Eyass Red Shoulder

[sevristh]

As some of you know, I have an interest (ok, maybe obsession is the word) with pulling an eyass red shoulder next year once I earn my General classification.

Right now, raising an eyass would be easier given that I am on 3rd shift and could take the bird to work with me without garnering a lot of attention. Unfortunately, next month I will be moving to 1st shift, probably permanently. This raises the question of whether it would be possible to raise an eyass hawk while working a 40 hr per week job in which I could not take the bird with me to work.

Have any of you raised an eyass under these circumstances? Is there any way to do it? Did you see any negatives/positives from it?

Right now I am just trying to get as much info as possible and weighing all the options. I am also looking at possibly changing jobs because as I get older, I realize what's really important

Also, please refrain from "RS's are worthless!" posts. We can discuss that in another thread

[Jimmy]

Don't waste your time, Dave......

[Zarafia]

I would say that with a 40hr a week job that you cannot take the baby to, you should not try to raise an eyass. Best- case scenario you end up with a screamer. There would be no way for you to keep fresh food in front of her.
Get your priorities in order man.
I actually love the redshouldereds around here. I have a pair that hunt around my barn when the redtail pair are elsewhere. We had horrible rain here yesterday (2in) all day long. When I went out to feed my horses late afternoon a perfectly dry redshouldered hawk flew out of the barn. Pretty smart to be brave enough to stay in the barn with the horses while it was pouring.
I get the feeling they are very good at hunting rodents and snakes.

[sevristh]

My thoughts on the feeding were possibly an automatic feeder that would dump food out at a set time. I had considered this just in general for the fact of keeping food association from becoming a problem. But then, even if it's only being fed ever four hours, the food is still four hours old if I put it in before I leave for work.

Again, not trying to force the issue at all, just trying to ascertain my options.

How often do eyass' need to be fed at first? Anyone have some general data? Does it vary from species to species? I imagine it would have to given size and maturation time differences.

[tacatanach]

My thoughts on the feeding were possibly an automatic feeder that would dump food out at a set time. I had considered this just in general for the fact of keeping food association from becoming a problem. But then, even if it's only being fed ever four hours, the food is still four hours old if I put it in before I leave for work.

Again, not trying to force the issue at all, just trying to ascertain my options.

How often do eyass' need to be fed at first? Anyone have some general data? Does it vary from species to species? I imagine it would have to given size and maturation time differences.

It will depend on how old the eyas is. I got my peregrine at 18 days and he was given more food as soon as he was finished with the previous plate which took anywhere from a few minutes- for example after he woke up from a nap to over an hour. As he got bigger and was eating more food in a sitting the lenght between feedings increased, but this was over the period of a month or so.

Feeding isnt the only reason they need you around. They rely on you to keep them at the right temperature- they can over heat super easily, that was always my biggest worry was keeping Cal cool enough. Plus you really need to spend a ton of time with them- sticking them in a box or whatever for 8+ hrs a day while you go to work isn't such a good idea. Cal was with me pretty much 24 x 7 for the first couple months I had him. I went to work he went to work. I went to my friends for dinner, Cal came too. Movies, meetings, parties, the liquor store he went everywhere. This constant exposure to people and things is what makes an imprint turn out right- theyve seen it all and take it all in stride so nothing to be scared of later. I only got 2 nights off during the first two months- my little sister is amazing with birds and agreed to bird sit while I got an evening to be birdless. But other than that it was all eyas all the time.

[tescobedo]

Dave,

Like an infant, an eyas will eat when it is hungry. Which isn't on a given schedule. I was very fortunate to be able to take an eyas Gos to work with me every day. I would say that depending on your approach to imprinting it may be necessary or not. I've only imprinted once and will only imprint again if the bird can go everywhere, including work, with me.

Is there any reason you aren't going to fly a passage shoulder next year?

[Jimmy]

Dave, Why an eyass and not a passage? At least with the passage you can cut it loose when you realize it's pretty much a wasted cause. I'm not gonna say they're worthless, but the reality is you're not gonna do much with it. 1 out of 20 might be worth fooling with, but most aren't. The passage ones are noisy as hell, which just increases the chances of an eyass being noisy. Been there done that.

[tacatanach]

Dave, Why an eyass and not a passage? At least with the passage you can cut it loose when you realize it's pretty much a wasted cause. I'm not gonna say they're worthless, but the reality is you're not gonna do much with it. 1 out of 20 might be worth fooling with, but most aren't. The passage ones are noisy as hell, which just increases the chances of an eyass being noisy. Been there done that.

Im inclined to agree, passage (and hags for that matter) are all noise birds and if you take an imprint your stuck with a bird forever. I worked at a rehab center and we a aquired an imprint RS that had basicly been at hack for about a year (based on the molt pattern) before it landed on one to many people and we got called to try and catch it. That bird was pig fat and and been feeding itself for a year and yet it sill screamed (screamed isnt the right word since it wasnt a food begging scream, it was the typical adult call) like it was going out of style. And if by some maricle it was quiet and it heard another RS calling (we had a nest in a tree about 100ft away) this bird would start up and keep going for hours.