Astro turf is Fine but nor really neccisary. It just means that you will have to remove the tuft quite often to clean it. Pea gravel is perfectly safe for them unless you are planning to teather them out on a perch instead of free lofting.
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."
Do you have a bird that sits on astro turf? Astro turf has never "dulled" the talons of my bird. IMO it should be used for ALL perches. I have not used any others materials so I can't give an opinion on them but, I do know that neither of my birds developed any foot problems or dull talons as a direct result of astro turf. By simply looking at a bird standing on astro turf you can see that it cushions the foot and distributes the weight evenly across the pads. This in itself can prevent Bumblefoot. On what basis,webdaemon, do you base your assumtions that astro turf dulls talons?
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 Master Yarak on Jul 20, 2004 9:06:46 GMT -5
Web, Your youth has been showing in some of your recent posts. Experience is the best teacher. Astro turf has never caused dull talons in anyone's bird I have known. It CAN be easily cleaned. I use a stiff brush and pressure nozzel on my garden hose. You can bleach it too if you are careful. It lasts a long time unless your bird picks it. If you experience dull talons you need to investigate other causes. IMO 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
Post by PiousDesperado on Jul 22, 2004 1:08:15 GMT -5
I'm a retired falconer right now -- waiting for my career to open up some time for me to return to it. Until then, I'm designing the perfect mews in my head. But my first one was pretty great. The house my parents bought when I was very young had a sort of club house in the back yard. Just meant to be a kids' fort or something, but it converted to the perfect mews! It was 12'x12'x7'. It just looked like a little house. The door faced west, with a 1'x1' screen above it. Then there was a 2'x3' sliding glass window on the right (south) side and a 1.5'x2' sliding glass window on the east. To the left was a loft bed frame. Modifying it to be a mews was simple. I rehung the door to open out. I hung a curtain inside of that to act as a sort of vestibule. I covered the floor with a real rough section of stadium Astoturf. It was easily pulled out and hosed down. I covered the bunk with long-leaf Astroturf. This became sort of an enormous block perch. I barred all the windows and mounted a fan on the vent over the doorway. I used rope-wrapped dowels to make different perches in the shade and in the sun, high and low. Under the bunk I kept a heater for winter and an electric cooler -- so I didn't have to keep raptor food in my poor mother's kitchen. I was lucky. Since the structure already existed, I could focus my time and money on creating a very comfortable safe mews.
Post by Master Yarak on Jul 22, 2004 3:06:30 GMT -5
Sounds like it worked well. Anything that is made of glass scares me a little. If the bird can possibly reach it it will. Broken glass in the birds feet or legs would be a bad thing. Believe it or not birds do not have high levels of coagulators in their blood like mamals do. Bleeding out is not uncommon if the wound is deep enough. Let us know how its progressing. My apprentice just finished his double mew (impressed I was) maybe he can give you some tips he is called Iamtheweasel. 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
Post by PiousDesperado on Jul 22, 2004 22:36:07 GMT -5
Very intereting about the coagulation problem birds have. I hand't heard that. I think there's about 4" of empty space between my bar assemblies and my windows, but I'll defitely keep that in mind for the next mews I build. Heh. You reminded me of this kid in my dorm last year. one of his buddies convinced him to go get his tongue pierced. Well, we didn't find out 'til later, but that wimp took a friggin' handful of Aspirin before going to the parlor. Lo and behold, the kid wouldn't stop bleeding, and passed out almost immediatley. the story ends with him in the E.R., stuffed with gauze, getting adrenaline injections. Maybe raptors would scab over better if they'd lay off the Aspirin! ;D
Post by PiousDesperado on Jul 25, 2004 21:29:56 GMT -5
Nah. They were at the mall. The hot piercer-chick saw him gushing, and the first thing she asked was how many Aspririn he'd taken. He said, "Three." B.S., dude! I saw that handful. You'd think he was going in to have his tongue amputated. Still, though, a non-aspirin painkiller would have been more sensical... Some folks just don't know the properties of simple over-the-counter drugs. F.Y.I.: Aspirin thins your blood!
I'm sorry if this has been mentioned before, but you should not worry about that yet. When you become an apprentice with a sponsor, you sponsor will instruct you on how to build a mew, also a weathering area. All you must worry about is getting the books for an apprentice... look for the books at www.calhawkingclub.org... i know you live in kentucky, but go to Apprentice>Reading they have a list of stuff that is helpful. Also you will need to buy: One complete set of Aylmeri Jesses (anklets, grommets, removable straps), On swivel of acceptable design, one leash, a bath contaner, an out door perch of acceptable design, and a reliable weighing scale (accurate to .5 ounce)..... I have found all these items at www.northwoodsfalconry.com