The next decision that you have
make is where are you proposing to keep them and which type of the 130
plus species do you wish to keep.
There are species that are only
5 or 6 inches in height to ones that are over 2 foot with all sizes in
between.
But before you make these decisions my advise is to learn as much as possible about owls. There are a few good books about owl, these mainly deal with owls in the wild . Which you will have to have a good understanding of before you attempt to keep and hopefully breed in owls captivity.
Also, if you can, get to know a
reputable established breeder and talk to them (in my experience owl breeders
will talk owls all day long if you let them) and if you are lucky they
may even allow you to 'help out' with their owls thus gaining valuable
experience. But whatever you do - do not become a nuisance to them.
I would also advise joining a reputable
organisation or society. One that I would recommend is 'The International
Owl Society'. This society is dedicated to owls both in the wild and captivity,
they also produce a bi-monthly magazine 'tyto' which is full of articles
about owls, written in the main by owl breeders. They also hold regular
meetings which, if you attend, is another way of meeting the 'expert' owl
breeder.
Another source of information is
of course the internet. Go to the search engines and do a search on 'owls'
(you will have to sort the wheat from the chaff though as there are lots
of organisations who call themselves 'owls' including a well known soccer
team in Sheffield)
But having said that there is still
a lot of information to be gained by persevering a little bit and perhaps
varying your search criteria try using 'raptor', 'strigiformes', 'Barn
owl', 'Screech owl' ect. and you will get the information you are looking
for.
Right, you have now learnt every
thing there is to know about owls. You have read half a dozen books on
the subject of owls, you have plagued, bothered and interrogated any owl
breeder that you could get near and you now have a massive telephone bill
by spending hours and hours searching the internet.
Next decision, what species of owl do you want? it's no good reading 'Owls of the World' and deciding that you want to keep a species who's world-wide population is 6 breeding pairs-You just won't be able to obtain any. It is better to take advise from the breeders that you got to know from your learning curve.
The final choice of owl will depend on the availability of the owls themselves and the space available for the flight.
A table of the more popular species of owls and their required flight size is produced below:-
|
|
|
|
Screech Barn Rufus legged Tawny |
1.2m 1.75m 1.75m 2m |
3m 3m 3m 3.5m |
2.13m 2.13m 2.13m 2.13m |
The availability of the chosen owl
can be obtained from either talking to the breeder or if you joined The
International Owl Society from their bi-monthly magazine 'Tyto' which runs
a free advert section for members wishing to sell their surplus stock or
from the weekly publication 'Cage and Aviary birds'