Introducing Frodo...

[craftycarper 0]

Well finally took the plunge and got a male HH, not the original one i paid the deposit for as that fell through on my behalf due to personal reasons and was then offered this little chap on the spur of the moment and it all went from there. Had him a couple of weeks now and have not posted due to the dismal weather we have had and the time i have have been putting in with him around the weather. Apologies for the pictures, i will get some better ones on in the next few days these were taken after we both got a soaking coming from the mews to indoors...bloody weather again, they really don't do him justice.

Just a quick rundown on whats been happening to get you up to speed and the large learning curve that its been for the both of us since acquiring him.

The day after getting him the weather took a turn for the worse winds and rain so it was indoors to man him for a couple of days till it settled...sort of first mistake after two days or more of this he was settled on the fist quite nicely taking in his surroundings,the dogs,kids,tv and everything was great. Third day was eating off the fist, fourth day allowing me to hood him. Then the trouble started, the weather eased off and it was outside with him and the whole process had ro be started again....basically he went ballistic and took a further more four days of seven hours a stint to settle outside on the fist and eat again. After that its been pretty much up and up the only drawback is the hooding seems to be hit and miss since we moved back outside and everything has taken that little longer working around the weather. Day 9 he was doing short flights of 4ft on a long leash. Day 10 he was coming 10-15 ft. Days 11 & 12 were spent walking him around fields and woodland getting him used to new sights and surroundings, as expected he was settled on the fist under the canopy of trees in the woodland but out in the open baited quite a lot and took some settling down. Day 13 25 ft in the garden on the creance in and around rainy spells and we did this for a couple of days and then decided to call it a day...from now on no more garden work, time to get him out, typical bad weather is back. Yesterday i got him over the fields and he was great could not fault him, from the 25 ft in the garden we jumped straight up to 60ft on the creance instant everytime and very eager.Today was a different kettle of fish and he was getting very cocky coming to the fist now before i get to the 60ft mark i can hear him coming ( not to sure if this is good or bad) very keen indeed and he is actually flying back to the post from the fist 6 ft before i get to it if i stop and let him. He seemed to settle after many flights towards the end of today and after a good feed up i got out to 90ft and he was responding well to the whistle and was not flying prematurely before i hit the mark. Sorry forgot to add his weight, as i said he seems quite a small chap and was flying at 1lb 4 1/2 today, just need to get a bit more muscle on him now and his weight up a little.

[jasper65 6]

Nice one CC

 

you get caught by the bug now mate! what was his top weight when you got him?

 

He's definitely ready to go loose by the sounds of it CC! If I was you I would go for it if he is responding that way to you and get him up in the some trees for some recalls and then take some quarry....

 

He sounds like he is down to his lowest weight so I would get him loose and on some kills, after this you can push him up a bit with the cold weather now coming in which will help build some muscle and power onto him.....

 

Jasper

[craftycarper 0]

He was just a tad under 1lb 8oz. Since going through the manning process he has dropped obviously and is now consistent with his weight flying to the fist on every call and in some cases off the mark before i put some distance between us at 1lb 4 1/2 right up to an almost full crop and weighing 1lb 7 1/2 and still coming in consistent. Out yesterday but was plague by offroaders at every turn we took so we worked on some short dropping work from trees which went fine. How come you can never find any decent bare trees with hardly any ground cover under them when you want them, today the weather has been crap and i have been worried about the frosts that have started as i seem to have a bird that gets fed up on the bow for long periods and after a while decides he would rather settle down for the night on the ground, so today has been spent getting a perch in for him and getting him off the floor and also to work for his grub today by doing some jump ups. Fingers crossed if we get some better settled weather between mon-wed he will be flying free.....

[craftycarper 0]

well just an update on recent outings and a bit of bad news i'm affraid. Everything was going fine on the trips out, was getting the old chaps weight up slightly and the flying on the creance was perfect from 90ft out instant to the fist. Flying from low limbs of trees was going fine and then it all went pear shaped. Took him out on Monday and flew him free for about forty five minutes out of various trees and heights and he was following on fine in and around different fields. Got him home and i noticed one of his legs is slightly swollen and on checking under his anklet one of his scales has come off i cleaned the area up with some anti-septic and let him be for the night. Next morning got him booked in at the vets and went to check on him to find a bloody hole in his leg i reckon he must have jabbed at it with his beak, any how have now been giving him anti-biotics and anti-inflamitry for the last few days i also cut the anklet off as it must have been chaffing what with the swelling, fingers crossed i'm hoping he will get through this, but if i'm honest i must admit i have my doubts...his leg was quite hot yesterday but today the heat seems to have eased off, but i know how quickly these things can turn around for the worse.....totally gutted.

[Guest bullterrier]

hope thinks take a turn for the better for you mate. ..john

[bullet 129]

hows he doin cc?

[craftycarper 0]

He seems fine in himself and is eating ok, the heat in his leg has gone and i will see the medication out and get him back to the vets. Problem is the wound is right where the anklet would be on the front of the leg as well so its gonna be sometime before i can get another back on him as if he bates its gonna open the whole lot back up again, i don't think he is going to be flying again this season, its that bad and i also don't like the look of the hole that he made in his leg. If it does not settle soon i reckon the vet might wanna open the leg up, will let you know of the outcome shortly...

[D.A.Z 0]

mate sorry to read about your little fellas leg.

i am no expert but tbh i would think that the antibiotics will have him back out in no time,

you say you think he has done it to himself,is it possable that while following on he had a run in with a tree rat??

hope your both back at it again soon

daz

[craftycarper 0]

not a tree rat bite mate, the following on was in a small clump of trees and i had one eye on him all the time and there was not a great deal of distance between us 20 - 30 yrds the most. i'm thinking it was an anklet issue and maybe something to do with when he was caught and leathered up by the guy i got him off, although i check his feet etc daily as i said it was directly under the leather so i must of missed it and then it was too late it just took hold very quickly. He has had his last lot of anti-biotics today, swelling seems to be going down, temperature has gone although the hole in the leg is still there which i was hoping would close when the swelling went down but it still could. Will probably get him back down the vets after the weekend and get another dose of a.b's in him, the only problem being i can't get an anklet on that leg in case it starts the whole thing off again so gonna try and get some form of leather on it like a half width size anklet that sits just below the wound.

[craftycarper 0]

well heres the news...totally gutted, vet says he should be pts due to the cost and time involved with the leg wound. My head says he is right but i have made the mistake & made a decision from the heart to try another course of ab's. He has put on a fair bit of weight this week while he has been free lofted, and to look at him you would not think there is anything wrong with him.

[jasper65 6]

well heres the news...totally gutted, vet says he should be pts due to the cost and time involved with the leg wound. My head says he is right but i have made the mistake & made a decision from the heart to try another course of ab's. He has put on a fair bit of weight this week while he has been free lofted, and to look at him you would not think there is anything wrong with him.

 

 

don't take that route yet CC . I had a Tiercel Pere with Bumble foot in 95!! the vet did a culture on the wound and perscribed <Baytril>. the bird was on this drug with a couple of operations on and off for around 3 months with no joy! I finally went back to the vet who said to me "Have you thought about having him PTS?" I said nope not at the least and payed the bill of around £600 and took him to another vet for a second opinion...

 

the other Vet worked with Neil Forbes over the phone and followed his guidence!! the bird was prescribed a different drug after another culture called <Lincomicin>, this hit the spot with the heat around his foot disapeering plus constant disinfecting of his feet the bird made a full recovery and I bred from him for a further 8 years...

 

Now if I had listend to that Vet and had him PTS It would have been a total waste! this bird finally died this year at the age of 13. it just proves mate that some of the time they're completly wrong...

 

Jasper

[craftycarper 0]

well we have been back to the vets today and he seems to think it's worth sticking with and seeing out for another course of ab's.

Edited November 11, 2008 by craftycarper