My Harris unsettled on the glove!

[Falkeeno]

Hi guys,like to no your thoughts,my male harris came out of the moult a little unsettled this year basically he comes to the glove fine and when i am sat manning him he,s relaxed as soon as i get up and start to walk around with him out go his wings as though he is about to bait!although he doesnt its like hes struggling to balance,maybe a confidence thing? never had this problm in the past years he is 06 bird,he came out of the moult at 1lb 15oz, i reduced him slowly over three weeks is now at 1lb 8oz and at this weight previously been very steady.we flew him free at wekend with no problms its just this manning him while walking around.I am thinking alot more manning and long walks lol, like to no your thoughts best wishes Stevo:supz:

[BlackHawke]

the wifes little male is the same this year,he's an 06 bird and he's been a right little ******. i got my theories. the birds got a couple of years experience under his belt knows the score now, may becoming sexually mature and bolshy!! If ya can, do plenty of hunting of the fist. remember although he's manned, he needs to see a reward/results for being on ya fist, i'm only going by our little male but he's had plenty of success following on and see thats as the way to go. maybe use tirings, reinforcing the fist as the place to be. im also dropping my males weight by 1/2 ounce coz.

IMHO mannings good and essential but it is an animal and needs to see results from sitting on ur fist he knows he can get those results from sitting in a tree.

[FalconGriff]

Sounds to me like a manning problem and the best place to do manning is the hunting field as the birds mind is on that rather than where to fly.

[JEF12Y]

Hi,
I seem to be having a similar problem,the only thing is the hh i have is on loan from a mate, he told me he was well manned before he went down to moult. Ive had him just over a week which is when he finished his moult i have reduced his weight slowly, but he seems hell bent on footing me at every chance possible, any ideas on reducing the footing problem.
Many thanks Jeff

[FalconGriff]

A bird footing you is a very hard problem to stop. First look at your technique. Are you sure that you never remove food from the bird?? If you do stop it straight away and only put on the glove what you are prepared for him to eat. That is if you call him to a chick then he is allowed to eat the chick, If you only want him to have a leg call him to a leg. If all is well with your technique then I have found that they only way to stop it is to let him foot you leave your hand there till he lets go - I use a very thin right handed kangaroo glove as I can't stand pain! Is a slow process but gradually they learn that nothing is to gained from the footing, but most of the time its the handling, yours or what has gone before that is at fault

[JEF12Y]

Thanks for the reply, sounds like i should give the bird back to my mate, and get myself a this years bird and start from scratch.