day old chicks

[HoumaFalconer]

Well i just ordered my first shipment of doc. i was wondering how many of you out there use them. i have read some good things about using them and also some bad. i don't intend to use them as the only food source but as a addition to what she gets already. i fly a hen harris hawk and understand they will make her feet very yellow. if you do fly a hen harris how many chicks do you usually feed a day.
thanks in advance
Dennis

[GregMik]

Yes they do turn thier feet yellow. As to how many to feed....You will have to figure that out by her weight. Start with 4 and see if she gains or looses. Some say to deyolk, I don't think it is nesessary. Unless you are worried about the mess, such as on the glove. Yolk will harden up a glove in a heart beat.

Greg

[HoumaFalconer]

thanks greg. four at one time sounds a little high though, from what i understand they weight around 30 grams each

[GregMik]

True, But your bird is molting right?

Greg

[Tim Laycock]

My Goshawk holds weight while flying on 6-7 chicks.
On non flying days she holds on 5

[Harris]

I believe its the caratine in the yolk that makes the birds feet and cere yellow

[HoumaFalconer]

your right greg, she is molting, i guess i should have been clearer. when they do eat them does the yoke get all over there feathers also. i can see how that would be a mess.

[Tim Laycock]

The yolk should not mess the bird up, just your glove.

Use a cacky old glove for feeding them on the fist :yawinkle:

[HoumaFalconer]

thanks, she should take right to them, the lure i use for her i half a tennis ball, and she will come a country mile as fast as she can to get it, almost the same color will help

[Jimmy]

I feed chicks during the moult about once a week. I only feed 2 per bird.

Jimmy

[HoumaFalconer]

i will start with three and see how this affects her weight

[Brit-Gos]

If your bird is moulting feed chicks very sparingly and squeeze the guts out as they are high in cholesterol. A DOC contains virtually no vitamins or minerals. Always feed the best diet you can and if the bird is at aviary weight on occasion feed nothing for a day just give access to water, to clean the birds system out.

[Sean]

i feed chicks, as ive read, and been told by vets that they are a very good sourse of food, theres a falconers myth that that arent any good for the birds,...

[HoumaFalconer]

Sean
I would have to agree with you. I think the myth was spread mostly by Nick Fox in his videos about how they are not a good source of food. I have learned recently from a study, that they are actually better for the birds than mice or rats for a whole animal diet. I know some will disagree with this, but i like facts not guesses. We also thought the world was flat at one time, and that a harris hawk was not a bird for falconry. We sure were wrong on that one.

[Nemesis]

hi I feed mine on doc two or three times a week along with rabbit phesent and venison she is molting well lost 6 wing feathers one tail and lot,s of body feathers since I put her down about 6 week,s ago she is fhh feed her 4 chicks at a time / dave :D

[Pitbull]

another argument waiting


but varied tends too be the key...and i dont mean 2 one day 3 the next...:lol:

[HoumaFalconer]

THANKS BUDDY,
i will try them as soon as i get them in and see how she does on it. i only plan to feed them 3 times a week

[Fires59]

Feed mine day old chicks but also use them to put the raptor essentials vitamins on because when you deyoke them the vitamins mix in to the body cavity real well

[HoumaFalconer]

Thats Another Great Idea, Thanks

[Brit-Gos]

Sorry busy yesterday, In it's development the chick has used most of the vitamins / proteins from within the egg. The chick is killed before it can feed so has not been able to ingest any food which would be turned into proteins / vitamins within it's body. Therefore the actual DOC is a poor food source. If a lot of chicks are fed with out being gutted we all know that the birds feet turn yellowish, also it's insides turn yellow as well. A good friend of mine is a taxidermist and has mounted many falconers birds (no jokes) in the process he has to disembowel them and those that have had a diet mainly of ungutted Doc's have yellow intestines etc. No wild raptor will feed predominantly on fledglings 1 or 2 days old as they could only possibly feed on a fed for 3 months or so, they have a varied diet and are more active than a bird sat in the aviary or on the lawn. Could someone please explain how a DOC is better than rats or mice?

[Palmer]

I use a wide variety of food. Including DOC's.
I feed my MHH 3 a day and this keeps him at the same weight.
I have heard that the yolk in the DOC's makes the birds feet a nice bold yellow.

[Tim Laycock]

Another good use of DOCs is for rearing eyasses!

This goes totaly agains the grain with many but If whole animal carcases are put into a pen for parent birds to feed the young they will invariably just feed the chicks on muscle and internal organs.

The result is eyasses with a serious calcium defficiency, they will have bowed legs and be unable to stand.

When DOC are given as the main not only food source this becomes less of a problem as there is no option but the feed the bones aswell as the other tissue.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

Could someone please explain how a DOC is better than rats or mice?

Yes, the smell of chick guts doesnt make me want to puke, the smell of mouse and rat guts does :mrgreen:

FHF

[Palmer]

So what food that people feed to their birds do they gut????:wink:

[Brit-Gos]

Yes, the smell of chick guts doesnt make me want to puke, the smell of mouse and rat guts does :mrgreen:

FHF

Totally agree (they stink), but the birds health must come firts.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

Pheasant, partridge, quail - I like to check the internal organs first.....(to tell the future lol)

Rabbits/hares

Cant do mice/rats due to the smell at all so basically I dont feed them unless whole

FHF

[Tim Laycock]

I remove the digestive tract of anything that is not a DOC :yawinkle:
If it is a bird I remove the crop also.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

I am pathetic when it comes to mice and rats really. I've gutted virtually every bird quarry species plus rabbits without a problem, but mice/rats bleugh!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


Oh and I also remove the head/crop from anything other than DOC's


FHF

[Sean]

just dont gut em then FHF :D

[Palmer]

If a bird eats the guts out of an animal what can it do to the bird?
Ones i threw a little rabbit my dog caught in with my HH (and forgot to gut it) and he had eaten it all apart from some of the guts.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

just dont gut em then FHF :D

Ever fed an ungutted rat on the fist? Bleughhhh!!!!!!

FHF

[Sean]

ohh lol,

[Albie]

Hi All,
What a good Thread with nobody slagging anyone off, just good old fashioned advice for a change.
I have always fed my two birds with as much of a variable diet as I can when their in Moult.
As for the Rats I always make sure I gut them before I sit down for my meal It's better on an empty stomach I think.
As for DOCS I always gut them and twice a week add a sprinkle of SA37 to them, I don't know all the benifets of SA37 but it dose seem to make their feathers shine more.
Albie..

[Jester]

i gut rabbit but everything else goes in whole and i just pick up the bits that are left.

[Palmer]

i gut rabbit but everything else goes in whole and i just pick up the bits that are left.

Thats what i do as well

[Brit-Gos]

I gut absolutely everything that i feed to my birds, it depletes the risk of internal parasites.

[Pink_Eagle]

this site compares the nutrient levels of doc, rats, mice etc
mite be useful,

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

[HoumaFalconer]

There Is Alot Of Good Info On That Site. Very Informative.