Barn Owl chicks rehabilitating at Ubizane

On Thursday morning the Ubizane team found four Barn Owl chicks in one of the Tree Lodge rooms.  Our first instinct was to search the area for signs of entry to ensure their mother hadn’t been entering and giving them food.  Unfortunately we realised that these chicks were placed there by their mother by entering in a gap that was closed a few days ago.  Sadly this meant that these poor chicks have been without food for almost three days!  Three of the chicks are about five weeks old with the smallest only about two weeks old.  We suspect there were two batches of eggs that hatched because of two empty eggs found in the nest and the varying sizes of the chicks.  The Ubizane team have decided to bring these chicks back to health until they are ready to survive in the wild.  We feed them raw meat every day to ensure they become stronger.

One of the older chicks and the baby chick being held by a staff member

 

Feeding raw mince to the smallest of the lot

Ubizane staff feeding the little ones

It is hard to believe that these fluffy little fragile creatures grow into the beautiful Barn Owl, one of the most gracious birds of prey.  We are excited to keep you posted on the progress!