The keeping and breeding of owls is not something
that should be done without a great deal of thought and planning. Although
it is a growing interest with a lot of people it is still regarded as a
small minority interest within the avianists world. And within that small
minority is an even smaller percentage of 'experts'.
First lets consider why do you want to keep owls?
Out of all the birds that you could keep, Budgies,
canaries, cockatiels, finches, parrots ect., the owl is the one that would
be most secretive and non active, during daylight hours anyway.
Take the barn owl, although in my opinion one
of the most beautiful birds, it is very highly strung and will hide away
most of the day asleep in some dark corner of its flight. If it is your
intention to have a aviary in your garden and enjoy the sights and sounds
of brightly coloured birds I would not recommend that you consider owls
for that purpose
If you intend to keep and breed owls for release back into the wild, perhaps you have heard of the plight of the barn owl in this country, and you want to do your bit for the conservation of this bird. This again I would advise you against, for to release captive bred owls back into the wild, a special licence is required with which to do so, and the licence itself is difficult to obtain, Besides which there are notable organisations such as the World Owl Trust and the Hawk and Owl Conservation Trust already doing admirable work along those lines.
The best advise that I could give you if this
is your intention is not to keep owls yourself but make a donation to one
or both of the organisations mentioned above or better still join the organisations
and become an active member helping them to save the world owls.
If you intend to keep and breed owls to make huge
profits from the sale of any offspring. Again I would advise against this.
The import of rare owls is strictly controlled and an importers licence
is not given out to just anybody.
True you can but some of the more rarer species
from established breeders in this country who have a breeders licence.
But when you consider the cost of setting up your flights, applying for
a breeders licence, cost of the food, insurance, security and the initial
cost of your birds, plus the fact that the birds you buy may not breed
for a couple of years, if at all, you will soon realise that the huge profits
you once imagined are fast disappearing.
So where does that leave us, you can't keep
owls to enhance your garden with a splash of colour and bird songs, you
can't breed owls to release back into the wild and you can't breed owls
to make your fortune.
The only reason left for keeping
and breeding owls is the personal satisfaction and pleasure you will get
from the involvement with these very interesting Raptors.
Taking all the above into consideration and you
still want to keep owls then lets get down to the basics.