Owl behavior... someone please help!

[Dayna]

Hi everyone, so I am not "new" to owls per se, I had them for years before I went on hiatus for a couple years and when I had them before I had absolutely no issues what so ever... ever. At my most I had eight in a single cage with two nests. I never had a single issue with any of them being aggressive or fighting with each other and they would all pile in one nest and sleep together. They were like a bunch of societies! I am assuming they were all females because none of them ever sang but none of them ever laid eggs either so I don't know what they were for sure. Maybe they were just weird... But I am new to this... fast forward to me getting owls again; I got what are supposed to be two pairs. I stuck them in a very large cage like I did with my previous owls and gave them a nest to sleep in and they start fighting and being aggressive with each other. Mostly it was three getting along fine and then one being picked on and left out. I read up about the behavior and it said to have three pairs together to avoid fighting so I removed the nest and the fighting stopped. Fast forward to just recently and I now have three owls (I believe my cat got to one in the night despite me leaving a light on for them to see She is now locked away from the birds at night but I digress) they have been showing a lot of nesting behavior so I gave them a nest and again the aggressiveness starts. This time I removed the aggressor and left the two that were getting along and now the two that were originally getting along are fighting! One of them is spending a ton of time in the nest so I'm assuming she's female while the male stays out and when he gets too close or even out of nowhere she will come out and chase him around and beat on him until he's crying out. Is this normal behavior? I really don't know what is going on with these guys. Should I take the male out that's in there now and replace him with the other male? Should I separate them all and see if they are all males? I have never had so many problems with owls before...

[Fraza]

Sounds strange you could change the whole cage around different perches different food pots waters etc and in the meantime have all the owls separated for about a week then put them all into the newly decorated cage at once that way there will be no territorial issues

[Fraza]

And welcome by the way

[monotwine]

Owls like to choose their own partner. You may find the hen likes the aggressive male and not the one you left in the cage. If you want them to breed, then just leave the one pair in the cage and remove the bird the hen has rejected.

[Dayna]

Thank you! I will try that and see what happens.

[Ellebee]

If you do not want to breed them then remove nests. I had a similar problem with my finches. I had an aviary with 3 Society and 4 Zebras then added 2 Gouldians. The zebras would case the Gouldians and the Society and Zebs would fight over nests. I felt bad removing nests because I thought they lied them and looked so adorable in them. But I took out all nests because I don’t want babies and everything is fine. In fact I feel guilty for not have taken them out sooner because now everyone is peaceful and they all groom each other. I even added 2 owls and 2 Combassous to the mix and still peaceful. I think the nests stressed them out because instict kicks in and one would always have to be in it and protecting. It’s nice to see all the different breeds grooming each other and no one is left out. You probably shouldn’t leave the rejected owl by himself because finch are so social and can get depressed if alone.
Good luck