Vulture Jesses

[eah31]

I know that vultures are not typical to falconry, but I figured I would consult people who know a lot more about equipment than me. I work at a facility which takes in rehabilitated raptors and uses them for educational programming. We have a Black Vulture who has been trained on the glove, and until now we have been using traditional leather jesses that stay on him all the time. Since vultures defecate and urinate on their legs though, this causes the leather to stiffen quickly and the feces becomes built up on the jesses, making them unable to rotate around and irritating the leg. We have tried removable anklets, but they have proven to be too removable; long story short, we were very thankful when the vulture coughed all the pieces back up. I thought about braided dacron jesses, but we have never used them before so aren't positive if we would end up with the same problem. Any suggestions?

[echotadog]

you may have the raptor handler at your facility look into Biothane as an anklet source for them .
It is a sterile polyvinyl that cleans easily and can be heat formed to work on most birds.
www.westernsporting.com/FE5003B/BioThane-RK-13-Anklet-Shaping-Kit_Custom-Long-lasting-Contoured-Anklets.html

It will clean easier than leather & won't rot .

[desertaire]

Will the Vulture stand while you put the jesses on it? If it does just put them on when picked up. If they must stay on then the Biothane may be the best answer.

[sadiehawk]

On both black and turkey vultures, I have used in the past regular kangaroo anklets but made them a little larger to allow for the mutes to pass through easier and would not get cake-ups. Now I do only use the biothane as anklets but still allow room for mute to run through. Love that the biothane will not shrink. For jesses, I use climbing rope for the past 15 years on them and never had any problems.

[Cryss]

On our Turkey Vulture, we have Biothane anklets on her with braided dacron jesses. The leather we used before become too dry and brittle too quickly. The dacron holds up very well.

[Bosshawk]

Would para-cord anklets and jesses be worth trying? They're supposed to hold up better than leather, And I would guess they are very low-maintenance as well.

[Cryss]

Paracord wouldn't be an ideal choice for an anklet. You want the anklet to have a larger surface area so it doesn't bother the bird's leg. Some people do use it for jesses and leashes though.

[Bosshawk]

Dec 25, 2014 11:00:11 GMT -5 Cryss said:

Paracord wouldn't be an ideal choice for an anklet. You want the anklet to have a larger surface area so it doesn't bother the bird's leg. Some people do use it for jesses and leashes though.

That makes sense. I don't have any prior experience as a falconer so I wouldn't know.  

[Cryss]

Asking questions is a great way to learn.

[echotadog]

Dec 25, 2014 11:00:11 GMT -5 Cryss said:

Paracord wouldn't be an ideal choice for an anklet. You want the anklet to have a larger surface area so it doesn't bother the bird's leg. Some people do use it for jesses and leashes though.

I'm not entirely sure this is an accurate statement .
Quite a few falconers use " rolled" or folded anklets that are a thin line against the birds tarsus without bothering the Hawks leg. Wide leather anklets are a preferred design , one for the fact they seem to work fine for a few thousand years ( tradition) and 2- when a hawk is restrained by its anklets and bating at the end of a secured leash , the material stretches , lessening the blow to the area on the tarsus ( as I assume CRYSS was referencing )

Paracord as an anklet would be problematic due to the material not being durable enough to securely restrain your hawk when tethered and could be problematic getting snagged or hung on small branches. The hawk could bite through the fabric, especially after some UV and weather exposure . There are some people using braided anklets now, I personally think that's a bad idea on a hunting hawk for most the reason I mentioned above.

Even with bio thane in use now, some falconers are claiming it's too rigid a material and has caused tarsus fractures in bating birds. So each material will have its cautions , as to why it's inportant to have a sponsor as part of this discussion, their opinion is the only one that should matter when it comes to these kinds of decisions .

[Bosshawk]

Dec 26, 2014 0:16:47 GMT -5 Cryss said:

Asking questions is a great way to learn.

I agree. Especially with the answers coming from en expert. 

[Cryss]

I take no claim in the expert title. I have learned a lot, but still have tons to learn.