Feeding on perchs

[Coney Catcher]

out walking dogsthis morning lurcher caught small rabbit
paunched it and gave it to fhh which took it to highest perch as usual
and ate it.got to thinking am i may be creating a problem for myself in
the future.as anyone had problems with birds taking smallish catchs
into trees and staying there

coney catcher

[Paddy1]

out walking dogsthis morning lurcher caught small rabbit
paunched it and gave it to fhh which took it to highest perch as usual
and ate it.got to thinking am i may be creating a problem for myself in
the future.as anyone had problems with birds taking smallish catchs
into trees and staying there

coney catcher


sounds like it could develop into a big problem when out hunting her if she take her prey up high has her fill then their would be no reason to come back down untill she is hungry
thats my opinion anyway mate

[NorthenEnglandHawker]

nah dowt she will do that shes fat now and in moult so she justs wants to get away from u but when shes down at hunting weight this will no happen cause if ya done ya job well they will look to u for assistance and also welcome your approach because it provides her with food
also birds stay on the floor if they have caught something to stop other birds of prey from seeing and a rabbit hanging from her talon would stand out a mile:rolleyes:

[Harrisii]

the FHH is only doing with the rabbit as she would have with any other food given in her mews.
i cannot see this teaching her to carry, not at all.
what she does in her mews during the moult is not a learnt thing for when she is hunting during the season.
during the hawking season you are a team and as a team player she will be looking for you to do your part which was learned during previous seasons.

i wouldnt worry about this at all. besides, even if she went into a tree with small catch (which she wont) once eaten, she will still come to you as the food will not have been passed over and she will still be hungray.

nothing to worry about mate.

[Tim Laycock]

If your hawk can catch and carry a whole rabbit you should stop flying it and put in in a museum :rolleyes:

[Matty]

the FHH is only doing with the rabbit as she would have with any other food given in her mews.
i cannot see this teaching her to carry, not at all.
what she does in her mews during the moult is not a learnt thing for when she is hunting during the season.
during the hawking season you are a team and as a team player she will be looking for you to do your part which was learned during previous seasons.

i wouldnt worry about this at all. besides, even if she went into a tree with small catch (which she wont) once eaten, she will still come to you as the food will not have been passed over and she will still be hungray.

nothing to worry about mate.


spot on in my veiw

[Matty]

If your hawk can catch and carry a whole rabbit you should stop flying it and put in in a museum :rolleyes:
pmsl :-)

[MattSpar]

I once had trouble with my hawk feeding on perches. The bones got stuck in her throat. Roaches caused the same trouble, though trouts and salmons were fine.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

I once had trouble with my hawk feeding on perches. The bones got stuck in her throat. Roaches caused the same trouble, though trouts and salmons were fine.

Mattspar that is highly silly pmsl!! :heart:

FHF

[Harrisii]

If your hawk can catch and carry a whole rabbit you should stop flying it and put in in a museum :rolleyes:

you should see my FHH.
she has lifted fully grown rabbits from the hill and carried them for quite a distance.
why?? i aint sure, i think its because she can and is showing her strength.
its nothing to do with carrying game, she steps off kills easily, and does not mantle and shares her kills etc but to be honest, its pretty stunning stuff.
i was gob-smacked when she first done it. to see a FHH swoop, snatch, (bald eagle style) carry and fly off with a fully grown rabbit is something.

and before i get ridiculed there are other forum members who have witnessed it although i wouldnt believe it uless i saw it either.
and i will not be putting her in a museum. not yet anyway.

[MattSpar]

Mattspar that is highly silly pmsl!! :heart:

FHF


I know, I know. I'm just in that sort of mood. Doesn't happen often. Last time was 1946, as I recall.

[Matty]

that truly is an impressive bird harrisii

[Moses]

you should see my FHH.
she has lifted fully grown rabbits from the hill and carried them for quite a distance.
why?? i aint sure, i think its because she can and is showing her strength.
its nothing to do with carrying game, she steps off kills easily, and does not mantle and shares her kills etc but to be honest, its pretty stunning stuff.
i was gob-smacked when she first done it. to see a FHH swoop, snatch, (bald eagle style) carry and fly off with a fully grown rabbit is something.

and before i get ridiculed there are other forum members who have witnessed it although i wouldnt believe it uless i saw it either.
and i will not be putting her in a museum. not yet anyway.

no bull bb, i saw colins bird doing it myself

we were up a hill and she lifted up the rabbit and flew down hill with it so the other harris's couldnt grab it :D, i dont think colin she wanted tae share it that time :D

it was a shock tae see her doing that

[Tim Laycock]

Fair enough but carying a rabbit a short distance with its impetus on the strike is not realy what I meant :yawinkle:

[Moses]

Fair enough but carying a rabbit a short distance with its impetus on the strike is not realy what I meant :yawinkle:


no worries mate :)

[Jazz1]

the FHH is only doing with the rabbit as she would have with any other food given in her mews.
i cannot see this teaching her to carry, not at all.
what she does in her mews during the moult is not a learnt thing for when she is hunting during the season.
during the hawking season you are a team and as a team player she will be looking for you to do your part which was learned during previous seasons.

i wouldnt worry about this at all. besides, even if she went into a tree with small catch (which she wont) once eaten, she will still come to you as the food will not have been passed over and she will still be hungray.

nothing to worry about mate.

Just as Harrisii say she is only doing what she would do with any food you give her.
All the 4hawks that myself and Abeboy keep do this when in there Mews go to the highest point and eat but when out hunting on a kill there fine.
Nothing to worry about M8.


All that said the young M/H we had last year his 1st kill of the season was a young rabbit and he hit it on the side and just kept on flying with this rabbit.And by the time we found him he was up this TALL tree and as happy as could be(Full Crop).
Do you think he would come down out that tree HA HA not a chance by this time it was dark there was nothing Myself or Craig could do so we had to leave him and go back up 1st thing in the morning.Fingers cross he was still there at 1st we thought he was gone because he was not up the same tree but he had only move a few tree away and down he came to the glove.
so it can happen;)

[Tim Laycock]

baby rabbit

[Coney Catcher]

i just started thread because was approached last year while flying my bird by a welshman on holiday who tagged along with me and mentioned he went ratting with friends who used harris hawks and said problems occured of birds flying off with rats onto shed roofs and eating quarry didn,t see this myself but took him at his word :-|

[Hacker]

Train it on Lamb`s as it will not be able to fly off with these!
Also nip into the Co-Op and get some mint sauce as this will come in handy!:supz:

[Harrisii]

no bull bb, i saw colins bird doing it myself

we were up a hill and she lifted up the rabbit and flew down hill with it so the other harris's couldnt grab it :D, i dont think colin she wanted tae share it that time :D

it was a shock tae see her doing that

thank goodness you saw this thread mate, i was about to dig out an old one where it was mentioned by yourself.
it was some flight mate eh?? she did that 3 times and all were fantastic but that was the furthest she had flown with one. 25 yrds. or so.

like i said i wouldnt believe it if i never saw it myself.

hacker, i may just do that mate. lol,

[Harrisii]

i just started thread because was approached last year while flying my bird by a welshman on holiday who tagged along with me and mentioned he went ratting with friends who used harris hawks and said problems occured of birds flying off with rats onto shed roofs and eating quarry didn,t see this myself but took him at his word :-|


this may be something different all together.

my harris caught a number of rats last season. if course she was not allowed to feed from them for obvious reasons. in fact i didnt want her catching them incase of bites etc. to intentionally hunt them with a harris is IMHO daft but its not my birds.
also, to allow a bird to feed on wild stinking rats is not recomended for obvious reasons. they could be eating poisons, they could be carrying anything.
if, and i suspect these harrises were used to hunt rats regularly they would have been stripped of their kills and not allowed to ffeed on them.
even if they were rewarded well with something else they soon realise that the owner is comming to take its kill and this may have prompted them to fly off with rats. they may well be ok with rabbits etc but they have learned an association where they catch rats and they get taken away, hence, the reason for carrying.

this is my thoughts on it but not knowing the full details i could well be wrong, but it seems to fit for me.

[Coney Catcher]

thanks harrisi
reading your post has clarified a few things it had crossed my mind to hunt rats myself but don,t think i,ll bother now :roll:

coneycather

[Matty]

this may be something different all together.

my harris caught a number of rats last season. if course she was not allowed to feed from them for obvious reasons. in fact i didnt want her catching them incase of bites etc. to intentionally hunt them with a harris is IMHO daft but its not my birds.
also, to allow a bird to feed on wild stinking rats is not recomended for obvious reasons. they could be eating poisons, they could be carrying anything.
if, and i suspect these harrises were used to hunt rats regularly they would have been stripped of their kills and not allowed to ffeed on them.
even if they were rewarded well with something else they soon realise that the owner is comming to take its kill and this may have prompted them to fly off with rats. they may well be ok with rabbits etc but they have learned an association where they catch rats and they get taken away, hence, the reason for carrying.

this is my thoughts on it but not knowing the full details i could well be wrong, but it seems to fit for me.

another fine answer :-)

[Harrisii]

thanks harrisi
reading your post has clarified a few things it had crossed my mind to hunt rats myself but don,t think i,ll bother now :roll:

coneycather

there is a chance your bird will take the odd one mate but they bite as bad as any squirrel mate and could put a hawk out of action, permenantly.
my FHH took 8 big uns last season and never got bit till the last one just before the moult. it bit both feet pretty badly and one was on the knuckle. luckily she escaped serious harm and recovered but it could easily have been a different story.
best to stay clear if you can, same with those tree rats too. i caught one last season and she missed 2. both of which bit her feet. again, she was lucky not to have suffered bad bites.
cheers, H.

[Matty]

my fhh takes rats occasionally and has also been bitten
vets gave out antibiotics
it took a couple of months for the swelling to go down

[Harrisii]

my fhh takes rats occasionally and has also been bitten
vets gave out antibiotics
it took a couple of months for the swelling to go down

they are a pain mate eh..

i think its important for everyone to carry a first aid kit for birds which helps tremendously. they are small, light weight and ideal to have at hand.
any bites cuts scrapes etc can be disinfected and cleaned right away then vetrinary advise saught.
something i always carry.

[Matty]

they are a pain mate eh..

i think its important for everyone to carry a first aid kit for birds which helps tremendously. they are small, light weight and ideal to have at hand.
any bites cuts scrapes etc can be disinfected and cleaned right away then vetrinary advise saught.
something i always carry.

yep i always carry a fist aid kit now
even went on a bop first aid course a couple of seasons ago
great course but puts the fear of god into you,
with reguards to what can go wrong

ps thanks 4 rep points

[Coney Catcher]

mate had problem of rats around his duck ponds
first all the young ducks dissapeared then no ducks at
all.could watch rats swimming out to islands on ponds and emptying
feeders
had plans of flying fhh at them

[MattSpar]

mate had problem of rats around his duck ponds
first all the young ducks dissapeared then no ducks at
all.could watch rats swimming out to islands on ponds and emptying
feeders
had plans of flying fhh at them

She'll get bitten if you do it often enough. Try flying a mulit-catch cage trap at them instead.

[Harrisii]

mate had problem of rats around his duck ponds
first all the young ducks dissapeared then no ducks at
all.could watch rats swimming out to islands on ponds and emptying
feeders
had plans of flying fhh at them

last thing you need mate is a HH with a rat on an island.
getting it back before its cropped up, etc.
and if its bitten you want it back asap.
try shooting them when they are swimming or like MS said, trap them,
but shooting them as they swim back and forward is more fun.

[Fires59]

Harris will catch rats if they see them but got to be real careful not only cos they bite but the chance of weils disease. The harris catches the rats it ..sses its self and you go and take it away from the bird and you have just put your hand in its pee only then takes you to stick you hand in your mouth and you could have the bug :(