KC's Log

[hawkstir]

Hi. My name is KC. My falconer Hawkstir says I weighed in at 131g. last Saturday when he birdnapped me.

The following pictures are of my new home for the next couple of weeks.



Today I weighed 135g at 5:45am, that's just before riding to work with my falconer. I'm hanging out watching him work and meeting lots of new humans. Funny creatures they are. Well got to go. Bye

PS. I sure hope he finds me something to kill.

[Jimmy]

Great stuff, Fred!!! [smilie=eusa_clap.gif] [smilie=eusa_clap.gif]
Looking forward to watching the progress!! [smilie=icon_thumright.gif]

[gabboon]

k

[`Chris L.]

Fred,
great log. I really look forward to the progress... thank you for taking the time to do it [smilie=eusa_clap.gif]

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
Great to see another spec of bird being raised. Fun to compaire. I have never seen eyes birds at this stage before. Thanks for the posting.

[hawkstir]

KC here. Yesterday afternoon a small bird invaded my box. I chased it until I could pin it down and break into it's head. I eat all but a little bit on each wing and it's legs. YUM, SOO tasty.
Photo removed for discretionary measures.

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
She looks different with every picture. Her feather are sure starting to grow. How old is she now Fred?

[hawkstir]

I'm guessing +or - 3 weeks.

[chamokane]

KC, you are a cute little thing. If you want to ditch Fred, you can come live at my house. [smilie=icon_thumright.gif]

[hawkstir]

I'm trapped, I'm trapped!
I've been very active the last couple of days. Trying real hard to get out of my cardboard nest box. Hawkstir is going to put some anklets and jesses on me and tether me to a bow perch this evening. He'll have to post some pics. I've lost almost all my down, just a little on the wings and barely noticeable on the head.

[goshawks00]

Great posts Fred!! I hope you continue. A good friend of mine in Canada got an imprint downie K bird several years ago wow what a killer he became. Car hawking starlings became his specialty and did in the neighborhood of 140 for the two yeatrs he had him. Unforunately he contracted some type of bug from one of his victims and died.
What type of bird are you feeding in the picture.
Good luck,
Barry

[everetkhorton]

Fred:

Do you put any Vitamin Supplement on your bird food before it eats it?
[smilie=dontknow.gif]

[hawkstir]

Ev

I sprinkle a little Vitahawk on about once a week. I also make sure to feed a verity of different foods. IE DOC, mice & voles, grasshoppers and crickets, sparrow and starling.

Just got back in from a short grasshopper hunt with KC on the glove for a walk. I would catch the hopper and put her on the ground with it in front of her and let her run and try to catch it on her own. They all escaped her, but I recaught most and feed them to her later. She says it's easier in to do in her box.

[hawkstir]

Yeah, I'm bad. [smilie=eusa_naughty.gif]
Hawkstir hooked me with some anklets and jesses.

This is were I hang out now. I can watch Hawkstir lay on the couch ,watching TV, or eating, or writing in my logbook, or whatever. Right now I'm watching this spot of light dance around on the wall. It's a reflection off of Hawkstirs watch.

[everetkhorton]

KC:

How grown up you look. [smilie=icon_thumright.gif]

[Lee]

She sure has grown since you pulled her.

[hawkstir]

I've started a sort of tame hack. I made sure there were no holes in my mew that she could fit through and free lofted her in there for a couple hours this afternoon. I had a half dozen grasshoppers that I turned loose. She showed some interest but didn't do any chasing at first. Probably needs to get used to the new environment and she's no where near hunting weight. However she did run a little and was able to jump up on my screen perch which is about 2 ft. high. I left her alone for short periods of time while I caught more hoppers and did a few other things, returning to look in her when I past by. I hope to let her in there as much as I can, but I don't feel comfortable enough to leave her unattended for long periods of time or overnight yet.

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
Sounds like everything is going smooth. How does she like the water? I have heard they really like it but I do not know at what age.

[hawkstir]

Update, KC's doing real well.
Her weight is ranging between low 130's to mid 140's. I haven't really dialed it in yet. I'm feeding 15g. daily + grasshoppers. Each day she shows me something new.
Yesterday she made her way up to the high perch by the window in the mew. She also jumped a foot and a half to get a Grasshopper off the glove 3 times. She also ran about 3' on the floor to catch one. All this without any weight reduction. I want her train to finish out a little more before any weight reduction.

[Jimmy]

Hey, Fred.
What's the perching spot on your scales made of?

[hawkstir]

PVC pipe T epoxyed to the scale plate with foam pad wrapped with Vetwrap. I don't usually use red with BOP but it was all I had on hand at the time.

[hawkstir]

I took KC for a walk about yesterday. She climbed up on my hat for the ride. I don't mind her riding there as long as I don't feel something running down the back of my neck. [smilie=eusa_doh.gif] I was hoping to find some hoppers, but it was damp and cool and they weren't cooperative. Later I let her fly free about my garage while I puttered about. She made 1 flight of aprox. 12'. The longest yet. I let feed on some bits attached to her lure.

[goshawks00]

Fred she sounds like she coming along fine. Are you using any telemetry on her? This is the time I've found that it's very important for them to be wearing one, as one flight and she could be in a tree and be way to heavy/ inexperienced to come down/then things begin to escalate. Can you say weather/crows/ coops/ overnights lost etc?? I have an old , in fact really old Luksander single battery Merlin Spec. that years ago had a goshawk strip the antenna wire off. Perfect!!!!, it still gives off a good signal and it's range is about a mile and can be attached with a bewit each morning or in your case when ever you take the 'student' out for lessons. I've used it on every coops/spar/sharpie/goshawk I've raised in the last decade and a half and found it time and again indespensable . It's about as cheap an insurance as you can get for keeping your new charge safe as you can get for now. I think the newer tansmitters with the screw off anteenas would work as well

[hawkstir]

I don't own or use telemetry. I have been thinking of a neck bell on her, but right now all I have are RT bells, probably a bit to large.

[everetkhorton]

Fred: I flew a merlin many years ago. They can hide behind a blade of grass. So small. The merlin was not an imprint but Telemerty would not hurt. JMO I use it on my Rt. and have had to use it more time than I would like to say. I would be up a creek with out a paddle with out it [smilie=icon_hang.gif]

[hawkstir]

Thanks for the advice and concern. Unfortunately it's not in the budget for quite some time to come.

[goshawks00]

Fred possibly you could scrape together enogh money to at least get a transmitter. At least then when you lose her you can get someone to help you find where she went.
Barry

[hawkstir]

Sorry, putting a motor in my truck comes first.

Closest receiver is over an hour away. If he's home.

Falconry was practiced for thousands of years before electronics. I'm sure not their birds where lost.

Thanks again.

[[HOA]hawk]

Nice looking bird can't wait to hear about her first kill!

[goshawks00]

Yep, I don't care how long falconry was practiced before the invention of telemetry it's irresponsible to not use it. Your bird is an imprint you owe it to the bird being that you've changed her life to fit your desires. Waiting an hour for someone to show up is better than losing a bird because it doesn't fit 'your timing'.
Sorry,
barry

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
If you come to the NAFA meet I will gladly loan you one. In fact I do not need mine until around Sept. if you want to use it until then, it is set up for a tail mount. It is one of the real small one, I could send it to you.
Ev.

[kimmerar]

That's awesome Ev. Fred you could not get that from just any forum. I would take him up on that. It will give you some experience with telemetry too.

[hawkstir]

07/05/07
KC weighed 131g this morning and I left 20 g of food on her lure on the floor of the mew where she is free lofted.
When I got home this afternoon all the food was gone and she weighed 134g.
I weighed out another 10g. which she eat a tidbit at a time, after flying to the fist a distance of 5 to 6 ft.. The last and largest portion was fed off the lure that she flew to the same distance.
Overall she is flying with more confidence and landing with good balance.
She only chitters a little, and has never screamed. Hopefully this will continue.
I hope to start slowly lowering her weight this weekend to see if I can improve her response time. I'm a little hesitant to rush this phase because I think her feathers could stand to push out a little more. I'll be able to judge better in a day or two.
07/06/07
She weighed 132g. I'm repeating yesterdays routine.

[hawkstir]

Hello everyone,
Hawkstir has been trying to teach me to fly to the glove for some tiny bits of food but I'm managing to be more stubborn than him.


I did fly to him a couple of times. It's hard because there are so many new sights to see. I did give in to him when he dropped that funny looking leather bird on the ground under my perch. Funnier yet was that it tasted like mouse. I got a real good dinner off from it though and decided it would be OK to jump up on Hawkstir's glove for dessert.

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
Looking Good! [smilie=sunny.gif]