Barn Owl Trust
Waterleat, Ashburton
Devon TQ13 7HU
Feeding
Tel: 01364 653026
Email: info@barnowltrust.org.uk
Barn Owls
LEAFLET No 13
This leaflet provides information on food for
wild or captive Barn Owls. It explains what
food to use, where to obtain it, dietary
supplements and some safety and hygiene
precautions.
Choosing the right food
The natural diet of the Barn Owl in the wild comprises
small mammals, mainly field voles, common shrews
and wood mice. A Barn Owl will usually eat small prey
items complete, swallowing the animal whole. This
"whole food" diet provides the owl with all the vitamins
and minerals contained in the prey item's internal
organs and also ensures sufficient roughage for a
pellet (containing the indigestible fur and bones) to be
formed and regurgitated. It is much better to provide
small food items for Barn Owls rather than small parts
of larger animals. Items such as slugs, worms and
insects are not suitable, but the occasional small bird
or frog may be eaten.
In an emergency
If you have a casualty owl to feed and need to give it
something just to keep it going for a day or two you can
use raw lean shin beef or chicken muscle. Do not use
these foods for a longer period. Even a diet containing
only 20% beef will be nutritionally deficient. For many
new casualties, water is often more important than
food, but injured or starving birds will not normally drink
voluntarily. Please call a vet or the Trust for advice.
Wild food items
Almost anything that your cat brings in can be used to
feed owls provided that no rat or mouse poisons have
been used nearby. Voles, shrews, mice, small birds,
nestling rabbits and moles can all be given directly to
the owls.
Dead day-old chicks
The most common food used for captive Barn Owls is
dead day-old cockerels which are a by-product of the
poultry industry. They are economically priced, readily
available, convenient to use and provide a high protein,
low fat diet, with good levels of vitamins and calcium.
Chicks do contain yolk and can become rather messy,
however, the routine de-yolking of chicks dramatically
reduces the levels of calcium, phosphorus, and
vitamins A and E and is not recommended.
Barn Owl Trust - Conserving the Barn Owl and its Environment
Reg. Charity No 299 835
Dead chicks (“culls”) can sometimes be obtained
directly from hatcheries but it can be difficult to find one
with surplus chicks available. Always ensure the chicks
were gassed with carbon dioxide, not with chloroform
(ether) or carbon tretrachloride. Also be careful with
home freezing of fresh chicks; slow freezing can allow
bacteria to reach dangerous levels.
High quality “blast frozen” chicks can be obtained from
specialist animal feed companies, often in boxes of
200. Please contact the Trust for details. Many pet
shops sell smaller quantities.
Rats
It is not advisable to use wild rats as roughly 70% carry
leptospirosis (a serious disease) which can easily be
transmitted to humans. It is especially important to
avoid contact with the urine of wild rats. However
domestic rats can often be purchased (frozen) from pet
shops and their nutritional value is excellent. The best
ones are small to medium sized or “weaners”.
Domestic mice
These, like rats, are generally easy to obtain frozen
from pet shops but they are the most expensive food
available. Also, domestic mice tend to contain low
protein levels but a high fat content and too much
vitamin A. Using them to add a little variety to a chick
diet is OK but a diet based on domestic mice should be
avoided.
Foods to avoid
Do not use pigeons as they often carry one or more
avian diseases which could be transmitted to the owl.
Rabbits should be avoided because they are too big
and if chopped up there is a risk of long sharp bone
fragments being swallowed which could damage or
even kill the owl. Never feed anything which has been
shot; just one lead pellet is enough to cause lead
poisoning which can kill a bird of prey.
Vitamin and mineral supplements
Providing that you give Barn Owls a diet of chicks with
occasional small mammals there is no need to give any
supplements. If for some reason only dead mice or
perhaps quail are given (for more than a few days), you
should use a supplement. SA37, Abidec, Adexolin or
Vionate are sometimes used and are often available in
pet shops. Do not overdo the supplement. A tiny pinch
of SA37 for each owl every few weeks is normally
sufficient. Too much supplement can be harmful.
Food handling and storage
If you are feeding owls long-term you must have
enough freezer space in order to ensure a continuous
and reliable food supply. Always allow the food to cool
and always divide it into small lots before freezing.
Using polythene bags, place a small number of food
items (about 10 if you have just one pair of owls) in
each bag. Do not keep food items frozen for more than
three months otherwise the levels of vitamin E become
depleted. Food should be defrosted at room
temperature, Never give frozen or part-frozen food to
owls and never re-freeze defrosted food.
Feeding
An adult Barn Owl in captivity will eat 1½ to 2½ dead
day-old chicks per night. When feeding captive-bred
Barn Owls, use common sense. Increase or reduce the
food supply according to the amount the owls are
taking. You may find that they will eat more in cold
weather than when it is warm. Some pairs will eat 3
chicks per night between them, others will eat 6. At
breeding time, increase the food supply at the rate of
one chick per night from the night that the first egg is
due to hatch. If using small mammals, remember that 2
mice are approximately equal to 1 day-old chick.
Captive Barn Owls can be fed at any time of day
except during periods of extreme heat or cold, when
the food could either deteriorate or freeze.
Wild Barn Owls are very vulnerable to prolonged
periods of bad weather - rain, snow cover, and severe
drought. It is possible to feed wild Barn Owls although
not always easy. A hungry wild owl will look and listen
for moving prey and it may ignore dead food. The way
around this is to place the food where it is most likely to
be discovered by accident, i.e. - where the owl
regularly perches. Being a creature of habit, the wild
Barn Owl will normally roost in the same position every
day or may alight on one particular perch every
evening - this is where the food should be placed.
However, you should avoid flushing the bird out of its
Barn Owl Trust - Conserving the Barn Owl and its Environment
roosting site during severe weather. When disturbed, a
wild Barn Owl in a building with a nestbox will often
hide in the box rather than fly out of the building. You
may contact the Trust for further advice.
Note that Barn Owls are protected under the Wildlife
and Countryside Act (1981). It is illegal to disturb them
when they are at or near their nest. It is also illegal to
release captive-bred birds into the wild.
Further information
The Trust provides a wide range of free leaflets on
encouraging wild Barn Owls and several relevant to
captive Barn Owls. Please refer to our Information
leaflet which lists all the titles.
Reference
Forbes, N.A. and Flint, C.G. 2000. Raptor Nutrition.
Honeybrook Farm Animal Foods.
© Barn Owl Trust 1989
latest revision 2010
The Barn Owl Trust is a registered charity dedicated to
the conservation of the Barn Owl and its environment.
You can become a Friend of the Barn Owl Trust and
support our work by making a regular donation.
Friends receive our biannual magazine Feedback, our
Annual Report and a badge.
The Trust provides a wide range of free leaflets on
Barn Owl related matters. For details of these and
further information about the Trust and its work, please
write including a large SAE to:
Barn Owl Trust
Waterleat
Ashburton
Devon
TQ13 7HU
Tel: 01364 653026
Email: info@barnowltrust.org.uk
Web: www.barnowltrust.org.uk
 Restoring the Balance
We’ve lived side-by-side with Barn Owls for centuries. But in modern times wild Barn Owls have become
increasingly rare - and the reasons are all man-made. The Barn Owl is a symbol of our relationship with
the countryside: the decline of this beautiful bird reflects our attitude towards the environment. No species
can prosper in isolation - not even human beings. All things are connected and if we lived in balance with
nature then Barn Owls, and so much other wildlife, could thrive.
How you can help
You can help to conserve the Barn Owl by Becoming a Friend of the Trust and making an annual or monthly donation to
support our work. If you are a UK tax payer and complete a simple Gift Aid declaration the Trust can reclaim the tax paid on
your donation and significantly increase the value of your gift at no extra cost to you. Standing order and Gift Aid forms are
provided below. Please consider paying by Standing Order as this greatly reduces our administration time and costs.
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(If children are under 16, please state ages. One or more children from the same family at one address can be Owlets.)

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