breeding goshawks

[Grovsey]

hi
my m8 is thinking off moving onto breeding gos's after succesfully breeding harris's,what is the best way to get them breeing i.e let them get on with it or incemination.then once the eyes are layed should you put them in an incubator or leave them with the parents

[Hawkmaster]

I would love to know too as I have never bred a thing.

[The Late Lord Lucan]

Couldn't answer your questions directly as I don't have any first hand experience. Does your mate have plenty of time?
Breeding Goshawks, as opposed to Harris Hawks is a very very big step. The similarity really stops after you have counted the number of birds that you want to breed with eachother!
You'll need two pens to start as opposed to one, if you put two goshawks in together when they are not ready to do the business, you can probably kiss one of them goodbye.
So when is the right time to put them in together? That's where the time really starts to come in. You have to keep watching until you are sure they are ready. Once they are in together, you have to keep watching, to make sure that they're OK.
Once the chicks are starting to fledge. again you have to make sure they're not all left in to long, otherwise, guess what? Yup, more dead or injured birds!
Thats about as basic as you can get with an explanation, but it mught give you some ideas and hopefully raise some more questions while waiting for some of the more experienced folk to answer.
Another thing that people strive for is to get say, a male & female 'Finnish' Gos for breeding. Sure, in an ideal world this would be great, but the reality with Gosses is that if you can get a male & female that show signs of getting on, then you're off to a good start!

Regards,
Lucky.

PS. I hope I'm not teaching you to 'suck eggs' here, but the way I read the post, is that your friend basically doesn't know where to start.
Sorry if I misread or mis understood.

[Gaz]

:mrgreen:

[Varmint]

Basically what LL said rings true!

Many people utilise a Double screen between the aviaries to allow both M and F to call and Visibly interract before introduction, but thats the secret when to introduce?

The Male will always come into condition firts and spend ages calling and offering food to the female but normally this just prompts agression.
The key is to wait until she really starts begging to him raher than just flying up in aggression.

Keep plenty of cover near the bath cause thats a favourite time for her to kill him when he's wet and another good thing is to make the partision screen from vertical bars with just enough space for him to duck thru but too tight for her, allowing him a bolt hole.

Once the pair are bonded, thats all the hard work over really! my mate has 3 pairs that stay together 24/7 and have done for years with no probs, but his Aviaries are 50ft hexagonal seclusions with plenty of natural Growth and Tree's.

As a matter of interest, Merlins are really similar to breed?

Merlin's and Gos's= Crack Cocaine!

[The Late Lord Lucan]

my mate has 3 pairs that stay together 24/7

365?
Wow, thats, pretty good going........

but his Aviaries are 50ft hexagonal seclusions with plenty of natural Growth and Tree's.

That certainly helps a massive amount, but even so, pretty impressive...

Regards,
LLL.

[Finnish]

Two good friends of mine breed gos hawks they bread 16 birds between them last year they say it is very hard work.My bird will be going into the project next year.I am in the progress now of building 2 new avries for the birds.I will put two first year birds in the new avries this year so they can see each other and hopefully if they make the right signs next year i will let them in together.

[Apachie111]

Varmint,

I take it from your post you breed merlins naturally. Is that correct? If so I would sure like to pick your brain sometime. I currently have one pair of merlins I am setting up for breeding. I cannot really say they are bonded because they have not been through a breeding season together but they get along fine, now.

Anyway, if you do I would like to ask you a few questions.

David








Basically what LL said rings true!

Many people utilise a Double screen between the aviaries to allow both M and F to call and Visibly interract before introduction, but thats the secret when to introduce?

The Male will always come into condition firts and spend ages calling and offering food to the female but normally this just prompts agression.
The key is to wait until she really starts begging to him raher than just flying up in aggression.

Keep plenty of cover near the bath cause thats a favourite time for her to kill him when he's wet and another good thing is to make the partision screen from vertical bars with just enough space for him to duck thru but too tight for her, allowing him a bolt hole.

Once the pair are bonded, thats all the hard work over really! my mate has 3 pairs that stay together 24/7 and have done for years with no probs, but his Aviaries are 50ft hexagonal seclusions with plenty of natural Growth and Tree's.

As a matter of interest, Merlins are really similar to breed?

Merlin's and Gos's= Crack Cocaine!

[Hawkmaster]

Looks like a new thread to me on Merlin Breeding? :wink:

[Jack Merlin]

<Many people utilise a Double screen between the aviaries to allow both M and F to call and Visibly interract before introduction, but thats the secret when to introduce?

I saw a site somewhere on the Web put up by a German falconry establishment. They had bred goshawks by having male and female on parallel trolley systems (running wire). I think the female laid eggs in a scrape beside her shelter. I couldn't work out how the mating had been managed! The falconer may have lengthened the tether temporarily for copulation. But the Germans seem to be very knowledgable about gosses and nothing would surprise me. Can't find the site now and it may have been taken down. Love will find a way, eh?<g>

Jack

[Hawkmaster]

Mmm make sense to me.

She would stop say halfway on the running gear and not be able to catch him as he escapes in the other direction on it, but if all goes well, they can come together as it were for the deed.