Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Ooby
Ancient Member Warning: 50% For Vulgaritey and Profanity
Post by BlueTiercel on Jan 19, 2005 14:38:42 GMT -5
My thought was to put lemon juice on the anklets..something sour or bitter that the little guy wont want to taste..but obviously you dont want to make the anklets crusty and hardened and i don;t know what lemon juice would do to em...also, not a good idea if the guy has any cuts or abrasions.
"every dream you keep inside, another part of you has died"
Ooby
Ancient Member Warning: 50% For Vulgaritey and Profanity
also, once the bird gets into routine, it should calm down. and as long as he cant bite them off, it will be an unreinforced behaviour and hopefully will go away.
BT, I had this problem with a bird only it was biting off scales and pulling feathers too. I tried Vinigar as per the vets suggestion to no avail. I would say that your best bet is to find some stout equipment to put on her that can't be chewed off as easily(ie. Heavy thick leather). Then when she finally calms down, trade it out to a normal set of anklets. My best guess....
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Oops, Sorry Ooby. I didn't see that you posted the same....
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Post by BlueTiercel on Jan 20, 2005 10:51:37 GMT -5
Yeah those posts sound like ood advice though i think he told me the tiercel had actually chewed right through at least one of them. so on to thicker leather..or something..you can make those thing seasy enough right? i have no idea, leather and some rivtety thing...(huge newbie sign over head.)
"every dream you keep inside, another part of you has died"
Post by Falcon Boy on Jan 20, 2005 15:14:40 GMT -5
seems i was in a bad mood and forgot to describe exactly what happens lol. Sorry. Anyways, what he does is A) Pull the jesses as far as he can to the swivel on both sides, and B) keeps pulling on the anklets until the grommets go through the leather. I am trying to find new grommets but its hard to find them the right size
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
If you have the bird tethered to the perch and it is a new bird it will do that in an effort to escape the restraints. Every new bird I ever had also did that even if they were not tethered to the perch, after a while they will stop and only at times pull on the anklets. Another thing to keep in mine is dry anklets that need oiled, and using any type of oil that might have a harsh chemical solution base, such as petroleum bases. Sometimes oils will cause a burning effect on the birds if the anklets have made any rub marks.
Alot of kestrel hawkers as well as merlin and sharpy hawkers don't use grommets or eyelets on the anklets. If the leather you use for the anklets are high enough quality, baste them in jess grease or lanolin and stick in the microwave just long enough for it to soak in but not burn, i usually nuke for about 10 seconds at a time. They should be so impregnated with it that they look like rubber instead of leather. I learned that from a very highly respected master up here that has not steered anyone wrong yet. If you use the Y swivel set up you shouldn't have any problems not using grommets. I don't use the Y set up I have a hard enough time with one of those little coastlocks I don't want to have to deal with two. But then she doesn't chew on her equipment at all, she pulled a bit at first, but never chewed. Good luck!
any ideas how to get him to stop?
any ideas how to get him to stop?
My best guess....
Next time he does it, i will try without the eyelets, thanks for the input everyone!