Life Cycle of a Barn Owl By Emma

Breeding Breeding months, when barn owls reproduce, are in April and May. This is when the weather is nice, so the babies aren’t cold when they hatch. Because barn owls only live for two years, they sometimes have babies twice in a summer.

Eggs The eggs are laid in dark places. Some of these places are holes in trees, barns, old buildings, and chimneys. The female can lay 5-11 eggs, but most females lay 4-6. She lay an egg every other day. The eggs are white and the shell is hard. The eggs are an inch and a half long.

Hatching The female incubates the eggs for 30-34 days. The baby owl has an egg tooth that it uses to crack the egg open. After the baby hatches, the egg tooth falls off.

Baby Owls Baby owls are called chicks. They are covered with softer feathers called down. The baby feathers are white. After 8-10 weeks they lose their downy feathers and they grow their adult feathers. The female and male feeds the baby for about two months.

Diet They hunt at night because they are nocturnal. They have really good eyesight and they can smell prey from a far away distance. Their feathers are quiet so that the owl doesn’t scare away the prey when it hunts. Barn owls eat mice, rats and other small mammals.

Characteristics The barn owl is 14-20 inches tall. It is golden- brown on its upper sides and grayish white on their chest. Barn owls have a heart-shaped head, a short tail and long legs. The owl’s talons are black. The talons are used to catch prey and to hold on to branches.

Habitat The habitat of a barn owl needs open areas for hunting. They also need places to stay like cavities in trees or in barns and other buildings. They need to eat mice and they live just about everywhere. Owls live on every continent except for Antarctica, because there is not enough food in Antarctica.

Death Wild barn owls live about 2 to 4 years. But if you keep them in captivity, they can live 25 years. Wild barn owls don’t live very long because people kill them with cars and weapons. Barn owls also have a lot of predators, including hawks, eagles, other owls, opossum, raccoons and people’s pet cats. Cats like to catch and eat birds, including barn owls.