barn owls are very small with small feet, plus they are nocturnal. They are probably too small for CT if they would chase them at all anyways, not to mention they are illegal to fly in most every state. Please read the read before posting thread in the new to the forum board if you are from the US
well, I've been under the impression so far that in PA, my home state, that they are legal to have in falconry. Yes i have looked at the laws in my state.
I didn't link to the laws I linked to a lot of information about falconry that will answer most every question you could have if you take the time to read it.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
No worries, we all start somewhere! take the time to read though the links in that thread, it saves a lot of time and hassel and has a ton of information in one place
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Alright, if I wait till I'm twenty, I can get a barn owl, problem is, will it be big enough, so far, I know that whille the common barn owl is small, it has great hearing, like most owls. I think that it would be a great advantage when hunting animals that tend to go unseen.
What do you plan on hunting with the Barn Owl? As for liking owls, i dont know if a Barn owl would be the best falconry bird. FB is right when he said they are nocturnal, the Barn owl would be usless in the daytime. im not saying night hunting cant be done, but you would have to invest in a pair of nightvision goggles, or you would loose the bird on the first outing.
Barn owls can take CT but it would have to be at night, they use the dark as an advantage.
Taken from animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tyto_alba.html "Barn owls are nocturnal predators that prefer small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews, rats, muskrats, hares and rabbits. They may also prey on small birds. Barn owls begin hunting alone after sunset. As an aid for detecting movement in grassland, they have developed highly sensitive low-light vision. When hunting in complete darkness, however, the owl relies on its acute hearing to capture prey. "
If your thinking of hunting with owls, and not just having one to look at, then i would suggest thinking about a GHO (Great Horned Owl) or maybe a EEO (European Eagle Owl) they take some work to man over but once they trust you, you would have a great time hunting.
also practice before you preach, a barn owl can be flown during the day, i worked with one at the previous rehab centre, and i ended up flying him in broad daylight.
tytoalba, i would advise you to forget about flying a owl, they are really not worth the effort it takes to get one going. it took me 8 weeks to get my imprint eagle owl going, and that was after i picked her up at the rehab centre, fully hard penned, so you'll have to rekon in the time it will take you to raise it. owls just do not seem to want to learn too fast, and they can frustrate you endlessly. i know i would have sent my owl back to the centre after 3 weeks of struggling if i had another bird in training, but i enjoy training so... i know i got her right in the end, but by that time i was so tired of training her that i jut hunted her until she was fit enough to be released back into the wild, and i focused more on my kestrel. basically what i'm trying to say is that for me owls are more trouble than they are worth, you can have a much more enjoyable experience with a passage RT.
if you really do like owls that much, put a nestbox up in your backyard, and feed them every now and then, then you will be able to watch them hunt every night
2010 season: Firefly- daisy cutting rhab peregrine, problem child Caspian- tiercel lanner, and hopefully a high flying killer
OK to fly a owl you might as well take a hammer and beat yourself on the head before getting one. that way the brain damage is the same as the owl.
as for the possibilities of having one you first need to check and see if the state will let you have one. also if you are allowed to hunt at night.
as for the game they catch allot of small rodents when they feel like it not when they see them like a hawk. I know people with the GHOs that have gotten them to hunt but it is allot like watching paint dry (with 2 exceptions). my advice is to wait for the owl till you have allot more experience as a falconer to try one. you will have many years as a falconer to mess with different birds. as well your tastes will change over the years. when I started out flying I was interested in the prairie, and peregrine falcons but I have yet to get one and don't plan on getting one anytime soon.