Meet Bullet

[wesleyc6]

He's so cute ... but beneath that fuzzy exterior is 'the devil with the blue on'.

Barry

Hard to believe a bird with blue eyes would "getcha". LOL. I remember being in shock when my female got me. How could something so pretty get so mean.

[wesleyc6]

Paul,
When something does freak them out, do you remove them from it, or let them acclimate at that point?

[Saluqi]

Paul,
When something does freak them out, do you remove them from it, or let them acclimate at that point?

I think it depends on how freaked out they are. For example, if you are standing there with the bird on your fist and the kids and the dogs come running in raising heck and the bird stiffens up and looks fearful at the situation I might back off and try to shift the birds attention until it's psoture lets me know that the fear has dissipated. If, on the other hand, the bird starts bating wildly at a situation and looks like it's having an out-of-body experience, I would get away from the situation as quickly and calmly as possible, and try to refocus the bird on something else, or maybe put the bird away in the mews, or some "safe zone" where it feels comfortable. I think the way the falconer handles these situations will vary depending on how that person is raising the bird. For me, I might try to refocus the bird by going into the mews and playing tidbit games with the bird. Click and treat stuff, jump ups, and exercises.

One thing that I think some falconers may be inclined to do when the bird is freaking out is to hood the bird.....logic kind of steers me to believe that that may be the reason that so many accips are fearful/aggressive to the hood.

[goshawks00]

I think you are right ,to some extent at least.... Nothing like the 'big bad boogie man' coming to get ya , then having a hood stuffed on your head so you can't see when the inevitable is going to happen.
Barry

[rocgwp]

Thanks for the feedback and advice...I've got a long road ahead of me, but I'm excited. I'm glad I started this thread. I've been able to gleen a ton of information I never would have recieved otherwise. Bullet is trying to stand more and he can lauch those mutes over 3 ft now...He is 12 days old (from hatching). I pulled him 7 days ago.

Here are a couple of pictures from today...

[rocgwp]

Well it's been a busy past couple of days. Our summer staff have arrived for camp (all 900 of them), so I haven't had a chance to post anything about Bullet's progress. He's been able to go with me everywhere so far and is doing great. He's getting lots of socialization. He's starting to look like a coop and is standing for much longer periods of time. I put removable anklets on him this morning to start getting him use to equipment.

In these pics he is 17 days old and 296 grams.

[Lee Slikkers]

very cool, amazing how fast they grow up...great pics!

[wesleyc6]

Thanks for sharing Jeff. Sounds like you guys are having fun!

[Chris L.]

Jeff,
great progress you are making, he looks great. I look forward to your future posts.. Keep us updated and thank you for taking the time to post this log.

[Lee]

Awesome thread I cant wait to hear the hunting story's. So what are your plans carhawking,fist hawking,night hawking etc etc?

[rocgwp]

18 days now and 314 grams...I'm amazed at how fast they develop. Bullet has begun flapping his wings and he hops while flapping trying to get airborne. I began introducing him to eating off of a carcass yesterday. By the end of the day he had mastered standing on top of it and pulling meat off the bone. I am supplementing the carcass feeding with cut up meat as well. Once he hops out of his box (my guess is within the next 3 days) I will begin lure intro and getting him ready to do his modified hack in the next couple of weeks.

Does anyone know at what age he will hit his top weight? When I imprinted my saker, she hit her heaviest weight around 37-39 days. She hit her flight weight at ~35 days. I'm interested to see the difference between a hawk and falcon in this respect. I'm also curious at approximately how many days it takes him to be hard penned. My saker was hard penned at 40-45 days, but developmentally Bullet is light years ahead of where my falcon was at this point. It appears that Bullet seems to be developing about a week ahead of where my falcon was developing.

[wesleyc6]

I think it is illegal to post an update without a picture or two

[rocgwp]

Sorry Wes...here's some pics from this afternoon. He's flapping and hopping more. I can't wait for him to start taking small birds this summer...

He's doing great around the dogs as well. Last night both dogs (gwp's) were in the house and he did fine. I wish I had a picture of him and my female gwp. She was resting her nose on his nest box and he walked over and pecked her nose to investigate what she was. It was really funny...

[Bodarc]

18 days now and 314 grams...

Jeff

Is that weight with our without the anklets?

[FredFogg]

Jeff,

I will look at my records and see what age my female coops was at when she reached her top weight. I didn't weigh her like you are doing as I didn't start weighing her until she could stand on a perch. I will have to dig out my records and see what weights I have for her when I get home in the morning. I never really paid much attention to it, but it will be interesting to see at what age she reached her eventual hunting weight. I will post what I find in the morning.

[Bodarc]

Jeff

I think you'll find that your coop's will top out at approximately 24 days. He may gain a few grams more after that but it will be feathers and not body weight.

Hope this helps.

[rocgwp]

My weight is with the anklets on now...I wasn't able to get a weight today...Bullet is getting more mobile and I'm going to have to change my weighing technique...I've been weighing him every morning when I clean and change his bedding. I would put him and the towel he was on, on the scale and then I would coax him into the clean box and subtract out the weight of the towel. Today I couldn't get him to stay on the scale completely. I didn't want to risk scaring him or having to pick him up, so I decided to forgo the weighing today.

Bullet spent the day with me on the ropes course today. Our staff get excited when they see me coming now with his box. They've been astonished at how fast they grow and develop. It's been a great educational tool for these college students and it has cleared up TONS of misconsceptions they have about how the natural world (predator/prey) relationship works. So far I haven't encountered any negative feedback from them. I am always careful to make sure Bullet has a clean box and is presented well.

Sorry no pics today...I'll take some and post them tomorrow...

[rocgwp]

It's been a crazy couple of days. My internet was down, so I haven't been able to post any pictures of Bullet. He's really starting to look like a Cooper's Hawk now. He was running around the living room last night footing a tennis ball. I ordered a new transmitter for him and the plan is to begin taking him outside and preparing for the tame hack from here.

Here's some pics from the past couple of days...His weight has stayed between 320-335 grams....

20 days...


21 Days


22 Days


23 Days

[Takasho]

That last pic is about the coolest eyas pic I've ever seen! Looks like I have a new screen saver for work!

Looking forward to this little guy taking wing and slaughtering those little birds. A male coopers is high on the list of birds I'd like to fly someday.

[FredFogg]

It's been a crazy couple of days. My internet was down, so I haven't been able to post any pictures of Bullet. He's really starting to look like a Cooper's Hawk now. He was running around the living room last night footing a tennis ball. I ordered a new transmitter for him and the plan is to begin taking him outside and preparing for the tame hack from here.

Here's some pics from the past couple of days...His weight has stayed between 320-335 grams....

20 days...


21 Days


22 Days


23 Days

Jeff, looks like you need to change his name from Bullet to Tony Hawk! LOL Great pic!

[everetkhorton]

Jeff:
My Red Tail is names Tony Hawk and has not progress as far a Bullet on the skate board. Keep posting the pictures. Nice seeing the days old and weight.

[rocgwp]

Bullet is 25 days old now...He stood on a perch this morning to weigh so I finally got a weight I am confident in. He weighed 340 grams with a partial crop.

I began lure training with him today. I took him to the area I plan to do the tame hack. I let him run around and play for about 30 minutes while I read a book. I then blew the whistle and set down the lure. It took him about 10 minutes to decide he wanted to eat, but he finally cropped up.

He rode the fist a little today. He hopped onto it and I began getting him used to heights slowly. He showed no fear.

I talked with Mike McDermott about the tame hack this morning and I'm really excited. I figured I'd post them here so others could use this info if they wanted. It's a really simple plan:

1) Establish area to tame hack in and feed bird in that area before hack, also always feed bird/call bird in at the same location...Attach a backpack transmitter and a tiny bell
2) Feed bird up in morning, take him to hack site and leave him
3) Check on him several times the first couple of days...First day is the hardest...Bird will go up in branches, but may be too scared to come down
4) In evening: call bird to lure and allow to feed about 1/4 crop, transfer bird off lure...with bird on fist toss a baggie and let him kill it. Make in and open kill. Allow bird to eat as much as it wants. Before bird walks away from kill (after it has eaten) pick it up and take it home
5) Keep bird on perch inside at night
6) Feed ad lib during hack, us no weight control

Here's pics from today...

[goshawks00]

Jeff,
I can not say this enough and strong enough DO NOT BELL your hawk while at hack... The hawk is not very mobile espcially ion the beginning and is a dinner bell to every predator -- of which she knows nothing about... to come and see what that noise is... He has telemetry on him , what more do you need to find him... surely not a death wish... The rest is pretty simple and straight forward.
Picture a mouse running around in the woods with a bell on... there is not much difference, any /every owl/ RT /coop / other raptor along with crows and all the ground dwelling, and yes your hawk will spend a lot of time on the ground...,predators that are trying to make a living off other more stupid and vulnerable prey. Not good sense in my mind...
Barry

[Saluqi]

I mentioned somewhere on the forum that I used a bell last summer when I tamed hacked my female gos, what I failed to mention was that I didn't put the bell on until she was flying around the neighborhood. The only reason I used a bell was because I was tired of pulling out the telemetry only to find her sitting 10 feet away in a tree, the bell gave away her location most of the time. She was also a big strapping girl that not too many critter were going to mess with.

[rocgwp]

I believe that is very wise advice and I will be using it. Bullet will not be wearing a bell while at hack.

[goshawks00]

Jeff , another problem most likely to crop up and it will, real soon, I believe, is he will become a screamer as he will go hungry through most of the day and by coming in the evening and calling him I would expect some food begging /screaming to soon happen...

I think this is one reason I've been able to successfully hack the gos/coop and sharpie, random feeding through out the day , never allowing the hawk to go hungry yet never feeding so much as to cause it to go far .

If possibly better to find him several times a day and offer food on the lure , just enough to keep him quiet ( remember the bell alerts predators but a scremaing hungry bird is even of a more deadly possible cry as 'they' all know that sound instantly). He may be a bit more reluctant in the evening but he will more likely survive the day also...

The hack is wrought with danger, where the strong tremble, and the weak become casting.
.10
Barry

[John]

This is a great thread. Thanks a lot for taking the time to keep it updated. I'm really interested in seeing how it turns out. Thanks!

[FredFogg]

Jeff,

My 2 cents worth! I agree with Barry and I will go even further and say I don't believe a bell is needed at all on a coops. I have never put one on my bird and I just don't see the need. If you have telemetry on him, the only purpose a bell serves is as a warning to anything he is chasing. And if you have ever seen a coops running through the underbrush chasing something, you will see how easily a bell can get caught up. I am all about flying my birds with as little on them as possible. Ok, it probably wasn't worth 2 cents, especially with the value of the dollar now. LOL

[kimmerar]

Great thread with some great opinions!! Keep up the great info everyone.

[everetkhorton]

Barry:
The use of bell and feeding sounds like good information to me, as you know I have never imprinted or hack any short wings. If a person would think, how would there parent do it and try and follow there guide it may work out better. JMO

[goshawks00]

Ev , it never ceases to amaze me what common sense can cure

Barry

[rocgwp]

Bullet's weighed has leveled off now. I weighed him before he ate and then after so I could get a comparison with the last couple of days.
He weighs 322 grams without a crop, and he weighed 340 grams after he ate.

Yesterday was a big day for Bullet. He spent over an hour outside at the area where I will be hacking him while I read a book. I called him to the lure and he came to it quickly. I have him on a schedule of 3 daily feedings so far. He crops up eagerly at each feeding, but hasn't begun screaming or begging (yet).

After talking to several very knowledgable people who have done it, I asked some falconry buddies to help me install a backpack on Bullet last night so I could attach a transmitter to him. He did fine. It took us a little longer to get this one on him because he wasn't hooded, but it fit greats and should work well. As we talked last night, between the three of us we have installed 11 different backpacks and have had no problems with any of them once they were installed correctly. In fact my saker has been wearing hers for 2 years now.

Bullet is still getting lots of socialization. He's definitely branching and I plan on starting the tame hack sometime next week. I wanting his lure response to be a little better before I turn him loose.

26 days

[Bodarc]

Jeff

This is a great thread and I'm enjoying your little coop's. I love them.

[KidK]

Spectacular thread Jeff. I am looking forward to reading of his hack.

Thanks!

[rocgwp]

~28 days and 325 grams (empty crop). Bullet's transmitter is installed and he's ready to start hacking. Atleast my wife has determined he is ready to hack. Last night he kept hopping out of his box and flying up onto the couch. No poop on the couch though (lucky for me).

I changed the location of where I will be tame hacking. I was going to tame hack at camp, but due to the numbers of nesting red tails, red shoulders, and bald eagles nearby I have decided to move. My wife has volunteered to assist some, so we are going to hack him in our back yard. We have several large trees that will work great and we adjoin a 15 acre pasture that is wooded around the edges.

This morning (~9am) I placed him on my daughter's swingset and called him down to the lure for his morning feeding. He cropped up, I turned his telemetry on, and I placed him in a tree nearby. We checked on him throughout the day. He moved up a couple of branches and he holds onto branches and flaps his wings. It's nice to watch that down float away outside instead of in our living room. This afternoon I went out about 4pm and threw out the lure and blew the whistle. He wanted to come down, but it took him about 15 minutes to figure out how he could get down. He finally came down and ate on the lure no problem. I picked him up and tossed a baggie. He wasn't really interested in the baggie. Either he doesn't associate a baggie as food or I fed him to much on the lure. I plan to feed the baggie tonight so he associates it as food. We'll try again tomorrow. So far he has made no vocalizations other than peeps.

I'll upload pics later...

On a sad note, one of my german wirehairs has turned up missing. We have pieced together the story so far, but we aren't sure. Yesterday evening, they dug out of our yard and 2 cats have turned up missing. These happen to be the same cats that run loose about the neighborhood (killing quail when I raise them and constantly teasing the dogs outside the fence) and aren't kept indoors by the owners. One of our neighbors saw my dogs early in the evening and her grandkids were playing with them. After that we traced them to about a half mile away. The dogs were swimming in a pond and the owners have a VERY aggressive boxer (The dog was biting the bumper of our car as we pulled up tonight). The owners said they chased our dogs off with rakes, but we have been told by others a gunshot went off. My 6 year old male made it home, but my 12 month female did not. We spent the day looking, knocking on doors, and circulating flyers. She hasn't been seen since leaving that pond. It's been a tough evening as we are not sure if Aggie is coming home. Pray for her to come home safe. We waited 2 years for the breeding she came out of. She was a NAVHDA NA Prize I dog and was almost ready to test for Utility. She was the dog we planned to base a line and kennel around. My daughter and the rest of us are heartbroken. We'll keep looking in the morning...