Hello,

Anyone have experience with, "Dual Imprinting", of goshawk eyas'?

In summer 2009 I plan on raising a male or male/female pair of eyas goshawks for myself and another falconer. I am trying to put toghether my plan for how I want to do this, this time around and would like input from anyone experienced with, Dual imprinting, or... "cohort rearing" more than one chick at the same time.

I've made two imprints before. One Coopers Female and one NA Goshawk Female.

With the Coopers I did something half way between McElroy and McDermott and when it all fell apart I fixed the problems with heavy influences of Layman. With the NA Goshawk I skipped most of the in public socialization did some tame hack a few hours on most days over a couple months and used games and food rewards to overcome fears after she was old enough to bring out into the world and chase stuff.

She is wonderful now but a real screamer. Time will tell if this will subside but I am intrigued by the prospect of overcoming screaming by changing my imprinting method a little next time.

As I've heard this described the chicks are left with the mother, or foster mother, until hard penned but the falconer enters the chamber 3-5 times a day to socialize with them and the mother.

According to the David Jones videos a female Fin Gos raised this way did not scream and will accept the falconer as mate. Best of all worlds right?

I'm also considering relying on confidence building almost exclusively instead of weight reduction for the first season, and keeping them indoors.

Please post if you know anything about this method or a variation on it. Also feel free to contact me directly at allredone@gmail.com

Among others, issues I am interested in are:

Possibility/consequences of food association if the chicks see me food transfer to the female

Possibility of opening the chambers for a tame hack towards the end of penning and onward

Possibility of tame hacking the mother along with her chicks for a short
period of time

Possibility of taking the chicks from the mother when still large downies and "cohort rearing" them toghether

Possibility that I am just making things too complicated.

Would love to hear from anyone with experience or just ideas for me to Guinna pig.

Aaron