Hi everyone! So I moved in my new country house a month ago and I am now ready to start working on the mews... I intend to transform a big shed into a mews and add a weathering area juste beside. If you could give me some input and opinions here, as I am a no-brainer when it comes to construction and there are no falconer around to help me on that one... You know I appreciate it a lot!
Okay! So here are the outside pictures, from the front and back of the shed. As you can see there are no vent hole in the top. In the winter it gets down to -40 celsius here so I'm not sure if I really want a lot of ventilation, but what would be the minimum to do?
The shed is on cement blocks, 4 inches away from the ground. I intend to put holes in the floor to promote drainage.
Oh yeah and the backside of the shed face the south. The weatherings would be on the east side.
The windows I can remove them in the summer and replace them by mosquito screen, with vertical bars inside the mews. The mews itself will be in the area of the 3 windows. Oh yes the magnificient curtains are going to the dump! lol ;D
Last Edit: Jan 10, 2007 15:39:38 GMT -5 by kitana8
OK, now the inside. I will remove all the shelves, put Coroplast on the walls and put a wall (bottom half in corplast, bottom top vertical bars, like in a horse stall?) just after the last window to seperate the working area from the mews. Vertical bars in front of the windows. The mews itself will be 12 x 20 and the working area 8 x 20. Eventually if someday I want another bird I could put a partition and have 2 10 x 12 mews.
There will be water proof vernish on the floor and I'll use rubber mats in the mews.
What do you think of the lights? they are unbreakable and moveable, they just kindof hang there, but I'm afraid the bird could crash into them. Should I replace them with fluorescent lights?
And I want to put the weatherings at the far end of the mews, so I would be able to enter the weathering directly from the mews with the bird.
1) Is the ventilation enough? How to improve it? 2) What about the light exposure? I cannot open the roof, and even if I could, in the winter it is covered in snow. 3) Are the lights dangerous? 4) erhm I forgot the other ones but they wil come...!
Post by HawkingRage on Nov 19, 2006 17:00:07 GMT -5
LOOKS VERY GOOD Ventalation- I would put in windows on both sides this way in your summers you have lots of cross winds. Lights- the windows should take care of that, it is cool to have lights in there but i dont know how useful it will be except for those days you go out there in the winter and the sun is down early. I guess as long as they dont attract the bird then they should be ok..
id conciter myself lucky. you got a great foundation to work from. i am very envious.
Thanks, I will surely keep you posted. I can't wait to start working in there, there are just not enough weekends for this! lol But I wanna see the downfalls and possible errors before committing them.
some people getr all the luck. I live in western Canada our winters get cold as well , not as cold as yours but we get 40 below from time to time. Being that you have power in there you can also heat the mew, bonus if you end up with on of the warm climate birds. If you have a good weathering then opening the roof isn't needed. In stall a bathroom fan hooded up to a dehumiditstat than put in some air inlet vents. Humidity seems to be the biggest danger with any mew set up. you also have the option of keeping all your food in there put in a freezer and cutting table, scales everything can be kept right there. you are so lucky. Chris.
Wow Chris and Rage thanks for your comments, it just makes me feel more excited about this project... At first I felt like an idiot, trying to build a mews from a shed without any experience of what a good mews is, but now you make me feel like it's the right thing to do...
Yes I want to put a freezer right in there, with the scale, all the equipment, maybe a radio or a little TV to desensitize the bird to human noises while I'm away at work. I may keep the shelves that are alongside the western wall, they are ugly but very strong and sturdy (so strong I'm wondering how the hell I'm gonna remove them! lol). I prefer to go with a red tail has they are not afraid of cold at all, I would feel very bad if I were to loose a harris hawk during the winter, assured death for the poor thing... I've read that captive bred red tails were difficult birds compared to HH or passage RT, but my mind is set. Just have to decide wether I want a male or a female! lol
Post by HawkingRage on Nov 22, 2006 11:49:07 GMT -5
bigger is good but not nessesarily better. sometimes id rather have agility vs braun. my tiercel will handle anything most of these females will with exception to a large jack. coarse he may be an exception who knows.
Post by Master Yarak on Nov 22, 2006 16:19:19 GMT -5
As you may know, about 5-6 months out of the year the sexual organs of raptors dehydrate. They stop producing hormones, to save on weight. This obviously happens during the fall and winter. Really, despite all the talk there is not a great difference between the sexes of RTs. Anything one sex can catch so can the other. My bird is just slightly bigger than the average, more important is her attitude and hunting prowess. That comes with time and many slips. Almost any RT can reach this point with the same opportunities. I chose a female because it was recommended to me for hunting fox squirrels NOT because they were more proficient or in some way better. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
Yarak, Do you have access / hunt more fox squirrel than you do grey squirrel & is this through choice. By that I mean do you have to travel to hunt fox squirrel ?
Yarak use to live in Texas were there where more Fox squirrel than Greys. Now he lives in S.C, so I belive he has about the same hunting habitat and game as we do manok.
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Looks like you have an EXCELLENT building to work with. Personally i kinda like the lights, if you ever get a HH they will come in handy.
What do you mean about the HH? Will they be able to change the bulbs if they burn...?
About the bird's sex, I seriously have no preference at all! the game here is mainly grouse and snowshoe hares, which I think both sexes can take without troubles. Our biggest squirrels are as big as a chipmunk so... I heard that captive bred females had the tendency of becoming very agressive toward the falconer as they age, and that may be the only factor that would make me chooe a male over a female...
Will start working in there on sunday. I plan to start up by putting the shelves down, and then put varnish on teh floor and coroplast on the walls... Is there some primal step that I am forgetting about? Don't wanna miss something! lol