This is where I usually get into trouble. Things I say tend to contradict the opinions and theories of others and it seems to piss them off at me. But here goes.
These hawks are not human and so we cannot judge their behavior by what we feel or think. A goshawk does not scream for attention. It is a solitary creature for most of it's life, only coming together for breeding purposes. And that can end in tragedy. You need not socialize a hawk as such, as long as you remain familiar. You can feed a young hawk by hand until it can feed itself, and then just leave food for it to eat at will. I would suggest you never allow it to become hungry. And I would recommend you not drop it's weight until it is hard pinned, and then drop it as quickly as you possibly can. The purpose behind this is to get the hawks weight down so that you can start feeding it again and get on with the training. If you take your time and slowly drop the weight, the hawk never gets enough to eat and stays hungry most of the time. If you feed it up again now and then, you gain some weight and lose some of the headway you might have made. The constant hunger will lead to the hawk obsessing on you as provider and begin screaming. There are other things that we do that can cause screaming. Picking up and handling a young eyass is a traumatic experience, and they will associate the feeling of anxiety to you from then on. Taking them out to play on the lawn is another trauma. They might not show it, but being on the ground has got to be kiss of death for a baby hawk. They have this solid fear of falling, and this is what keeps them from playing around and falling from the nest. I have known people to give live baggies to an eyas so it can kill it, thinking it requires this to make a killing machine of it. This will also cause high anxiety. You don't need to do that, as they will end up knowing what to do anyway. The very best way to do an imprint is to let it have the run of a room until it hard pins and then mew it. Cutting the weight as it becomes more aloof. If you don't want to imprint it, just place it in the mews on a nest platform and feed it there.




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