How to tell if a hood fits

[Deleted]

Is a hood too large if your bird is able to get it off by scratching? I have a female red-tail and the new hood I got for her seems to fit perfectly around her beak. However, she scratches at it a lot and after enough time she is able to scratch it completely off. Does this mean its too big or too small? The signs of irritation point to too small, but being able to get it off points to too loose. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Falcon Boy]

Do you have leather or gore-tex braces? I've heard that leather braces tend to loosen when the bird scratches at it, thus allowing her to get the hood off. Gore-tex braces don't tend to loosen up like that though.

[Deleted]

It has gortex braces. It's the Anglo-Indian red-tail hood from Mikes Falconry Supplies. I'm wondering if its a size issue or if my red-tail has just figured out how to work the braces loose by scratching at them.

[Deleted]

Here's a link with some pictures of Maya in the hood
imgur.com/a/YSZpj

I haven't noticed wet spots but I haven't looked inside the hood either. I'll keep an eye out for that

[Deleted]

it needs a little trim on top of the mouth below the eyes, the back looks a little big as if its wrapped over itself.

[Deleted]

It might be too big then. I have a smaller hood that was made for a large male RTH. The back of the hood fits her better but the opening isn't quite big enough and covers some of the gape. I'm considering trimming the opening so it fits her, but I'm afraid I might wreck the hood entirely.

[RobDeegan]

It may be an optical illusion but the throat strap looks loose. In any case, if she can't get the hood off, then you can leave the throat strap as is.

[RobDeegan]

Sorry, just saw your original post. Given that she can scratch it off, I definitely think a smaller or modified hood is required. In my (limited) experience of hooding RTs, they don't scratch at a well-fitted hood. My current RT does not like to be hooded. She dodges and weaves and makes it quite difficult for me. However, once it's on she pulls a leg up and goes to sleep. Maybe I can post some photos.

[Falcon Boy]

Hi Rob, nice to see you posting again. Let me know if you have any issues posting photos.

[chrismt89]

Before you try trimming any thing on the hoods try wetting the inside slightly and rolling out the edge of the beak opening so it flairs out some. I agree with Rob as well birds tend to leave well fitting hoods alone so I would look to a bad fit at some spot on the bird some times the beak opening pushes into their face w/o the flair and a simple fix like that makes a huge difference.