how far are u into the moult

[SeanTheHawker 0]

and when did you put your birds up?

Myself, i stopped hutning first weekend of march, and to date have 12 wing feathers and 2 tail. and lots and lots of downy

[Fletcher 0]

I put my MHH up in Feb, he's dropped his deck feathers and 6 secondaries. The decks are 2/3 grown and I can see a couple of secondaries coming through.

[Guest falconeru.k01]

two male harris hawks where put down in febuary they have new tail feathers & still spitting out primaries I hope they be ready end of june.I reverse moult some birds as are used for summer displays & one feather perfect harris has already dropped 1 primary keeping his weight tight so dosnt moult fully .

But i put a 3/4 gyr down still dropped nothing out & has been fed top food since entering moulting chamber.

[SeanTheHawker 0]

june whats your diet?

[Guest falconeru.k01]

june whats your diet?

 

They where loosing feathers when went down , diet is just quail , rat etc they will be pulled out in june & blocked for rest of the moult august time i need them flying , My birds have to normally work part of moult doing hawking days etc. A bird that is fit will drop much faster feathers, these birds are flown two of three times per day 6 days a week so are very fit .

i normally fly higher weight if flying while moulting. We have 6 harris hawks & just manage for hawking days

we will need to increase hawks this year so we have a couple spare for summer period .

[Guest bald eagle1]

my female harris has 2 tail feathers left to come in she will be ready begining of june or earlier if they are hard down she was pretty fit when put down to moult and has had a varied quality diet of quail chick rat and venison.Shes better fed than me!! will baldeagle and hawkeye 1 be the first to post kills after full moult??cant wait for summer when all you English boys are watching [bANNED TEXT] team going out and im slaughtering rabbits and duck(stuff bird flu)lol with a English bred bird by Jasper up here in bonnie Scotland!!

[SeanTheHawker 0]

pretty pleased at how hes doing now,lost half his tail now too. not looking any darker at all tho lol.

[Fletcher 0]

Can't beat that, Sean.

[Fletcher 0]

[SeanTheHawker 0]

just looked at your avator there mate lol, released who you are. how was your season then with your male?

[Fletcher 0]

just looked at your avator there mate lol, released who you are. how was your season then with your male?

 

It was a excellent season, finished a month too early due to him being dragged down a rabbit hole.

Ended up taking 26 rabbits plus a few other beasties. I was delighted with that as I didn't use a dog or ferrets. Learnt a lot, will be doing a few things different this coming season, can't wait to get back at it.

[SeanTheHawker 0]

thats amazing mate, especially without dogs or ferrets

[Fletcher 0]

In retrospect I could have got so many more, I was trying to fly him to high, every time the temperature dropped I was raising his weight slightly and therefore wasn't 100% commited. Also I tended to overfeed him on his rest days. I've learnt from my mistakes so I'm hoping next season will be more productive. I should have the dogs up and running by next season if I can stop the bird nailling them.

How did you get on? Do you do all your flying off the fist?

[SeanTheHawker 0]

ended on 21 rabbits, most where caught from the fist but a few where caught from fench posts and 1 from a telegraph pole. all were bolted with the ferrets except 2.

[Fletcher 0]

That's good for the first season, you gotta be pleased with that. Do you ever just free fly him without the ferrets? If I remember rightly from your pic's you've got some excellent hilly flying ground perfect for some soaring flights.