Jimmy,

I've had a few gos along the way but I've concentrated on the Cooper's mostly.

A NA female gos would make a good start. Several breeders suggest the male is often problematical and that has ben my experience.

I assume you will raise the hawklet in the home until it starts to jump around and leave the "nest". I use a giant imprinting box 1 yard square made of coroplast. It captures the mutes and allows for a large container for drinking and the bath.

It is positioned at a window where the hawk can see various birds and rabbits, etc. My feeling is that they should see normal outdoors activities along with the family and your dog.

Geoff's remarks about the gos being social reminds me of visiting a Cooper's research area. There were Cooper's all over the place in a park mostly high in the trees and I asked the researcher if they didn't crab with one another. "No, he replied these hawks are a lot more social than we think but whatever you do don't quote me on that I don't want to be tossed out of my PhD program".

Geoff states the gos begins to feed itself at 14 days when trained. That is in keeping with the Cooper's at 12 days.

In terms of screaming ... a difficult question and I'm far from knowing how to prevent it but I do have a plan. I keep all raptors being imprinted on a diet slightly higher in quality than they would have in the wild so that translates to plenty of birds. My other trick is to absolutely never allow them to become hungry when in the growth stage. Watch the crop carefully and get a feeling for when they want to eat. Avoid rushing into entering and give them time to develop. Reduce weight slowly to promote hunting. 99% will fly to you and likely follow the first few days when flown free when they are actually above the hunting weight.

Returning to withdrawal...my guess is your wife will return home after work so the hawk will not be alone for 24 hours, right?

Harry.