Problem Bells

[John Soulsby]

Even during the moult I normally get my birds out daily to weather on the lawn. The weather has been beautiful so this morning was no exception. A few minutes ago I looked out the window and couldn't quite grasp what was happening on the lawn. One of my FHH was all contorted on the ground and appeared to be preening her tail, what suprised me more than he doing this on the ground was the fact that she stayed in that contorted position without moving. After a few seconds I realised that her beak had become wedged in the slit in the tail bell. After a quick dash outside I released her and happily no harm has been done.

I will remove the tail mount later today, had this happened in the aviary overnight for example it could have been fatal - one more thing to think about.

Dispite all this she still hasn't dropped a single feather.

John

[Sophie]

that happened to me once before on a leg bell on a saker. i swapped the bell for one with a smaller slit, it didn't happen again.

[Leo 1]

that has hapend to me a cuple of times and it is a bit scheary

[Pitbull]

what make of bell was it, and made from what.

[Wannabe falconer]

That sounds well dodgy, could have been disastrous. Obviously depending on the slit in the bell is it worth masking taping the slit when putting the bird down for the night. I read this on another site as a prevention of noise during the night but maybe it would prevent the beak getting caught as well.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

That sounds well dodgy, could have been disastrous. Obviously depending on the slit in the bell is it worth masking taping the slit when putting the bird down for the night. I read this on another site as a prevention of noise during the night but maybe it would prevent the beak getting caught as well.

It would be easier if you have this problem to mount bells on a button bewit on the leg so that they can be removed and mount the tail bell with the telemetry on a clip for the tail.

However I prefer to have a bell on my birds so I know what they are doing.

FHF

[Turumti]

The problem you described is quite probable with bells that have slits wider than 2mm. Also the holes ar either ends of the slit can snag the beak or a talon too. This is why I personally prefer bells with narrow slits and no holes at the end of the slit.