Before my teircel RT Deuce understood where his food was coming from, he was tethered with a long enough leash to regain his perch from a bate. I did feed in the mews, but did not present food to him right away when I entered. I made a point of "fiddling" around with scales, etc. This was to let him know to come at my bidding not his. Worked with him.
Just before I released him, I fattened him up. He was a superb mouser anyway. He got a bit wild being free lofted and responded slowly as I expected.
I have a security system I "installed" 6years ago. God have mercy on the four legged critter that comes into my Siberian Huskey's fenced back yard. I've picked up big, adult cats, one red fox and several crows. Neighborhood dogs circle our yard wide. She will lick the freckles off a small child's face...loves people. Funny thing, she accepted the hawk as belonging and not to be attacked. This is not an adorsement of the breed. They have more issues than I care to go into here. Hawk feeding time would find us walking to the mews. The bird would hear us approach and announce his exitement by thumping from perch to perch.
For all you falconer who free loft a RT in the mews. I got a call from a falconer today who had his RT freelofted. He walked into the chamber and fed the RT a couple of dead chicks. As he was leaving the chamber, he turned around and the RT hit him right in the face with feet and talons extended. One of the talons went into the white of his eye and into the tearducks. He was rushed to the hospital and fortunately for him, he will still be able to see from his eye. Over the years I have free lofted many birds, but, by far the worst is a RT. They are even more agressive than the golden I have now. I have been on the victim side of a RT attack myself, thinking that I could trust a RT that was cropped up and tame as could be. I was hit in the leg and got a couple of nice puncture wounds out of it. I have another friend that is one of the best falconers I know that was hit in the face several years ago by a RT in the mews. If you freeloft, don't ever think that RT won't come after you, no matter how tame or cropped up you think it might be.
Yes they are door rushers at the very best when free lofted. Things have gotten "sketchY" a few times with me, to say the least. Luckily i have never had anything major happen. Im glad your friend can still see.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Well, I will say one thing....NEVER FEED IN THE MEWS!!!!! RT's are food very very "friendly" persons more than any other falconry bird I have seen and they will try to get it by any means neccissary. Feeding int the mews simply causes them to think they can bully more food out of you.....again, NEVER FEED THEM IN THE MEWS!!!! The one exception to this would be via a feeding chute that the bird does not associate with you.
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."
Thanks for the tip Weasel. I always fed my kestrel in the mews. Of course they really can't hurt you. This year I'm getting a rt. One thing I learned is that if your bird is not quite manned and you free-loft your bird it will both fly away from you, and revert back to the wild. I would walk in and she would be wilder than all get out and be non-responsive.
I plan on making my bird freelofted, that would be unfair to the bird to be tied down, AND eliminate the need for such a large cage. That is, unless the bird bates so much that there is a danger to the bird, then i'd tether, but eventually i'd hope to be able to free loft it.
Wolf. the birds to do that, must not let their wings touch the sides.. OR the other birds i bleive.. so itd still be a big mew.. but yes true.. you could safetly house 3-6 birds...
more likely 3.. unless u have another 3 illegaly
anyway.. i plan on having the bird free lofted in both weathering and mews... or at least if the sponsor agrees its a good idea. and i will only do that after the bird is chill, lol aka.. not trying to fly away from me etc.
Wolf. the birds to do that, must not let their wings touch the sides.. OR the other birds i bleive.. so itd still be a big mew.. but yes true.. you could safetly house 3-6 birds...
One thing I have learned with a redtail is never turn your back on the bird even in the mews. Captive bred are worse but sounds like the passage birds can develop the agression trait to. Is it territorial like an eagle?
And i never feed in the mews when I'm in there. It's his territory and if food is inside, I'm not. That includes feeding on the glove. Remove the bird to someplace where he can't see you put food inside then return the bird. Makes the bird a door rusher to get in rather than out.
The idea is that there is food available on the way in and never on the way out. Not always but enough of the time that the bird looks for food in the way in. Also hoping that if he is let out by an anti and goes to sit in a tree, I can put food inside and he should fly in to get it.
For me, I'm free lofting.
One day a week I will be collecting the bird. Tether on the bow perch on the lawn with the dog wanderiing around while I do a clean up. The food will be in the mews when he is returned.
One day a week I will feed on the glove.
The other days food will go through a flap. He will know I'm there but I'm not on the inside. Again the idea is that he will believe I am associated with the food arriving. The feeding flap is on the opposite side to the door so that if I come out and go to the side with the feeding flap he will be looking for food on that side and I can go in with out the bums rush.
In my opinion {not worth much} you should tether your bird if you are just becoming an apprentice. You will be just learning about the sport of falconry and this will be your first bird. I am not putting anyone down when I say this, but, you just don't know enough about your bird to start off by freelofting. Its nice to have the thought that it is better or fair for the bird, but, that hasn't really been proven. It certainly hasn't hurt or affected all the birds that have been tethered over the many years that falconry has been practiced. When you go to the falconry meets, all the birds are tethered and none seem to be greatly affected by it. Just my opinion.
I'm with RPTRLVR. I have Catch on a cable line system in her weathering area and I was planning to free loft her when in her mews, but decided against that. When I have to put her in the mews, which so far has only been on really cold nights, I just tether her to her portable bow perch. The mews window is still blocked off, so she is quiet until I put her outside the nest morning. But, like I said, 95% percent of the time she is in her weathering are on the zip line. It's kind of like "Free Lofting Lite". She's got a hawk house over one perch and tehn an exposed perch 12' away. I have had absolutely no feather damage and her talons stay nice and sharp. I do however feed her in the weathering area, and she has bum rushed me a time or two. But since she's tethered to the zip line there is no foul. -Joe -
I'm with RPTRLVR. I have Catch on a cable line system in her weathering area and I was planning to free loft her when in her mews, but decided against that. -Joe -
Joe, just wonder why did you decide against it, was it from experiences or advise of others
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