Post
by cindy » Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:44 pm
I usually do not trade owls since I have about 18 offspring approximately 8 months old from two different clutches, mostly males.
Who did you buy your owls from and exactly how old are they? I am a bit leary of bringing in stock from other breeders unless I know their practices. Eaither your birds were to young to sex or the breeder did a visual and guessed.
My comment would be is to call the breeder and ask if you can make an exchange for a female since in good faith you bought what you thought was a pair.
Rule of thumb...owls should not be sold young, they are not like zebras who are mature at 3 months. Owls should be in all fairness to the buyer be mature enough to sex. They should not be bred until at least a year, I found with mine they did great at 1 1/2 to 2 yrs of age. If in doubt when you get them and suspect they are young, wait and let them go through a molt to see if the adult colors show. If a breeder ever tells you that a 3 month old or anything less than 6 is ready to breed keep in mind they are only in it for the $$$$$'s.
I hold onto mine to make sure the males sing and both sexes are in adult color and most importantly that they are not sold at a young age to someone who is told to wait until they are a year then turns around to breed them. And yes some breeders do make honest mistakes and sex olws wrong and sell what looks like a pair, it can happen. They are not easy to sex especially young, I have had a few that look male but turn out to be female closer to 8 months.
Liz has an excellent website on sexing owls (Liz...what can I say I love your site)
http://www.gardenessgardens.com/OwlSexing.html Spot on Liz!!!!
Zebra, Gouldians, Java, CBM Shaft tail & Grasskeets
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i have my first pair of goulds lay 3 eggs only one hatch 10 days later the mail started his mating dance and i could tell his not feeding the baby every time he went in becasuse the crying didnt stop like it would if he was trying to swallow and the female wouldnt go in the nest at all so i stuck my camara snap a picture and i saw he had very little food so i went to work at 9 am came back at 12:00 to check on it to see if i was gonna have to hand feed it and it was to late, they tossed it out, i found it dead, i was so sad i was really looking forward to see it soon out of the nest 
i hope it wasnt my fault . its been a week the lay to eggs already on a new very private nest i build with a camara ( i guess not to private) 
but at lease they only see me when i change there food and cleaning every Saturday wich i do on slow motion! 
