Barn Owl Nest Boxes for Attracting Barn Owls for Rodent Control and Barn Owl Conservation.
Vineyard, orchard, crop, and property owners, enhance your rodent control programs while helping preserve this beautiful raptor.
Designed by a leading barn owl researcher, The Barn Owl Box is the first lightweight, long-lasting plastic nest box for barn owls. It features a 5.5” entrance hole, landing ledge, rain guard, an acrylic viewing window for viewing eggs and chicks, and a removable front for easy cleaning. The Barn Owl Box will not rot, will not need rebuilt or replaced, and will last indefinitely. Its light weight makes it easy to install, whether on a post, in a barn, or a tree. Both models of nest box come with all the mounting hardware and a brochure on installation.
Barn owls have been contributing to rodent control long before the term integrated pest management was born. Since humans planted crops and built shelters, barn owls have lived in close proximity to us. In recent years, using barn owls for pest management has become much more sophisticated. Farms have been able to establish densities of up to one pair for every 20 acres or less, creating an efficient rodent killing system that is self perpetuating.
Now in use by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Departments of Natural Resources of Illinois, Wisconsin, and South Carolina |
The reasons that barn owls can be used in this way have to do with the unique nature of barn owl biology:
- Barn owls are cavity nesters, dependent upon large hollow trees or some other type of hollow. This means that they can be easily attracted to nest boxes.
- Barn owls live and raise young comfortably around human activity such as busy farmyards and agricultural fields
- Barn owls are not territorial; they often form nesting colonies in small areas, allowing farmers to establish many nest boxes within sight of each other
- Barn owls raise large numbers of young for a raptor—up to 13 young have been recorded in one nest, although 4 to 7 is more common
Barn owls respond to higher rodent numbers by producing more young per brood, and producing more than one brood per year.- Because they have such voracious appetites and have so many young, a single family of barn owls can consume over 1000 pocket gophers per year, or over 3000 mice or voles.
- Barn owls are extremely faithful to their nest sites, raising young year after year; and as older barn owls perish, new ones take their places.
- Once established, barn owls need very little maintenance, and can create a population that remains for many years.
Integrated pest management takes a broad, multi-disciplined approach to rodent control. Barn owls can assist natural rodent control programs by harvesting large numbers of rodents throughout the year. This allows other approaches such as trapping and the use of buffer zones to be more effective.
This site is designed to help you understand barn owl biology, how to attract barn owls, how best to apply integrated integrated pest management methods for natural rodent control, and give you information on the biology of common pest species, including pocket gophers, voles, mice, and rats. Our Barn Owl Status page includes a state by state analysis of barn owl populations. Also, look for links to articles on using barn owls for rodent control in vineyards, sugar cane, orchards, crop farms, and dairy farms.
In the orchards and vineyards of California, dairy and crop farms of the Midwest, sugar cane fields of Australia, oil palm plantations of South East Asia, and the communal farms of Israel, the barn owl has proved to be a valuable asset in integrated pest management programs, sustainable agriculture, and organic farming. Join those who are using barn owls for natural rodent control and lower crop losses while reducing the amount of poisons entering the ecosystem. At the same time, help aid the conservation of this beautiful bird.
