Imprinting a pair of Sharpies

[katzenjammer360]

My fiance and I are pulling a pair of sharpies this Spring. My question is would it be better to imprint them as a pair (and hack them together if we go that route) or would it be better to imprint them separately? Does anyone have any experience with imprinting two birds together? Does it reduce or enhance any behavioral problems? Thanks for the input :)

[hcmcelroy]

Briana,

Being raised together is similar to what happens in the wild, right? However the big difference is the human is tossed in too. If available I prefer to have two hawks when imprinting.

I've seen hawks imprint on dogs, horses, and people.

I well remember one aplomado that imprinted on my horse and when flying her around our place I often found her at the barn.

A gos imprinted on my dog and after it withdrew it remained fond of the dog and would play with the dog even in the mew.

Harry.

[keitht]

Hacking Imprinted sharpies has not shown to be nearly as effective as imprinting goses or coops.

If it were me, I'd imprint them and skip the hack. Sharpies learn, grow and begin catching stuff so much sooner than the larger accips. But others might have different experiences and recommendations.

[joekoz]

You might find my thread Imprinting/Tame Hacking 2 Tiercel Goshawks of interest http://www.nafex.net/showthread.php?t=17667 (http://www.nafex.net/showthread.php?t=17667)

[keitht]

Hacking Imprinted sharpies has not shown to be nearly as effective as imprinting goses or coops.

If it were me, I'd imprint them and skip the hack. Sharpies learn, grow and begin catching stuff so much sooner than the larger accips. But others might have different experiences and recommendations.

What I MEANT to write was - Hacking Imprinted sharpies has not shown to be nearly as effective as hacking goses or coops.

[katzenjammer360]

Oh, lol. I actually originally read it how you meant it. I'm talking with my fiance. He wants to hack them but I'm not so sure.

Joe, I read your thread and enjoyed it a lot. Thanks!

Harry, thank you! I think we will go ahead and creche rear them. I haven't had anyone tell me yet it is a bad idea and several people said they had success with it.

Thanks everyone for the input!

[rkumetz]

Not to mention that hacking something the size of a sharpie
is going to be regarded by the local coops, etc in a similar way to
putting a bowl of free peanuts on the bar.

[Ross]

I believe the majority of the European sparrow hawks Lance Christensen has raised have been creche reared with 2 or more together. He did this on advice of European breeders who had good success with this method. It seems to result in a tame well mannered bird. I have not flown one or even seen them in the field, just the babies at his house. Whatever that is worth.

[goshawks00]

Briana I've thought about this a while now and am just curious, why are you wanting to raise them together? Personally I have never imprinted two of them together though I have done a bunch of sharpies and sparrowhawks over the years.
Just wondering what the good and bad consequences might be. Are you imprinting them together, or with you and or your husband also involved? Multiple imprinting on several things, like each other + humans + dogs+cats+etc? Just curious.

[katzenjammer360]

We are planning to imprint them as if we were doing them separately, but with both in the same nest box. One reason is convenience, rather than handle two nest boxes we will just have the one and just place two food trays/carcasses in there. Once they are tethered they will be within sight but not able to reach one another and will likely be given separate baggies. Also I feel like it could possibly reduce some behaviors that commonly arise when imprinting just because it more closely resembles how they naturally are raised. We will probably most closely abide by McD's method but with slight variation, for example I'm toying around with the idea of using two lures and switching them out with small portions on each. I don't remember whose method that's from I only remember hearing about it and thinking it's a good fix for the inconsistencies in McD's book.

This is our first go-around for imprints, but we apprenticed under someone who is very familiar with imprints, though primarily Cooper's hawks. He actually contributed to McD's book.

[JRedig]

We are planning to imprint them as if we were doing them separately, but with both in the same nest box. One reason is convenience, rather than handle two nest boxes we will just have the one and just place two food trays/carcasses in there. Once they are tethered they will be within sight but not able to reach one another and will likely be given separate baggies. Also I feel like it could possibly reduce some behaviors that commonly arise when imprinting just because it more closely resembles how they naturally are raised. .

I haven't imprinted any accipiters, yet, so take this for what it's worth. I have been around imprinting falcons a bunch, groups and casts of them. I have flown some imprint accips, so not a stranger to their behavior.

I was fortunate enough to live next door to Kenny Sterner and help him imprint and train "the boys" back in 1999 or 2000, can't remember. They were raised in a cardboard box with a divider between them for the first 35'ish days. Full food association and kept pig fat all the way into september. All the training was window of opportunity at high weights. It worked very well, two of the best imprints i've ever been lucky enough to be around. They were hard imprinted and what i'd call properly socialized with each other. The overall process is what you describe as your plan above.

I think the fundamentals for establishing good behavior towards the falconer and each other transfer between accips and falcons, talking about parent/child/sibling relationships.