SPARROWHAWKS

[Sparrow Hawker]

These are my 2 little spars which I hope to breed from next season. The male is around 20 days old and the female is slightly younger at 11 days old. They were paired off as soon as they were sexed and crèche reared together. When they are able to fly I will move them outdoors into a aviary.

HH

[Darren]

look at them little babes

[Dude]

my Fspar is got 3stripes out of her tail yet :)

they are cute :)

[Coedhirion]

aaawwww and so nice and clean an fresh!! give them a day or two and they will paint it all a nice fresh white for you :lol:
But so cute !!!

[Jastreb]

Congratulations HH!
Niceeeee, very niccccceee chicks :prayer: :supz: !
Cheers Viktor

[SparsTheOne]

have lots of fun with them si.

jase.

[Tim Laycock]

Beautifull :D

[Finnish]

Very nice.

[Matt]

at last you got them si thats ace they look realy healthy and big to . all the best matt

[The New Kid]

awwwh, they look all floofy! =op

[Falcon]

Nice one Si!

[GoneHawking]

Git :D Nice one simon hope all goes well with them.

[Sparrow Hawker]

Cheers All,

There doing great thanks :D Males standing and females over taken him in size now :) I will update there progress when I'm feeling better.

All The Best,

HH

[GoneHawking]

Simon, if your not feeling to well, I can look after those lovley little spars, on a permanant loan :lol: :lol:
Hope it all goes well with them.

[Adam Barrett]

hi simon,
congratulations on finally getting the spars!

are you planning on flying them this year or just waiting for them to breed??

all the best
adam

[Sparrow Hawker]

LOL Gonehawking cheers for the offer :lol: :lol:

are you planning on flying them this year or just waiting for them to breed?? Cheers Adam,

I have no intentions to fly them, may fly a youngster next season if I can get them to breed. The advice given to me was to either fly the female or just use them soley for breeding. If flown there does seem more of a chance of the female killing the male.

All The Best,

HH

[Peregrynne]

Bout time I saw and heard about those little blighters....:lol:

Congrats Simon...glad to see you getting that all sorted out

Now I don't have to listen to you blather on about getting them someday....:lol: :lol: :lol:

sit back, relax, have a drink :drinkers::drinkers::drinkers:

and get ready to start cleaning up after them....:lol: :roll: :lol:

[Matt]

come on si wheres the fresh pics i want to see them as they are at the moment .
all the best matt

[Coedhirion]

c'mon Si post the latest pics!!! They will be all grown up at this rate before you post any more!!!

[Tim Laycock]

:roll: :lol:

[Sparrow Hawker]

LOL i'll get some latest pics up soon, when I have got the camera sorted out. Both are fully feathered now, massive difference in appearance compared with downey stage they go through.

A few times I have seen the musket pecking gently at the females feet, any ideas what this behaviour is indicating - Playing!!!

Cheers,

HH

[Tim Laycock]

A few times I have seen the musket pecking gently at the females feet, any ideas what this behaviour is indicating - Playing

"Siblings" playing. Nothing more.

<Btw> If you intend to breed from the pair are they related?

Also, Are you going to or have you started housing them at seperate locations yet?

If the answer is no to both part's and they are fully feathered I would give this serious considerstion, Your plans to breed with this pair will be a waste of time if the "Siblings" are exposed to each others company for much longer!.
Nature has its own natural mechanisims to prevent inbreeding in certain species and these will cut in before long, Even if the pair are unrelated.

[Sparrow Hawker]

Hi Blackbird,

Interesting points raised there,

Your post makes sense and I can see where your coming from it throws my mind into confusion somewhat :? as all the advice I have been given has been the opposite "keep them together."

My sole intention is to breed from them - there unrelated stock.

I have spoken to a few breeders of Spars and the majority of people I have spoken to have said rear them together and keep them together. The breeder I purchased my pair from has tried a number of methods and said he has found the above method the best and as far as i'm aware its the method what a lot of Spar breeders now use.

Have you bred Spars before or do you know anyone who has had problems getting them to breed with the rearing method I'm using?

How would you go about breeding from a pair?

What does everyone else think???

All The Best,

HH

[Tim Laycock]

:) I have never bred spars myself but I used to know a lot of people that did and they have bred with limited success with creche reared birds.
I read about breeding from crech reared eyasses in Understanding the Bird of Prey by Nick Fox. He suggests that this inbreeding defence mechanisim will kick in if the eyasses are crech reared together and never separated until being put down to breed as they maintain their "Sibling" relationship.
I dont think a long separation is required with spars as they are known to be sexualy mature in their first year.
One or two months would probably do it. I think this would mimic to some degree the dispersal of eyasses from a nest.

I think The above is the path I will follow whan I get enough space to "Grow my own" 8) :lol:

I realise I am basing this on someone elses theorys but the word of Dr Nick Fox is more than enough to convince me :D

[OutFlying]

any progress ?

[Wilfred]

or new pictures??

[Kornie]

Awesome birds simon.

More picturres needed mate!

[Sparrow Hawker]

Hi All,

There doing fine thanks :D I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.

I'm continuing with the method as had been suggested by a number of people to me in keeping the Spars together and will see how they get on.

All The Best,

HH

[Coedhirion]

C'mon Simon where are the pics, they must be flying by now !! :lol: :roll:

[Tim Laycock]

Pics would be good!

[Coedhirion]

Pics would be good!
Very good..recon Harris Hawker is too busy playing mum and dad to the spars to bother with us on here lately :yawinkle: :lol:

[Tim Laycock]

If I can manage it, Anyone can! :mrgreen: :lol: