large wooden cage in the room with seating areas (perches) that will serve as a hollow for the owl.

Remember that you should always lock up your pet at night. However, we do not recommend doing this using a simple cage - the owl will easily escape from there by opening the lock. Iron cages are also not suitable because birds can get stuck between the bars and get injured.

Owl feeding

The owl's diet consists of ingredients that are completely unusual for ordinary pets. The owl's stomach is capable of digesting the entire animal: wool, bones, meat and claws. Therefore, giving the bird simple meat will not work - the sacrifice must be given to the owl in full, and no “clean” meat will replace it.

Watch the bird carefully after feeding: 10 hours after the owl eats its prey, it will regurgitate food that has not been digested. If this does not happen, then most likely the owl has some disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract.

If you give mice to owls as food, you must first cut them up. But this only applies to mice, since in the process of fighting, rodents can transmit any infection to the bird. If you keep a small owl, you need to feed it small pieces. Eagle owls prefer fish, and if desired, they can be given the opportunity to get their own food by placing a large container in the room where the bird lives, into which live fish can be placed.

Once a month, give your owls a fasting day. They don't need to be given anything other than plenty of water during this time.

Owl health and disease

Since the popularity of keeping owls at home is only growing, it is clear that not all veterinarians are aware of the problems of this bird. Owners of owls must independently understand when to contact him. You can monitor the health of an owl by looking at its droppings. Normal droppings have a thin white consistency with small dark solids.

If the droppings give off a bad odor or have a different color or consistency, you need to contact a specialist. You can also notice a painful condition by the bird’s lack of appetite, lethargy, or prolonged calmness, constantly closing its eyes.

If the diagnosis is correct, the doctor must prescribe treatment for the bird. The medications prescribed may be in the form of vaccines or liquid.

Conclusion

Now you know how to care for an owl, what to feed it, what to expect from it, and many other key points. If you are determined to take this bird, then we advise you to choose a more suitable type of owl for you, and also to take care of it and love it, because even this wild bird will need your attention.

It's no secret that proper nutrition is very important for the health of any living creature. Caring owners try to feed their pets so that they live a long time, do not get sick, remain active and enjoy life. With the development of the Internet, many forums and portals have appeared with recommendations on the nutrition of dogs, cats, parrots, turtles, rabbits, fish and all kinds of other animals. For most creatures that people keep at home, the diet has been well studied and it is only necessary to put the acquired knowledge into practice.

On websites and forums of bird lovers you can find recommendations on feeding a wide variety of birds, and as a rule, this is competent advice, proven by the experience of many amateurs and professionals.
But it happens that erroneous information is replicated from one site to another, and this ultimately leads to disastrous results.

Unfortunately, the same situation has developed with recommendations for feeding owls.

Owls as pets became popular after the release of the Harry Potter books and films. If previously only rare - and usually very experienced - bird lovers dared to keep an owl at home, now this phenomenon has become widespread.

I will not now touch on aspects of the owl trade - I will only say that in most cases it is illegal: under the guise of “owls from a nursery,” birds obtained from nature are sold. One way or another, when a person takes responsibility for the life of an owl, he begins to look for information on how to feed it correctly. And most often he receives incorrect information.

I want to talk about how to avoid the most common mistake in feeding owls, and what it is associated with.

Among people “in the know” there is an opinion that owls, when kept in captivity, should receive nutrition that is as close as possible to natural. It is well known that owls are predators; most species in nature feed mainly on mouse-like rodents, most often swallowing them whole. In the owl's stomach, this food is partially digested, the softened parts pass further into the small intestine, where the final absorption of nutrients occurs, and undigested fragments from the stomach are thrown out through the esophagus in the form of a dense lump called a pellet.

Based on these facts, once upon a time, back in the middle of the last century, it was concluded that for normal digestion, owls need food with a large amount of bones, wool and other indigestible particles. Today, the vast majority of recommendations for feeding owls in captivity focus on this. As a result, many owls at home and in zoos are kept on a diet of mice and day-old chicks. Small species of owls are also given insects. Instead of mice, other animals can be used, instead of chickens, quails or other birds, but in general the picture is the same.

As a result, an owl sitting on such a diet, supposedly close to nature, gets sick and dies. For some, this period is calculated literally in weeks, others can live for several years, but in any case, this period is not comparable to the decades measured by nature even for small species of owls.

Why is this happening?

The fact is that, firstly, in nature, owls eat a much more varied diet than is commonly believed among amateurs, and secondly, their digestion in the wild works somewhat differently than in the limited conditions of home or aviary keeping.

In nature, the owl is polyphagous; it is not content with a mono-diet, but has the opportunity to choose. Even in the last century, ornithologists who studied owls found that owls are very individual in their preferences, even within the same species, and try to diversify their menu. Many owls store supplies, not only hunt, but also eat carrion, and their body is able to assimilate not only animal, but also plant food. In addition, in the wild, an owl moves a lot and, what is also important, it lives in accordance with the internal rhythms of its body, no one sets a routine for it. The amount and composition of her food can vary significantly depending on her current needs. The peristalsis of the gastrointestinal tract is thus much more active, making it easier for the body to cope with the removal of undigested particles from the stomach. After eating, the owl spends some time in a secluded place, where no one disturbs it, and rhythmically “yawns” - at this moment a pellet is formed in the stomach, which the owl will then discard.

And in conditions of captivity, the owl’s stomach contracts more sluggishly, moreover, the owl often has nowhere to hide from the circumstances that bother it. She is forced to eat only what is given to her. To get the required amount of nutrients, a hungry owl will swallow any food. And if it is kept on a diet that contains too many bones, wool, feathers, chitin, the body does not have time to remove everything that has not been digested from the stomach. Some comes out in the form of a pellet, the rest, in greater or lesser quantities, enters the small intestine, gets stuck there and begins to rot. Sometimes even large bones or hairballs get into the intestines, which leads to blockage or rupture of the intestinal walls, but more often small undigested particles gradually move from the small intestine to the large intestine, accumulate, slowly rot and cause tissue necrosis.

In recent years, I have increasingly come across cases of death of pets that were diligently fed “correctly” - for example, only mice or day-old chicks. An autopsy reveals the same picture.

For specialists, I present the autopsy report on one such case. This is the owl in the photo... I would like to prevent other similar absurd and painful deaths.

Protocol of the pathological autopsy of the corpse of a long-eared owl, approximately one year old. The autopsy was performed by students of the Kharkov State Veterinary Academy in the operating room of the Department of Surgery.

The owl was purchased from traders on 03/25/18. During the initial clinical examination, the animal observed: depression, disorientation, impaired coordination of movements, lameness, progressive cachexia, and refusal to feed. The ongoing symptomatic treatment and force feeding did not bring positive results. The animal died on 03/26/18.
External examination: General appearance of the corpse. Rigor mortis is severe. The owl's body is proportional, of regular build, insufficient fat, and upon palpation, emaciation is diagnosed. Weight 231 grams. Outer covers. Feathers are dull and wrinkled. The tarsus of the right limb is damaged, an old fracture is obvious. The muscles are poorly developed, atrophied in places. The beak is slightly open. Subcutaneous tissue is poorly developed. the cardiac sac and epicardium are moist, shiny, dark red. The position of the heart is anatomically correct, cone-shaped. No exudate was found in the trachea and bronchi. The abdomen is very swollen. There is a sharp putrid odor from the body. Internal examination: Abdominal cavity. The stomach and intestines were severely damaged, multiple necrosis and intestinal perforations were found, through which the contents leaked into the abdominal cavity. The liver is gray, moist, shiny. The kidneys are not enlarged in volume.

Pathological diagnosis
1. Nutritional dystrophy.
2. ?

What should the diet be like for captive owls?

As our many years of experience in caring for these beautiful birds shows, owls feel best on a diet in which food with feathers, bones, wool, chitin and other indigestible particles makes up no more than one third of the total amount. The remaining two-thirds should be soft food that can be completely digested. They may vary depending on the specific feeding habits of owls, for example, for piscivorous species, the diet should contain fish, for insectivores - insect larvae, as well as fruits and berries. But in general, the basis of nutrition for an owl kept at home or in an aviary should be by-products: chicken, turkey or quail hearts, liver, gizzards; for variety, you can also give dietary meat rich in nutrients, such as quail fillet, turkey or rabbit meat. All food is fed to owls without heat treatment, so it is better to purchase products from large companies that have proven themselves on the market, since there are less chances of errors in sanitary control. Visible fat should be trimmed off if possible. Meat and offal of ungulates are not suitable for owls' food.

I will dwell on this issue in more detail.

By-products contain a huge amount of vitamins, minerals and other substances necessary for the normal functioning of the owl’s body. For example, chicken liver is rich in phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, it contains calcium, sodium, selenium, zinc, vitamins A, C, E, PP, B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, as well as K and B5. Chicken hearts contain a lot of easily digestible protein, essential amino acids and vitamins, as well as rare but important minerals for health - such as manganese, copper, molybdenum and cobalt. In addition, they contain coenzyme Q10, a substance necessary for the normal functioning of metabolic processes and immunity. Chicken stomachs, in addition to many vitamins and minerals, contain fiber, which promotes proper digestion, and a huge set of essential and non-essential amino acids: arginine, valine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, glycine, proine, tyrosine , cysteine, glutamic acid and others.

Thus, being on a diet primarily consisting of various by-products, the owl receives with food a complete set of macro- and micronutrients, thanks to which all its organs and systems can function in a balanced manner. Food with a large number of indigestible particles serves mainly as material for the formation of pellets and should be considered only as an addition to the main diet.

It should be noted that particles of muscle stomachs also come out in the form of pellets. When feeding weakened owls recovering from illness and injury, it is advisable to completely exclude food with coarse solid particles such as wool, bones and feathers - during the period until complete recovery, replace it with twice the number of gizzards. And for owls that are exhausted or have recently been seriously injured, it is necessary for some time to feed in the form of mashed chicken or turkey liver, with a gradual transition to denser food in the form of offal, cut into pieces. The pieces should be of such a size and shape that the owl can swallow them without difficulty - in particular, it is better to cut chicken hearts lengthwise, because the transverse slices can fit on the top of the beak. In some cases, it is permissible to feed growing owlets and adult recovering owls minced meat from various offal and quail carcasses, ground together with bones. And of course, in each case, when transferring an owl to a standard diet, you need to monitor whether it can cope with food on its own: for example, some even large owls refuse whole stomachs or mice offered, while others, on the contrary, sometimes do not want to eat too finely chopped I'm going.

When feeding owlets, it is important to remember that a rapidly growing body requires a huge amount of calcium, much more than an adult owl. For newborn owlets, an excellent source of calcium, as well as vitamin D and other macro- and microelements necessary for its absorption, is quail meat, which should be given initially without any solid particles, and later (from about a week and a half, depending on the species) - ground together with small bones. Tubular bones should be removed to avoid the formation of sharp fragments. And only after the owlet sheds the first pellet, you can start feeding it “adult” food, gradually adding it to the quail.

The diet we developed showed excellent results: while keeping more than three dozen owls of eight species, even those who entered our shelter with severe metabolic and feather formation disorders acquired excellent shape after some time. Some of our pets have never had to shorten their claws or beaks for ten or more years - the rhamphotheca and horny covering of their claws are replaced during the molting process.

When properly feeding a healthy owl or feeding an owlet, additional vitamin preparations and mineral supplements are not required; they can cause harm to the body. This should be remembered and not try to preventively add any medications or dietary supplements to food.

Health to you and your pets!

Ursula Medvedeva, Wild Bird Assistance Center "Corvus Corax" (c) 2018