Tether vs freeloft?

[Ooby]

Yes.

In fact we trapped a bird last weekend for another apprentice and she had quite a few bite marks, and the most recent one was still bleeding.

I once heard a falconer describe a falconry birds living conditions as "Country Club Living." Ive always aspired to make mine into that.

[BubbaGum]

Well I agree and disagree. Agree falconry birds in most cases wont have stuff to hurt feet(nails, thorns, etc....) But they also have a collection of mutes that an injured foot could step in. Once trapping we had the same scenario were a redtail had a pretty nasty bite but was clean so we released it. 2 weeks later the bird was trapped again and the bite was heelded perfectly. Sometimes without thinking mews material can make a foot soft.

[alex2]

I Tether, Alot of the reasons are the same as Bob's.
Also, I can hold 3 birds in there at one time, instead of building 3 seperate mews. For those that do not have weathering area's I understand why you keep your birds free lofted but in my case the mews are my protected sleeping area. And if there's nasty weather thats where she go's.

[Reil]

During the molt I free loft, but when I start training I like to keep the bird tethered.

[sully]

I like the ease of free lofting. I have double doors and perches next to barred windows. I get a kick out of a sharp-set bird jumping around the mews as I approach with anticipated food. "Thump, Thump, Thump".
I have padded Astro-turf shelf perches and a round dowel corner perch, also padded.
Down side. Some RTs get goofy during the molt as they are fed up and not kept at hunting weight. Interior of mews MUST be proofed. No exposed anything to catch or cut the bird.
Falconry = Murphy's Law squared.

As always...my opinion, nothing more.

[Weasel]

I agree with the whole Murphy's law scenario....It's my last name.....

[chris]

For a fact I don't know if they have problems but then again they are free to mve around choose many different perches. The perches have a greater exposure to the sun and rain,and the birds are not encumbered with jesses swivels and tether lines.
Personally I have mainly natural perches with the exception of my table perch which has a carpeted edge.
my bird is free lofted , now I believe if you are going to teather your bird then the perches should be covered mostly because she not changing perches the covering helps keep the feet clean and give you bird some thing to work her foot into. Main reason for not teathering had to do with getting her from a rehab and the habits that where already formed. Also I don't like the idea of keeping the bird for extented length of time on the same diameter od perch I has three different sizes in my mew from 3/4 of an inch to flat.

[Riker]

about the perch stuff. naturally perches like logs and sticks can be bad for you bird. in the wild the bird dosnt sit on the same perch for 12+ hours a day. Both my falconry birds and the rehab birds we use sisal rope and astro turf on all perches bc the natural perches will cut the feet then that leads to buble foot if your not carefull.

[Beibhan]

The Kestrel is tethered to his ring perch in the house. If he does well he may get free lofted in the room later. I'm told Kestrels tend to bang around too much when they are free lofted but I've also read of some that get so tame they are house pets as well as hunters.

When/if I get a RT later I'd like to be able to free loft. The RT I "birdsat" was free lofted and she did fine. She had 2 perches, 1 with astroturf, 1 with bandage wrap/ astroturf combo and her portable bow perch next to her bath pan. She did great.

My experience with tethered birds is that if they cannot see out of a window but can see the window they may bate hard at it. I've seen some creative tethering systems, trolley types to allow multi perching, window sitting while still being tethered. And yes I've also seen birds tie themselves up badly.

[LeeSlikkers]

I currently free-loft my RT and have done so since I manned her down. I have noticed that her talons are becoming dull from what appears to be her love of jumping up and hanging/sliding down the conduit window bars. Anyone every have this and what can possibly be done to stop this odd behavior. She has 3 perches to choose from but still dot the jump/slide gig and even occasionally jumps/fly’s into the ceiling above the window smacking her head…not hard but enough to make me wince.

Lee Slikkers
Apprentice

[Minca]

Hmmm, that is definately a problem, though I can't imagine that is what's dulling her talons. I would look into other reasons that may be happening.
If it were me in that scenario, what i would do is find something to put outside the windows that will allow light in but not allow her to see outside, like that corrigated pvc stuff that people use to make lean-to's. Otherwise, i would be tempted to tether her a little longer. Is she hunting or just manned down? I've "heard" it is best to not freeloft until the the bird is hunting. Everybody has their owns ideas, though.
Good luck and definately let us know what you do.
Michelle

[LeeSlikkers]

Well, she is manned down like a kitten and has been hunting for over 2 months...I can touch her feet and do dang near anything I need to as far as handling her but she has developed a bizarre habit of jumping up into the window frame/ceiling and occasionally grabbing and sliding down the conduit bars. Maybe your idea of an opaque covering over the windows would be ok but I would be a bit concerned about ait flow in the mew.

Thanks for the help~

Lee

[Bob Dale]

Yep, i had the same problem. I covered the windows and sky light with coroplast for about a month and that did the trick. The talons were dulled when she was tethered due to bating off the perch into the pea gravel. I covered the pea gravel with astroturf and ended that problem, too.

[Master Yarak]

Not what you want to hear but bear with it. As you drop the birds weight desperation sets in. The energy that the bird spends jumping around will be spent hunting as soon as possible. If its not hungry it should still waiting. If its hungry it is motivated to get out and eat. This period will be the most difficult but as soon as you get her going that will stop.
Yarak

[Minca]

LeeSlikkers said:

Maybe your idea of an opaque covering over the windows would be ok but I would be a bit concerned about ait flow in the mew.

Thanks for the help~

Lee

mounting slightly away like with chunks of 2x4 in the corners would solve that i would think, but heed Yaraks advise first. He has WAY more RT experience to go on.