Owl Boxes

homerhop · 02-08-2011 2:18pm #1

Our club have approached local farmers about placing owl boxes on their properties and all have shown great intrest in the idea. I am reading different things about boxes, some saying a small platform to catch the chicks is required. We are looking to supply boxes for barn owls in the farms and some nest boxes for long eared owls in the wood. Any opinions, tips on design, shapes etc would be most appreciated.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 02-08-2011 3:56pm

There are lots of designs available for Owl boxes and a search in the Net will give you most of what you'll need. e.g http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.html?Id=42

I have always had a platform on any Barn Owl box I have put up. Long Eared Owls do not use a box but naturally use old nests of the likes of Wood Pigeon. A basket nest is usually provided to attract them. I'm sure, if your club has contacted landowners that you have a particular design avalable to you already. Don't forget to put some Barn Owl boxes outside as well.

mgwhelan · 02-08-2011 5:47pm

heres one of the boxes i made up for barn owls will be putting it up soon, i reckon it the best one for getting occupied.

heres the design i used if any of the farmers want to make it for them selfs.

http://www.hoeraptors.com/page24.htm

snipey · 08-09-2011 7:42pm

that's a grand box you made up you must have owls in the area,i put a few but the owls nested nearly beside in a hollow tree,you'd think the box would be safer and dryer,but i did have owls nesting in a box in a barn who had five chick's we ringed four the other one flew away,its up on you tube under Clonmel Owls the picture is bad because of the infrared camera and the distance away from the box.

mgwhelan · 08-09-2011 8:26pm

snipey wrote: »

that's a grand box you made up you must have owls in the area,i put a few but the owls nested nearly beside in a hollow tree,you'd think the box would be safer and dryer,but i did have owls nesting in a box in a barn who had five chick's we ringed four the other one flew away,its up on you tube under Clonmel Owls the picture is bad because of the infrared camera and the distance away from the box.

thanks, there a nesting pair a few miles away from our land so hopefully there offspring will move in the next few years. Even if i get a owl using a box for a winter roost i'll be over the moon.
Nice video, there's a video tread here second one down if you want to put your's up.

snipey · 08-09-2011 10:09pm

i have a much better clip but i'm not great at uploading but i'll get somebody to do it for me, i'm in the process of putting a camera in the box and in the barn like the one on the Barn owl trust but i can't get any power only battery power but i have a monitor and camera that will record onto SD card,the only thing is that one of the owls is still roosting in the box so i can only install the camera when he goes out hunting so it's dark and the box is 20ft high so it's alittle tricky.

LostCovey · 08-09-2011 11:05pm

mgwhelan wrote: »

heres one of the boxes i made up for barn owls will be putting it up soon, i reckon it the best one for getting occupied.

heres the design i used if any of the farmers want to make it for them selfs.

http://www.hoeraptors.com/page24.htm

Hi mgwhelan,

Nice woodworking skills!

I hate to quibble, but that entrance seems extremely small to me for Barn Owls at 120mm x 120mm. That is less than 5 inches square!

The bible for nestbox building in this part of the world is the BTO Nestbox Guide, and I just looked it up, and it says, for a very similar Barn Owl Box design:
"Entrance at least 150mm wide by 200mm high"

You can download and print the 1993 (ie previous) edition of the guide free here as a pdf http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/u15/downloads/publications/guides/nestbox.pdf.

It is really excellent, and I am sure that it is right on this point - I really do not see Barn Owls using a hole that small.

Don't forget that in England they have Little Owls - that might be a mis-labelled Little Owl Box on the website you have linked to.

Either way, Barn Owls probably won't enter a hole that is just over 4 1/2" square. I think you should borrow a cordless jigsaw, and enlarge the entrance on the one you have put up.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but better than finding out when it has been unused for a few years.

LostCovey

LostCovey · 08-09-2011 11:22pm

PS Ooops. I see the Barn Owl Trust box design linked by Srameen above recommends a 5" x 5" entrance, so maybe I am wrong.

It seems tiny to me! Any opinions/experience ? I have never put one up (yet)

LostCovey

snipey · 09-09-2011 12:27am

i've owls using a box at the moment and the hole is 5 by 5 inches so i'd say that's the minimum

LostCovey · 09-09-2011 7:13am

snipey wrote: »

i've owls using a box at the moment and the hole is 5 by 5 inches so i'd say that's the minimum

Well that's me well corrected! Thanks Snipey.

However this box design is a little less than that.

Maybe the intention is to keep out cats or something?

5x5 looks very small for a bird that size, but if the owls are happy, why should I quibble!

LC

mgwhelan · 09-09-2011 10:11am

Thought 120mm square entrance hole was small myself so made it 150mm square so hopefully that will work. Put it up a few weeks ago made a bigger tray for the owlets to exercise on.

Also made this box, some of the barn trusts in the uk use this kind of box I believe.

snipey · 09-09-2011 1:14pm

6 by 6 inches is perfect but the reason to keep is small as possible is to keep crows from bringing sticks in to nest some people use a tunnel thats because crows will not go down a tunnel and turn when they're carrying sticks,by the way an owls body would fit through a very small hole,good to see the boxes being put up,i tried to upload a photo but when i press the insert image its asking me for the URL what the URL of your image?

mgwhelan · 09-09-2011 1:40pm

Not a expert but this is what i do. Go to this web site click on (choose file), when you have choosing what photo you want change (resize) to (message board), then click upload now you'll be asked to put in a code. it will give a few options on the way you want to show your pic when you choose click and copy and all you have to do is paste it in your message.
http://tinypic.com/

snipey · 09-09-2011 5:00pm

thank's i'll try that when i get home to my own computer

hamletsmoker · 10-09-2011 2:58pm

snipey wrote: »

thank's i'll try that when i get home to my own computer

I've just made an owl box with the owl trust measurement and now I reckon that the 5 by 5 inch hole is too small so will probably have to modify it although some say it's big enough. Heard a barn owl near my house last week so hence the nest box. It would so exciting to have one roost in it. Have ordered a little IR camera from eBay to monitor n box

snipey · 11-09-2011 4:12pm

just a few photo's we took after ringing them,

hamletsmoker · 11-09-2011 9:40pm

My goodness Snipey, they are fab photos especially the first one. I hope to one day be able to look at these beautiful birds first hand. Well done.

snipey · 12-09-2011 8:05pm

A couple of photo's of the box i use for tree's

trebor28 · 12-09-2011 10:19pm

snipey wrote: »

A couple of photo's of the box i use for tree's

Snipey,
do you have dimensions for this box?

also what is it you have for an other roof shell?

snipey · 12-09-2011 10:54pm

the dimentions are in the barn owl trust web under infomation and downloadsand site and the roof is covered with roofing felt

Mitch Buchannon · 14-09-2011 5:06pm

snipey wrote: »

just a few photo's we took after ringing them,

Great pictures snipey.. and for those on phones, here are the pictures.

hamletsmoker · 07-10-2011 9:35am

Just checked my owl box that I put up last month and was disgusted to find two PIGEONS inside. Do you think they'll take over the box or are they just checking? Would be a waste of time if they stay.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 07-10-2011 10:58am

At this time of year it was probably just a roost. I would look on this as a positive step. Many Owls use old Pigeon nests and it means the box is noticed by the local wildlife.:)

hamletsmoker · 07-10-2011 8:41pm

Hopefully just a roost, although I saw a few twigs have been brought in also.
I'm hoping they won't make a mess in there!!
Thanks Srameen

snipey · 08-10-2011 8:05pm

I'd check the box in december and clean it out as the owls will be pairing up in dec/feb usually they don't nest in a fresh box for a couple of years,

hamletsmoker · 08-10-2011 9:52pm

Will do that. Hopefully pigeons will have vamoosed by then.
Thanks Snipey

snipey · 15-10-2011 5:28pm

just checked a box i put up a week ago and there's an owl using it already,there are owls in the area so the odd's were high enough.

hamletsmoker · 16-10-2011 9:49pm

That must be a record Snipey.
Knowing my luck I won't ever see an owl in mine except those
pesky pigeons.:)

snipey · 17-10-2011 7:02pm

i'd say it's not a record because i had owls in a box only about half a mile away so i'd say they just moved home the problem is that i had camera's set up in the barn and in the box and i have no camera's in the new box with a bit of luck they might be different owls i must go out and watch the old box to see if there s any owls using it.

wildlifeman · 18-10-2011 10:29am

hiya, whereabouts in the country are these located. just a rough guide. dont want to put them in danger.

snipey · 18-10-2011 5:39pm

In Tipperary, we have only a few documented pairs but alot of sightings, I have three pairs nesting,as in using box's, within a fiive mile radius so thats not bad because they're fairly scarce.

Owl Boxes

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