My hen was trapped sharp at about 39 oz. I've been feeding her really well while still being able to train her up. She's pretty much trained and ready to hunt and is sittin empty at 44ish ounces. She is always hungry though and has always done something for her food whether its jump ups, creance flights, lure training. I give her lean beef tidbits and a whole 6 week old quail everyday. She'll fly 75ft + for every bit. I keep thinking she's getting fat but then seems really responsive with 1-3 second response times consistently. I'm thinking about feeding her more to get her so fat she won't want to train then slowly cut her back. I just don't want to fly her at 44 when she'll do just as good at 49-50.
Post by profalconer on Oct 27, 2009 11:33:33 GMT -5
Get her instant and start hunting, I don't know why she needs to go up even more before you even have her off the creance. Bringing her weight up without vigorous excercise from hunting is only going to hurt her physical conditioning. The faster you get them hunting the better.
Why keep uping her weight? 1-3 seconds on creance isn't instant. She should be coming to you before you call. I've always waited until they wouldn't let me get 50 feet from them. I've only seen 1 or 2 birds that hunted well in the weight range you're talking about. Also the type of Quail you feed and if it's skinned or not (fat) makes a huge difference. The hunting fields and training fields are very different enviorments and the bird will act differently at the same weight. Kurt
Post by dirthawker on Oct 27, 2009 17:39:15 GMT -5
yes they are right instant doest mean that you are waiting for her for a sec or 2. instant is glove up bird is on its way befor you get the glove from your side. also you can also raise the weight with hunting. I do that with all my birds you catch game and try hard for it you get a raise in weight. it depends on the size of bird how much I do. you are just setting your self up to lose the bird by raising the birds weight on the training field she knows what this is all about.
Curious. What do you mean by 'sharp'? Very underweight? What weight do you think she should be for her size?
She is always hungry though and has always done something for her food whether its jump ups, creance flights, lure training. I give her lean beef tidbits and a whole 6 week old quail everyday. She'll fly 75ft + for every bit.
I'd check for worms if she's always hungry. A whole quail fed everyday (plus tids) would normally pack on weight rather fast, and quickly bring a hawk to a point where she wouldn't respond at all.
I'm thinking about feeding her more to get her so fat she won't want to train then slowly cut her back. I just don't want to fly her at 44 when she'll do just as good at 49-50.
I've done that with a couple of hawks to find their top non-response weight, and then reduced them to instant response weight. No harm done, IMO, except it did delay my first outing with them a couple of weeks. If you're okay with that...
... I'd check for worms if she's always hungry. A whole quail fed everyday (plus tids) would normally pack on weight rather fast, and quickly bring a hawk to a point where she wouldn't respond at all.
I missed that. Yes, I'd have her checked for worms. I usually treat wild caught for worms and cocci as standard so I didn't notice.
If she is taking 2-3 seconds you are just about at non-response.