Interior Barn Owl Nest Box

Barn owls often prefer to nest in buildings, but there often isn’t a space that is appropriate for them. Our Interior Barn Owl Nest Box is especially designed to be mounted inside buildings and barns to provide an ideal roost and nest site.

This barn owl box has a unique modular design which means each individual panel can be carried up the ladder separately then slotted into position. It’s a design we developed after several years of carrying heavy owl boxes up ladders then screwing the box to the wall or beam whilst at the same time positioning the box correctly and keeping hold of the ladder – not always the easiest or safest thing to do several metres above the ground, even with an assistant!

The Interior Barn Owl Nest Box is made from precision cut panels which all slot into one another requiring no tools to create a robust and secure box. The box comes with clear instructions and only takes a few minutes to slot it together once the back panel is secured to your wall, joist or beam.

The modular design also means that when we were designing the box, the usual limitation of the size and weight of the box (to make it is practical to carry and mount), became less important.  This allowed us to make a bigger box providing better accommodation for the barn owls. The box has a generous 46cm depth between the entrance hole and floor (key to stopping the young owlets leaving the box before they are ready) and a floor space of 50cm x 40cm. It also has a large landing platform for the owlets to exercise on before fledging.

Where to Site Your Interior Barn Owl Nest Box

The box can be easily mounted in a wide range of locations, on solid walls, horizontal and vertical beams and diagonal beams. The back panel, which is fixed first (then the other panels attached to this), comes pre-drilled with 15 holes making it very adaptable to a wide variety of situations. There are a few things to consider when deciding where to site your barn owl box inside a building:

The construction of the building doesn’t matter too much but it must have a permanently open access route for owls that cannot be accidently closed off, so barn owls can always fly in and out.

To improve the chances of barn owls finding and using your box try to position the box so the entrance hole of the box is visible to any barn owls flying into the building and the entrance to the building is also visible to passing barn owls.

The box should be positioned high up in the chosen building ideally at least 3m above the ground.

It’s best to site the box where there is not too much disturbance, although barn owls will tolerate some noise and activity if they have a nest box to hide in.

Cleaning & Maintenance

The roof of the box slides off to permit cleaning out and access. Barn owl boxes should be cleaned out periodically to stop the build up of nest debris which can effectively reduce the internal height of the box. Maintaining the internal height of the box is important to prevent the young owls from leaving the box before they are ready. If the box is just used by barn owls then cleaning it out every 2-3 years should be sufficient. However, if jackdaws have used the box we recommend cleaning the box out every year as they may have filled most of the box with sticks.

It is illegal to disturb nesting barn owls unless you have a license, so between November and January when no birds are present is the best time to clean out your nest box. It may take a while for barn owls to find and use your box, so please be patient! Even if they are not yet breeding you may find barn owls using the box for roosting.

Please note that Barn Owls are a Schedule 1 species and during the breeding season an occupied nest box should not be disturbed or inspected by anyone other than a licensed individual. Outside of the breeding season a licence is not required.

For details of how to put the interior barn owls box together please download the USER INSTRUCTIONS