Our Time with Owls: Orphaned

I told her I would watch her puppy if she couldn't find anyone else. The following week she called to say we were the ones. 

"Could you watch the owls too?" my friend asked. "Two babies have hatched and four eggs are left."

I did feel a certain amount of mothers' responsibility; after all, we had made them orphans.

The previous week my husband had been cleaning out our weathered grain elevator. While traveling up the man-lift, he noticed a heavy chain swinging above him. A giant bird swooped around him and then down the aged shaft. Arriving at the dusty top, he was surprised to find eight oval eggs, smaller than chicken eggs, scattered on the floor without the safety or comfort of a nest. He scooped up the eggs and made his way down again.

Dropping one of the eggs, my husband and the man working with him watched as the egg spilled the secrets of the embryonic owl. While Dwight brought an egg home to show our kids, the other man was intent on rescuing the remaining eggs and gave them to my friend who had an egg incubator.

So, when I was asked to babysit the owls, I felt compelled to take them. Feeling like handling a puppy was in itself going to be a stretch, in the back of my mind I reasoned the owls would be a wonderful homeschool project and teaching tool in the development of owls.

The embryonic owl

Disclaimer: I am only following instructions given to me by the owner of the owls. I am not a bird expert nor do I have expertise in caring for birds.