:)Here is a link to a photo which shows one corner of my hawk house foundation. The notes beneath the photograph explain the details of the image, including the requirements for hurricane zone 2 anchors.
Echoman, after having seen the pictures of your hawk house I consider this to be a real compliment from you. Thank you Your pics were a source of inspiration to me.
I still have a wee bit to go, but it's all downhill from here. The weather yesterday was foul, windy and raining, so no work on the mews. Today is sunny but cool and very windy. I'll have to see what the afternoon brings. Tomorrow should be better.
For the eagle-eyed among us you can see that I've used many of the ideas to the posts that I've made on this group. Thank you, one and all who helped me along the way. It was a long road. The window casings are 2"x8" (rough cedar) to which I can add screening for the summer mosquito problems and solid panels to keep out some of the cold wintry winds. The back wall is solid (no openings) and faces north which will help too. The floor has both a semi-permiable membrane and 1/2" square hardware cloth to keep the ground contouring shape and separate the sand from the pea gravel in addition to keeping out local, unwanted critters such as weasels, bobcats and coyotes. The bars are 1/2" EMT conduit which I will probably paint black next spring. I also went with the X-large bath pan from Western, and it looks as if I will never regret that decision. It is an extremely well thought out design for its dedicated purpose. I went with what cement finishers call "pea gravel" in this area which is different from what others apparently call "pea gravel". The reason was that it was washed and had no fines in it. The sizes of the smoothed rocks are 1/4"-3/4". The other material had a lot of fines and sand with the largest rocks being about 1/4". My concern with this was that the fines would wash down and cause a concretion when wetted which would inhibit drainage later. I believe that I made the right decision. My biggest problem will be to convince the grandkids that they cannot play in the gravel anymore as it is the hawk's house. That is not going to go over well In fact my wife and daughter have approached me already about building a small "gravel pit" somewhere in the backyard for the children to play in. They do like it - even more than sand
Right now I'm waiting to be contacted by the game warden who was assigned last week to inspect my mews. If I don't hear from him by 10 AM tomorrow I'm going to call their office to see if I can speak with him and get something set up ASAP. I know that they are understaffed, overworked and underpaid, but maybe I'll catch a break - I could use a couple With luck I could be out trapping Friday morning and have my HH in hand soon after the sun rises!
Good question! My original intent was to free loft. The first plan also had a larger footprint - 8'x12'; however, once the Housing Association had its say the location was moved from the side to the back of the house and the footprint reduced to 8'x10'. Then as I read more about Harris's hawks I found that the general concensus appeared to be to keep the HH tethered in the mews. So, that's where I'm at right now - tethering the HH in the mews.
If all goes well (if I can get the State to cooperate), I could be trapping my HH this Friday (weather forecast is excellent); otherwise, I'm looking at a mid-December trip and doing a lot of praying between now and then for good weather as that is not the best part of the season for good weather.
Yes, initially I will have just the single floor perch - no other perches at all.
Free lofting will still be an option, but the opinion of one of the most highly respected HH breeders is that they should be tethered all of the time. I'll go that route to see what happens.
Cliff. J. “May the best you’ve ever seen, Be the worst you’ll ever see,” From A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay
Post by Falcon Boy on Nov 29, 2011 13:33:42 GMT -5
I think there are pro's and con's to both, that's why I was curious. Personally I prefer to tether during the hawking season and free loft during the moult.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
As I'm waiting for my mews inspection I've been changing a few trim details - making it look a wee bit better, I hope. I'll try to get some painting done in the next 2 days and take a photo to show the progress.
Cliff. J. “May the best you’ve ever seen, Be the worst you’ll ever see,” From A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay
OK, thanks, consider it done. I won't take any chances. I've been so careful up to this point to build my mews as "user friendly" as possible that it would be foolish to get careless now. As I take down the siding on one side at a time to paint I can jury-rig something for that particular wall for a week without any problem. Today I made a slight change to the right side of the mews and cut the final 3 pieces of trim.
Talk about timing - the game warden called late this afternoon and set up an appointment to inspect my mews tomorrow at approximately 10 AM. We'll email the results into Austin where Megan who handles the permits will be ready to send me my license via email as soon as she receives my mews inspection report. With luck I may get to go trapping this weekend
Not that its any of mine (or anyone elses) business other than yours and your sponsor but I personally would not free loft your Hawk untill you have it well manned and settled. Keep it in the GH until your free flying it.
The last thing you need is dull tallons because it destroyed them trying to get out of your mews.
In my limited experiance it also helped keeping my hawks in the house and then moving them to the weathering area during daylight hours. It will stabalise weight as well as help with manning.
By the way go my copy of "On the Wing" Nice right up Cliff
The building of the exterior of my mews is finished, and it passed the State inspection this morning The painting and the interior will be done soon - just not today or this weekend as, with luck, we trap tomorrow.
Steve, I'm going to make good use of the GH. I will be using operant conditioning and could have the HH settled in the first day. I'll be playing it by ear, of course
Of course I know better than to claim that my mews is really "finished" as I've heard enough falconers say that they modify and improve theirs a wee bit almost every year. Perhaps saying that my mews is "ready for occupancy" would be a better way to put it
My wife says that several hawks and a golden eagle have been checking out my progress on the "Hawk Condominium" as I've been building it. The grandkids even made a "For Rent" sign for it. The neighbors think it's hillarious...that's OK as long as I have the last laugh