I forgot to post that I weighed him today. He weighed 796g at 35 days...
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I forgot to post that I weighed him today. He weighed 796g at 35 days...
37 days
Apache is getting a lot more confident in his flying abilities. He is now outgrown the weathering area at my house unless he is tethered. Starting tomorrow he goes back to the big flight pen. He can fly to a perch 6' tall now so he should be fine.
We had a 2 day reprieve from the heat. We got a little rain yesterday and today temps stayed in the lower 90's.
Today was Apache's first time on the fist. I've been feeding him on the glove and today I slid my hand in and picked him up. It was pretty seamless and uneventful. He got several clicks and treats as I raised the glove and stood up.
Here are some pics...(I realize he only has one anklet on. I didn't get the grommet set well and it came off. I will replace it tonight)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/9adbb43a.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/ad53a95d.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/e8f7f71a.jpg
38 Days
Apache got to spend today in the flight chamber. I have set it up with several perches to help make training/rewarding him easier. I have put a large dog kennel elevated on a perch that he can lounge in and I have a glove perch set up that he can stand on. Both of these make it easy for me to CR and reward behaviors that will be beneficial later i.e. laying relaxed in the kennel, flying to the kennel on cue, flying to the glove, etc...
He was also tethered for the first time today. When I brought him home and put him in the weathering area, he was tethered. He didn't like it very much. The nice part is I can monitor him through a window without him associating the negative experience of being restrained with me.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/421bf7a1.jpg
Interesting use of the kennel. You have some creative ideas on housing. I would like to hear more about your mews at work? You caught my attention with that remark.
I run a non-profit educational program, so I have a 10'x10' weathering area at my house and my main mews are at my work place. We have a large mew with 4 10'x10' rooms, 2 12'x12' rooms, and 2 22'x22' rooms. We use exotic raptors as much as possible, but are permitted to use some native species. With this setup, I am able to take birds back and forth from home and work easily. I usually have a bird perched in my office depending on what needs training at the time. It also means I am able to work with my falconry birds during the day while at work.Quote:
Originally Posted by AK Rev
Jeff,
Nice picture he is looking good.
My boy now 32 days of age is just beginning to become active and tried to fly up to my chair this morning.
Amazing that sounds like a full time job. How many raptors do you have?
Harry.
We only have 6 raptors Harry. The Airborne program is only one small aspect of what we do.
39 days
I came in this afternoon to check on Apache and he was asleep in the elevated dog kennel. When I opened the door he peeked out at me.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/ef829c7e.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/37eed512.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/f071a06d.jpg
Jeff,
That is a good number of raptors!!!
He is looking all but ready to go.
I see only one jess? Are there two on him?
We put rolled anklets anklets and training jesses on mine yesterday. He played with them for a while but is ignoring them today.
Harry.
40 days
I had to go out of town last night, so Apache got to spend the night in the big flight chamber. I set up a timed cat feeder to give him his meals while I was gone. I picked him up on my way back today and all went well. From the amount of down in the elevated dog kennel, my guess is he roosted there last night. He was silent when I showed up and waited patiently for his meal tonight as normal.
I really like this bird so far...
42 Days
Apache is looking great right now. He is losing TONS of down and it is everywhere, except in my house :)...
He loves his big dog kennel and is currently starting to cache food in the kennel and tire perch.
We had a great session tonight. He greeted me by coming over and sitting patiently and quietly. I rewarded him for it. For most of his meal, I tossed quail wings and rewarded him for chasing and plucking.
He only has one anklet on because somehow (twice) I have managed to not set the grommet well and it fell off. I have to pick up some more grommets. He has only been restrained once, the rest of the time he is loose. When he
comes in in the evening, he lays down and goes to sleep in his portable kennel without any fuss.
Here are pics:
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/f08ad1a4.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/b828f8aa.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/cbe73711.jpg
Jeff,
Nice photos! He looks good and the training must be moving along well. I hope you don't take chances and restrain him with only one jess. They are tender when so young.
My boy Quixote is developing too and at 35 days went to the top of a chair today.
Harry.
No worries Harry, I have only restrained him once and he had 2 anklets then. He is loose everywhere he goes right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmcelroy
44 days
Riding to work up front instead of in the crate for a change:
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/a8c587d4.jpg
Sitting on the glove perch in the flight chamber:
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/1e8a298f.jpg
Hanging out in his elevated kennel:
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/5cb10981.jpg
Great to see you have another coops! It was very sad last year when Bullet got electrocuted. I just caught on to this thread and will be an avid follower. I love OC and BOP. Very interesting. I wish I could have gotten a coops this year, maybe its a little late for me. I'm hoping to do a similar approach to training as well. Keep up the good work!
Uh, goshawk, not coops! confuseddQuote:
Originally Posted by SOF
How is your Gos taking the heat? It is also very hot here where I am at and my female tolerates it, but I can tell she does not like it. I have been limiting her exposure to 95 degrees and below. Today it should reach 104 and she will be inside until it drops below 95.
Apache is taking the heat okay. I don't think he likes it, but is tolerating it. He spends a lot of time bathing. It is 102 today and he is in his weathering area. Anytime he is outside, he is under shadecloth. That has seemed to help. This is definitely the hottest summer we've had in several years.
48 Days
Not a lot new. Apache's tail is still pushing down. He now is free lofted in the big flight pen during the day and tethered in the weathering area in the evenings. Once he goes through O'gos 30 and roosts I bring him inside and put him untethered in his dog kennel until the morning.
I am still hand feeding his meals, but I do have an automatic cat feeder set up to feed him in case I can't be there. He eats 2-3 times a day. He will come down to the lure and eat or return to the nest bowl. He loves it when I toss quail wings for him. He catches them, tosses them in the air, and repeatedly foots them. Once he begins plucking, I CR and reward the plucking. At this point he understands he can make me feed him by plucking. When I hand feed him, I hold the quail in my hands and cut pieces off for him. He waits patiently for me to hand it to him and doesn't try to take it from me or get it out of my hand. He is around the dogs each evening and has no issues with them. My oldest daughter lives to assist in the training and helps by tossing wings and handing him his tidbit for plucking. When traveling to and from work I alternate riding in the cab and him riding in his dog crate.
We are waiting for him to hard pen at this point. It won't be long.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/a238f997.jpg
Looking good. What model of cat feeder? That's a good idea.
This is the cat feeder I use. It has 2 compartment that flip up. It works well. I use it with some of our other raptors mounted upside down so the food falls down to the floor when it opens.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...uh_Eso2mX9LtiL
Interesting piece of equipment. Thanks Jeff.
Jeff,
Apache looks to be doing well. Barry reports that they hard pen at 60-65 days. I'm following your hand feeding with interest. I'm still hand feeding mine and at 42 days he is flying all over the place with confidence.
Harry.
We too are having a decent hot streak with several days in the upper 90's last week. My gos was practically living in his pool last week and otherwise not moving/preening in front of the fan when not in the pool.
Where are the pics Jeff? That sounds hilarious...any webbing starting to grow on the feet? LOL
Maybe if I feed him enough mallard now, he'll grow better feathers to float. At one point, he spent about an hour with his wings out just kind of floating around! I tried a few pics with the webcam but they are low res and the focus is out of wack right now, need to plan a night to go in there and adjust it and make a few other changes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Slikkers
Sorry for the hijack jeff!
Too funny...
Yeah, my bad for starting the hijack...
Back to your regularly scheduled programming...
Jeff,Quote:
Originally Posted by rocgwp
That's the same type feeder I used with my eyass gos. I got burned once when the batteries ran out though (bird went hungry for 8 hours while I was at work). Make sure you check or replace them regularly.
50 Days
Same general routine with Apache. I went to check on him this afternoon and he flew down to my feet and sat on his elbows waiting to be fed. I CRed and handed him some tidbits, I then sat a quail down in front of him and cut it up and handed him pieces while he sat on his elbows. He definitely sees me as a parent and not as a sibling at this point.
Feed me please...
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/2aebd418.jpg
Waiting patiently to be fed with a quail in front of him...
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/556bf9d6.jpg
55 days ~810g
I had to go out of town this weekend. Apache spent the weekend in his big flight chamber. I set up the cat feeder to feed him and had another falconer restock it for me.
I was concerned about Apache switching from seeing me as a parent to seeing me as a sibling while I was gone. When I showed up to pick him up he was as friendly as ever. At the next feeding, I saw a little bit of him turning his back to me with a quail wing. I only CRed and rewarded him when he faced me and was demonstrating calm relaxed posture. By the end of the feeding, everything was back to normal.
I hope to get his backpack installed this week. He is ready to begin some following lessons.
Looking great Jeff. I think you're the Texas guy that Steve L. talks about. I'm following this thread with some mix of envy and enthusiasm.
Jeff,
Interesting that your male began to demonstrate some withdrawal. Were you away more than two days?
Harry.
It didn't surprise me too much that he was set back some while I was away. I was gone Thursday-Sunday morning, so he ate ~6 meals away from me. It wasn't a major set back either, just the very beginning symptoms of the change in the nature of our relationship. At this stage in his development he would be stealing food from nest mates and playing aggressively with them. Who ever was most hungry would get the food. I am working hard to avoid him playing those games with me and for him to maintain seeing me as the parent.
Steve L. had warned me to be careful when I returned since it was possible for his viewpoint to switch while I was gone. He said especially around the penning time it could result in a pretty violent reaction (face grabbing). I am hoping to avoid the aggression, but I do expect to see it at some point. When/If it pops up, we will refocus it away from me and keep going...
This bird has been tons of fun so far. He rides unhooded in his dog kennel really well (~15 miles to and from work). He lays down inside it and doesn't bounce around. That has made it nice transporting him. I will introduce him to a hood sometime this fall once he is going in the field.
He was 799g this morning and not interested in eating a lot. Since he had food available to him all the time over the weekend, it may take him a day or so to adjust back to eating when it it available.
I definitely have been surprised at how playful Apache is. He's like a puppy. I love to watch him "kill" things and toss them in the air with his beak to catch and "kill" it again.
My female Gos does the same thing, and yes, it is a blast to watch.Quote:
I definitely have been surprised at how playful Apache is. He's like a puppy. I love to watch him "kill" things and toss them in the air with his beak to catch and "kill" it again.
I hope you continue to play the parent role. You have come so far doing an excellent job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Originally Posted by sevristh
This feeder was a real blessing on my eyass NA male Gos. It really broke the fact of direct knowing where the feed came from. To note it is better to not be obvious to let the gos see you pick it up and place it down. I used a sheet of choroplast to hid the changing of the feeder. I kept my gos in the house from May till Oct. It is also nice to start using the feeder outside as the gos always saw the feeder there when placing outside to weather etc........jm
Not sure if you have followed the whole thread, but I am hand feeding my gos. I am only using the feeder as a back up if I can't feed for some reason. There is no reason for me to hide me stocking the feeder since normally he gets his meals directly from my finger tips.
Jeff,
Being away so long it is good that he didn't react more strongly. He must be a nice one. A Cooper's would have reacted with withdrawal I would guess. I'm still hand feeding mine and he remains quite easy to handle and he has not been left alone.
Harry.
58 days
Apache is progressing great right now.
He is riding the fist and I have restrained his jesses on the fist with no issues. I am getting him to jump to the fist and tossing tibdits for him to chase and catch. He understands the lure. I am still rewarding clam behaviors. He knows he can make me come feed him by plucking and he caches to a tire.
Hopefully by this weekend I'll have a transmitter on him and will begin taking him outside of the flight chamber and letting him explore and get experience following and playing. I'll use a lure pole to introduce some prey items (squirrels, crows, etc...) that he can gain experience on. I'll toss pigeons for him and let him have fun. When done I'll call him to the lure and feed him on his tire. I'm hoping to get this step in before his dispersal instincts kick in.
Here he is caching to his tire:
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/f6f7ba8e.jpg
Man nice looking bird Jeff! Sounds like you are combining great genes and great training. Should be a mega fun bird to hawk!
59 days
With all the talk about giant hoods I realized Apace hadn't been in one yet. He's ridden in the dog crate a lot, but not sitting on a perch in a giant hood. I brought him home today in his giant hood with no issue. I use an abs giant hood made by ling with a light and fan.
Apache is getting a small meal this evening with the hopes of turning him loose for his first 'walk about' with me tomorrow. It'll have to be done early since it will be over 90 degrees by mid morning.