professional copers

[Moses]

bloody hell it sounds and looks a job and a half :D

how many or percentage of the falconers have tried coping or r good at it

sounds very hard indeed coping the beak and making sure u dont weaken it and then the nails etc.

can u get training on coping

cheers

[IAmTheWeasel]

Nothing to it....All you need to do to cope a bird is to first.....take it to the local avian vets office....hehehe....Seriously though, I have been shown how to do it on many occations, but have yet to do it myself as I am like you in that I am worried that I would cut too much. I would use a dremel tool to shape the beak in small increments after it has been trimmed with a clipper. Care MUST be taken with a dremel tool as it can heat up the beak with prolonged use and cause injury to the bird aswell as the fact that it is a spinning drill that can in itself cause injury is misused. I only like this idea as it is quicker that using a file and therfore puts the bird through less stress.

[Moses]

lol mate i will take your advice my friend and will get an avian vet to do it :D

i dont trust my local vet for birds, he didnt know much about birds the last time i took my lil lovebird their he told me he dont know much about birds , so he out her down, its sad she left her mate i gave him away to my mate he had alot of other birds to keep him company

an avian vet, will need to find someone local then

i dont think i will be any good at coping dont wanna take of the poor birds beak :D if i ever have to do it

cheers mate, just wanted to find out if anyone does it

thanks

[Moses]

im not sure copping is hard just scarey lol and very easy to get wrong

i had to get my redtails beak coped a few weeks back as it was very badly over grown luckily i had a good mate to help it was his first time but he went slowly and now his beak is great

i realy wouldnt fancey trying it myself do it wrong and you could do some serios damage

i would thing any decent center would be able to teach you


Andy............

thanks alot andy, i wasnt sure the vets actually did this till our american friend told me avian vets do, i thought it was something we need to do ourselves, like u said mate, i wouldnt even wanna try it, it is really scary

the reason i asked was last night i read the part on coping in the mews and field book, it what happens when u get it wrong that puts u aff :D

[Moses]

thanks mate i heard of oblige but whats ablige me friend :D

im aff for a bit, going oot with my wife and lil girl, to the indoor shopping centre for a walkabout, only place opened till 9pm is oor braehead centre :D

see u in a bit mate

cheers

[OutFlying]

Moses,
Fed your hawk off a tiring, rabbits legs, rabbit skulls, pheasant wings etc and it shouldn't need coping ever or at the most once a season. Why would you want to cope its talons ?

OF.

[Moses]

Moses,
Fed your hawk off a tiring, rabbits legs, rabbit skulls, pheasant wings etc and it shouldn't need coping ever or at the most once a season. Why would you want to cope its talons ?

OF.

thanks mate for your advice, cheers a million

mate i read in the books if they overgrow the problems they can cause and if they break it causes alot of problems too so it said to clip it every so often if it does over grow

is their anything we can put in a mew so the hawk scratches a surface itself naturally to trim like a cat does


cheers

[OutFlying]

A rock.

Where do the wild hawks go for there beak coping ???????????????????

Moses provide plenty of food still attached to the bone and coping shouldn't need to be done, feed plenty of chick etc and you'll be coping twice a year at least.

OF.

[Moses]

A rock.

Where do the wild hawks go for there beak coping ???????????????????

Moses provide plenty of food still attached to the bone and coping shouldn't need to be done, feed plenty of chick etc and you'll be coping twice a year at least.

OF.

will do my friend

yes good idea about the rock :lol: thanks for being patient my friend

[Jester]

Jesters beak isnt too bad for length cos i give him rabbit heads to play with but it does seem to be wearing on one side more than the other and i think his talons could use a little trim. Never though of getting the vet to do it though was just gonna do it when he is cast up soon for new tail mount and anklets.

might just take him to the vet for a general check over for worms and stuff and get them done at the same time otherwise i will probably make a mess of the beak and file it down to nothing to try to make it even :roll:

[ColdZero]

After Terra eats you can see where she has worn her beak by scraping it on the big pebble in her mews, so she does it herself.

[Turumti]

What would you guys give for a perch that obviated the need for coping?

[OutFlying]

A rusty bow perch would do the job nicely. The hawk wears its beak down well on them.

[Turumti]

It wears down the hawk even quicker. Nearly 6 feet underground!!!

[Moses]

lol @ turumti :D


jester cheers mate all the best with your bird at the vet bud

thanks coldzero sounds cool enuff

cheers

[FlameHairedFalconer]

I have coped alot of falcons and hawks in my time, both my own and other peoples.

I seem to have a bit of a knack for it - must be all the practice I have had on my fingernails!!

You do need to have the right tools for the job - a good set of files. If the beak is overlong you can use clippers, but I tend not to. Emma Fords book has a good diagram on what files to use where on both hawks and falcons.

FHF

[Hawkmaster]

MOVED TO THE CORRECT PLACE!

[Jester]

had jester to the vet on saturday and got his beak and talons done and fitted the tail mount. got a few bits and pieces as well like lectade, caustic pencils and antibiotic spray.
dunno how much it cost yet though cos vet will send me the bill but it dont matter cos after his first free flights yesterday after the moult and the spectacle of him flying his little wings off chasing after a pair of wagtails tonight he is more than worth it. Dont think he realises he really isnt fast or agile enough to actually catch them though :roll: but was brilliant to watch even though the chase only lasted about 60-70mtr.

[Moritz]

OF, clipping talons is necessary to make sure that the bird does not puncture itself and there for gets bumbel. If you take it slow and easy coping should not be a problem, but let someone show it to you before hand. If you make the bird bleed while coping but a bit superglue on it, works very well. The tools for coping you can get from b&q.

Moritz

[OhMyGod]

low calcium diet will make the beak and talons get overgrown.

[ColdZero]

why is that OMG? seems backwards to me and doesn't make sense :rolleyes:

[OhMyGod]

No, sorry I can't remember how it works, I read somwhere that calcium dificiency will make the beak grow faster resulting in soft flakey beaks. And a bird that has a split beak should be given calcium for strength AND one of the vitamins (can't remember which one now, could be vit A) to speed up the growth as calcium doesn't make it grow faster, but stronger. I always thought the beak was keretin.

but anyway, good diet with good bone (not soft baby chickens) will keep you from having to cope your birds beak. Along with some FINE abrasive stone, not breezeblock abrazive though.

[OutFlying]

OF, clipping talons is necessary to make sure that the bird does not puncture itself and there for gets bumbel. If you take it slow and easy coping should not be a problem, but let someone show it to you before hand. If you make the bird bleed while coping but a bit superglue on it, works very well. The tools for coping you can get from b&q.

Moritz

Moritz,
If you hunt your hawk hard enough during the season, you'd struggle to keep the talons sharp enough nevermind having to cope them. Perch design will keep the talons in good order.

If you made the talons so blunt that they couldn't punture its own feet - how would it hold anything in the field ?

OF.

[Moritz]

This is mostly for Gyr falcons as they are very bad for bumbel esp during the moult in the aviary. It is enough to just clip the end of the talons, the bird will still be able to hold the quarry but not puncture its feet when stressed.

Moritz

[OutFlying]

Don't know many pure gyrs being flown at game - so can't comment. Falcons tend to strike quarry down rather than a hawk which has to bind - so talons sharpness would be less of an issue.

Cope your harris talons and let me know how you go on :wink:

Yours Jim.

[Moritz]

LOL
I will try it just for you.

Moritz

[Moses]

had jester to the vet on saturday and got his beak and talons done and fitted the tail mount. got a few bits and pieces as well like lectade, caustic pencils and antibiotic spray.
dunno how much it cost yet though cos vet will send me the bill but it dont matter cos after his first free flights yesterday after the moult and the spectacle of him flying his little wings off chasing after a pair of wagtails tonight he is more than worth it. Dont think he realises he really isnt fast or agile enough to actually catch them though :roll: but was brilliant to watch even though the chase only lasted about 60-70mtr.


nice one mate and hope he gets fit soon


interesting thread nice to read the views from the veterans 8)

[OutFlying]

LOL
I will try it just for you.

Moritz :P

:lol:

Jim.

[Tim Laycock]

:lol: