Barn Owls will accept an artificial nest when hay is moved. Quite often
there are bales that were rained on or otherwise not suitable for dairy
feed. These bales can be stacked with a shelf to place the young birds.
The adults will tend the young as long as they can hear them, and artificial
nests (a cardboard box in a tree within a few hundred yards will work) are
readily accepted. I hauled nestling Barn Owls down to a Richland vet many
years before getting info out from the rehabber and having the farmers or
hay haulers take care of the owls themselves.

Randy Hill
Othello
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wm Mulligan" <wmmulligan at hotmail.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 11:25 p
Subject: Barn owls


> A couple of weeks ago I had to take my dog to a veterinary hospital in
> Ellensburg because of rat poison ingestion. While waiting for the dog to
> regurgitate, the vet showed me a cage with 3 baby barn owls, and another
> with a sick looking adult. He said that they get 40 to 100 barn owls each
> year from E Wash Farmers, who retrieve them from their nests in hay
stacks.
> This occurs when they move the haystacks and break them apart. The
> veterinary hospital cares for the birds and then releases them if and when
> they recover. This is all done "pro bono", and without any publicity. It
> is nice to know that all these farmers and this veterinarian care this
much
> about the birds.
>
> I had no idea that hay stacks were a favored nesting site for barn owls.
>
> BTW, my Jack Russell vomited and recovered after his apomorphine shot.
>
> Bill
>
> Wm Mulligan
> 8423 Calif Av SW
> Seattle WA 98136
> 206-932-4340
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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