Day old chicks!

[Blaze]

Iv been told by nearly every body thats involved in falconry that doc's are a easy inexpensive weight holding food for bop's.............Iv been using theese since i aquired my fhh as well as rats/quail weekly and rabbit when she catches.............But after been given the advice from one falconer(you know who you are) that chicks as soon as they hatch are culled...They don't get fed up and built up healthy strong birds there basicaly watery ****..............So instead of feeding chicks iv switched to cutting peices of clean rabbit meat into little 1 oz blocks and freezing them....So you get to know how much to give to keep them right......Not only that... A rabbit is a organic naturaly reared healthy fit animal........Makes sense to me...........What are your opinions on this? Good/bad?

[Flying High]

sounds good to me. When it comes to feeding my birds, i fly them to doc's but when it come to the rest of there food i feed them on Rats, Mice, Rabbit, Duck, Quail and anything else they catch.

[HunterPaul]

i never use docs ...ever...dont want to get into a debate about it....just dont do it for my reasons that are too numerous to mention...and my birds always look a lot healthier for it...but I hate the flourescent yellow look..and quite frankly I find them too expensive....for what they are when I can aquire rabbits for free... I dont mind paying for rat mice grown ons..quail etc... but I hate chick...how many falconers would still use this food source if they cost 50p each...

[Barbary Boy]

try feeding 30+ birds on anything else! its just not practical. i agree other foods are definately better and feed what i can but the good old doc is a must for a lot of us, including many if not all of the biggest breeders, some of these guys are using millions, yes millions of chicks a year! i am a very small "hobby" breeder but during the breeding season when i feed a lot of quail my food bill is over £300 per month,its well over £100 this time of year, then people moan about the price of your birds???

[HunterPaul]

try feeding 30+ birds on anything else! its just not practical. i agree other foods are definately better and feed what i can but the good old doc is a must for a lot of us, including many if not all of the biggest breeders, some of these guys are using millions, yes millions of chicks a year! i am a very small "hobby" breeder but during the breeding season when i feed a lot of quail my food bill is over £300 per month,its well over £100 this time of year, then people moan about the price of your birds???
mate I agree entirely and I was talking about the single bird owners...i know guys who dont have a clue but buy the bird simply because the breeder told them to just chuck em a couple of chicks ...they cost nowt...obviously a northern breeder by the accent.. this makes the decision of obtaining a bird for them...I fly one bird at a time give it all my time and attention..as Ive said before I live a priveliged life style ..... and I never feed chick.... my advice to people in my position...and that should be most single bird owners to be able to hunt there birds on a five day week basis during the hunting season...use what you catch ..it is cheaper and a better food....try it for a few weeks...your bird will be happier by the simple fact you have to go take it to catch its grub.....

[Sean]

Neile forbes swears by chicks. of its good enough for him its good enough for me

[HunterPaul]

Neile forbes swears by chicks. of its good enough for him its good enough for me
as I said if the price went up how good would his word be then....

[PeelsBells]

Iv been told by nearly every body thats involved in falconry that doc's are a easy inexpensive weight holding food for bop's.............Iv been using theese since i aquired my fhh as well as rats/quail weekly and rabbit when she catches.............But after been given the advice from one falconer(you know who you are) that chicks as soon as they hatch are culled...They don't get fed up and built up healthy strong birds there basicaly watery ****..............So instead of feeding chicks iv switched to cutting peices of clean rabbit meat into little 1 oz blocks and freezing them....So you get to know how much to give to keep them right......Not only that... A rabbit is a organic naturaly reared healthy fit animal........Makes sense to me...........What are your opinions on this? Good/bad?


Blaze the answer is bad if you are flying your bird just on rabbit alone then your bird is mainy getting protein and no carbs which is the energy source. Day old chicks contain carbs,calcuim and feathers for there cast.
A good mix of different feds will give you bird a healthy diet and will help with its fitness in the field.
You will have to adjust you schedual to suit but you will have a better bird.
Please note de-yolk all you chicks as this is were people go wrong as the high level of fat is contained in yolk and cholestrol.
I have done alot of body building in the past and use the same program on the birds (food that is)LOL
There is a book out with all the differences in cals within food for rat ,quail,guinipig,hare ,chicks, day old turkey poults.
I will try and find this for you and sit and read as you are probably aware that the body needs different kinds of vitamins to be healthy.
Dont get me wrong you can feed just chick but would you like this every day?
Put in quality and get out quailty, you have seen the condition of my birds and i think all that is down to is the food and vitimins.
Hope this helps.........

[HunterPaul]

i would never recommend any body feed one food source...wether it be rabbit or rat....but I prefer to cut day old chicks out of my birds diet completely...as to feed them as I feed my bird would mean id have an excess to make it cost efficient... if you were buying a young bird from a breeder and you looked in the aviary and saw yellow fluff everywhere ...which is often the case...and there was another breeder down the road selling his birds a hundred pounds more but hed never ...or very rarely feeds the parent birds or the youngsters chick...personally id pay the extra 100....it to me is the first question I ask.... but as I said I never feed one exclusive food form... when i saw your birds and made inquiries it was because they look fabulous and dont have that yellow orange look about them...ill get some pix out of my female that was killed last year...and im sure youll comment on her looks....she also out flew and out performed every bird she ever went out hunting with.... and I can say that without reserve...

[Kiwanja]

i use doc's once or twice a week but use washed rabbit/fur and washed beef.I also let my bird crop up on quarry maybe once every two weeks.To my way of thinking that gives the bird everything they need and allows wieght control if you plan correctly.But i do think feeding doc's all through the flying season is no good for the bird.:yawinkle:

[HunterPaul]

Neile forbes swears by chicks. of its good enough for him its good enough for me
swears by them as opposed to what....

[Pitbull]

i have to aree with paul i dont know what the parent of the chicks are fed but it wont be natural, if you can do without them great. The first question before buying a bird is time to fly your bird, the other is quarry, if you where true to yourself then doc are not a factor, the same goes for frozen rat, mice etc, cant beat a caught crow squirrel,pheasant etc, this is where knowing what quarry does what to your bird rather than relying on doc

[Sean]

paul it was in the book Raptor Nutrition by Neil Forbes, he describes rat,quail,mice, u name it, but says that chicks are very good diet for a bird, he says that chicks, because of the price , people think they arent a good source of food. but like with other animals cant be good if fed on them just alone.

[Blaze]

try feeding 30+ birds on anything else! its just not practical. i agree other foods are definately better and feed what i can but the good old doc is a must for a lot of us, including many if not all of the biggest breeders, some of these guys are using millions, yes millions of chicks a year! i am a very small "hobby" breeder but during the breeding season when i feed a lot of quail my food bill is over £300 per month,its well over £100 this time of year, then people moan about the price of your birds???
Sorry barbary boy........I didn't think of it that for people like yourself who has bop's in numbers.............It was just a general question about doc's.........Different peoples veiws.........I only have one bird and i dont want any more,like hp said id rather put all my time into one bird..........But i understand that you've done the job for a long time and are into breeding etc so yes i understand what your saying

[DeathFromAbove]

I use a varied diet of beef/rabbit/quail/pheasant/docs with raptor essentials with no problems.

[Stephen]

As long as all birds get a varied diet i give my birds doc,rabbit,pheasant,quail,rats ,mice and hare when they catch it and everything else they catch

[MattSpar]

i have to aree with paul i dont know what the parent of the chicks are fed but it wont be natural,

Neither is the diet given to rats, mice, quail, and so on, but we feed these to our birds quite happily.

[Hawkmaster]

Moved From General Falconry To The Correct Place