2012 gos imprint

[hcmcelroy]

I hope the fear is gone for good! She looks quite happy on it now.

Harry.

[Richard]

I hope the fear is gone for good! She looks quite happy on it now.
Harry.

She steps right onto it now and seldom bates except to try getting to another perch sometimes.

For some reason she carried her breakfast from the kitchen table to Laura's tray to eat this morning. The dogs gathered around her and chased the feather clumps as she pulled them off and dropped them. Then over to her ring perch for some after breakfast preening.

When she jumped up to look closely at Yokie, it was time to go back to the chamber...













With her growing an extra long second light band on her tail, I thought she might have an extra long tail, too. Nope, the next light band is in and only about half an inch wide. The fourth dark band is also in now and it won't be long before she is hard penned.

[hcmcelroy]

Richard,

So the train is just about down?

Harry.

[Richard]

Richard, So the train is just about down? Harry.

It's mighty close. I'm thinking she may be a few days older than we originally thought. We'll find out soon.

I fed her out in the chamber kind of late this evening; gave her the first flashlight training. She was chowing down good until she saw her shadow off to the left on the wall. She checked it out and then went back to eating when I played with her toes.

[Richard]

Here she is this morning catching her (dead) quail, playing with it, eating it, trying to balance on the perch with it, and content afterwards.

[hcmcelroy]

Nice set of photos! The tail looks good! Flashlite training is essential for all hawks...only pets could be excluded.

Harry.

[Richard]

Nice set of photos! The tail looks good! Flashlite training is essential for all hawks...only pets could be excluded. Harry.

Nope, even pets need flashlight training, because you never know when they might get out and need to be recovered in the dark.

That IS a good looking tail. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it that way all season.

[Richard]

Here she is this morning catching her (dead) quail, playing with it, eating it, trying to balance on the perch with it, and content afterwards.

Hey Dirthawking, Why was this edited? Was there something wrong with the way the pictures were entered?

[Dirthawking]

Hey Dirthawking, Why was this edited? Was there something wrong with the way the pictures were entered?

I fixed your picture spacing. Nothing more. They were all bunched up and trailed to the right on the screen. If you hit enter two or three times between each picture posted that solves the problem. If you look back I have edited a few of your pictures. Believe me, no content was changed in any way.

[Richard]

I fixed your picture spacing. Nothing more. They were all bunched up and trailed to the right on the screen. If you hit enter two or three times between each picture posted that solves the problem. If you look back I have edited a few of your pictures. Believe me, no content was changed in any way.

No problem. I was just wondering if that was why you changed it. I've never used Photobucket before and wasn't sure on the how part; self taught and not too well. ;-)

[Richard]

I awoke late this morning and figured the Baby would be starving with all the associated negative reactions that go with it, but, no, she was just happy to see me when I went out to get her. I brought her inside and perched her on the screen perch and fed her half a dozen tidbits while waiting for the meal to warm a bit. Then she ate very little of the quail I gave her. She weighed in at 1010 grams this morning, so she has definitely been putting on weight in spite of seeming to not eat much.

I had Becky check the tail feathers while I held her this morning; still blood in the shafts. She should be hard penned by Thursday if I aged her correctly when I got her.

She has been inside for about five hours now and is behaving very well. She spend a lot of that time play with her toy stuffed dolphin and a larger stuffed monkey. She tosses them and attacks, jumps and spins and foots. At one point she was on the floor in the kitchen, and I took the dolphin away from one of the dogs and tossed it over the screen perch towards the table just as she flew up to the table. She changed course slightly and snagged the dolphin in the air with one foot and landed on the screen perch with it.

She has been watching the Olympics quite a bit and seems particularly interested in the equestrian events. At one point she jumped off her perch and ran over to the TV, looked up at it, and then ran around back to see where the horse was...

I put her giant hood on the table, and she tossed the dolphin inside and followed it in. Before picking it up, she looked at the perch and jumped up onto it for a minute before turning around and jumping back down to continue playing.

She flew up onto the moose antler on the parrot cage and spent a lot of time up there preening. She wanted to lie down on it, but kept sliding down and finally gave up and went back into the kitchen and laid down on the giant hood; seems to like it up there.

[hcmcelroy]

Richard,

How are training her to the giant hood?

Harry.

[Richard]

Richard, How are training her to the giant hood?Harry.

I'm afraid that today was the first. I just placed it on the table with the door open wide. She only went in the one time, but she spent a lot of time lying on top of it; kinda became her favorite place today. She spent most of the day indoors without getting into any trouble. I'll probably have her in most of tomorrow, too. I'll probably start putting tidbits on the perch to encourage her to go into the giant hood, but I'll also just have her step off the fist into it. I also need to start tethering her indoors and out, too. We have a CHC picnic in a couple weeks and she will need to ride in the giant hood and be tied down quite a bit. Time to get down to business!

[keitht]

Richard: How many days old do you expect her to hard-pen? And if you have it handy, how many to pen for a tiercel?

I've never kept track of it as close as you apparently have.

[BestBeagler]

That large grey band between the black ones is crazy! Pretty cool. Sounds like your having fun with her. The baby imprint is fun.

[Richard]

Richard: How many days old do you expect her to hard-pen? And if you have it handy, how many to pen for a tiercel? I've never kept track of it as close as you apparently have.

It seems to me that the females hard pen at about 63-64 days and males are around 59-60. Harry went through that last year, so he may have it available for a male. Or Barry might know.

[Richard]

That large grey band between the black ones is crazy! Pretty cool. Sounds like your having fun with her. The baby imprint is fun.

I can definitely recognize her in a crowd of immy goses at a glance! Not that you often find them in crowds... I'm definitely having fun with her and enjoy very much watching the growing and learning curves.

Here she is preening on the antler again and watching Storm. She chases Storm all over the house; seems intrigued with her red hind foot.

[hcmcelroy]

Keith,

Checked my notes and this boy was not hard penned at 58 days but he was at 60. A few days slower than a female Cooper's.

Harry.

[keitht]

Thanks Richard and Harry for the info. I suppose the reason I have never been able to determine the exact date of hard-penning is that all of my gosses were wild taken and you can almost never peg a bird's age down to the exact day.

I really like the "gos on an antler shot."

[Richard]

Thanks Richard and Harry for the info. I suppose the reason I have never been able to determine the exact date of hard-penning is that all of my goses were wild taken and you can almost never peg a bird's age down to the exact day.

I really like the "gos on an antler shot."

We can usually get within a few days when taking a wild eyass.

That's a moose antler I found up near the nest where I got this bird.

[Richard]

Afternoon nap time:

[hcmcelroy]

Lookin relaxed as ever!

Harry.

[Richard]

Lookin relaxed as ever! Harry.

A little more than just relaxed in the one. ;-) just after I snapped the one with her eyes closed, her head dropped to the glove and she slept for a while.

[Richard]

She laid down on the back of the couch, went to sliding, and turned around.

She got rowdy enough today that I decided to tether her for the first time indoors. She bated once, turned around and flew back up onto the ring perch. Then she went to preening and relaxing for a few hours before I had to put her back outside while I went to the store. She did a total of only three bates the whole time.

Now I have her tied to the screen perch in the living room, and she's doing pretty good up there, too.

She's hard penned today, so I guess she was a couple days older than we thought.

[hcmcelroy]

Great photo collection Richard. Do I recall you thought she was 17 when taken so if 2 days older she was 19?

Harry.

[Richard]

Great photo collection Richard. Do I recall you thought she was 17 when taken so if 2 days older she was 19? Harry.

19 or 20; she wasn't hard penned on Sunday but was on Tuesday. She still imprinted nicely but seems to recognize Billy Bob as a "father figure". Either that or she just wants to eat him... He also seems to recognize her for what she is and seems interested but a bit intimidated.

So this is 63 or 64 days old. Still a few bits of down tipping some body feathers but hard penned in the flight feathers.

[FredFogg]

She looks great Richard. I see she is a fan of the Lord of the Rings series! LOL

[Richard]

She looks great Richard. I see she is a fan of the Lord of the Rings series! LOL

Thanks Fred. Yeah, she watches every chance she gets; especially likes the scenes with horses in them. She was watching the Olympics equestrians the other day and jumped to the floor and ran up to the TV and looked up at the screen. Then she ran around behind it to find the horse. Then back to her perch to continue watching.

[Richard]

19 or 20; she wasn't hard penned on Sunday but was on Tuesday. She still imprinted nicely but seems to recognize Billy Bob as a "father figure". Either that or she just wants to eat him... He also seems to recognize her for what she is and seems interested but a bit intimidated.

So this is 63 or 64 days old. Still a few bits of down tipping some body feathers but hard penned in the flight feathers.

Since she is hard penned now and definitely imprinted, I guess I should switch over to the Shortwing Forum.

[hcmcelroy]

Adventures are right around the corner! Enjoy the photos.

Harry.