KenKeeping 13 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Right! Everyone seems to feed there BOP day old chicks, quail etc that they buy frozen. So I follow suit and do the same. I also try and vary her diet with other meat. I run two Saluki sight hounds, and they have a variety of meat in there daily meals. I would like to let the HH have the same quality meat I feed the Sals, but am afraid that I may be doing wrong! Is there any meat that you wouldnt recomend feeding to a BOP, and why? Also the other way around! Is there anything that you would recomend using so as to benefit her! The Sals have Heart, Chicken, Liver, Rabbit, Lamb etc. Ide imagine it would be safe to assume if they would catch it in the wild,why not give it to them in captivity. I learned a lot on this forum since I had my first Saluki, by asking questions that seemed at the time stupid, but was answered well, so please realise I am new to Falconry as I was with Sighthounds then, and only want whats best for my bird! Cheers. Quote Link to post
paulus 26 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 bop needs feather and fur in order to cast,dogs dont Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 hi Paulus! Ta for that! Ive been hearing a lot about this need for the feather and fur thing needed to cast. So obviously thats where the full carcus of the animals come in! My dogs have rabbit, pigeon and squirrel etc when available, but I skin them first for them. I imagine the same carcus' would idealy be frozen first to kill off any mites worms ore fleas etc and then defrosted before offering to bird? As far as the liver, heart etc, I would be only giving it as an addition to the Quail, Chicks etc. I there anything you would recomend not to give a BOP in any circumstances? Cheers Quote Link to post
paulus 26 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 hi Paulus! Ta for that! Ive been hearing a lot about this need for the feather and fur thing needed to cast. So obviously thats where the full carcus of the animals come in! My dogs have rabbit, pigeon and squirrel etc when available, but I skin them first for them. I imagine the same carcus' would idealy be frozen first to kill off any mites worms ore fleas etc and then defrosted before offering to bird? As far as the liver, heart etc, I would be only giving it as an addition to the Quail, Chicks etc. I there anything you would recomend not to give a BOP in any circumstances? Cheers as near as nature intended as possible and as far as i understand nature didnt invent the freezer different quarry will effect the weight of a bird in different ways so most people stick to chicks or quail as they can predict the weight, but unless you experiment and make mistakes you are never going to learn much, the good news is with something the size of a harris mistakes are easily put right but in the case of smaller birds mistakes are often fatal. Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 nature did invent a freezer, its called the Welsh Winter, lol. As you say, a Harris seems more forgiving with alterations in waight flutuations, more than a small falcon. A mate of mine breeds Quail, and sells to falconors regular. Is there any benefit of freshly killed birds rather than the frozen bulk buy ones I already get now. Apart from price wise, lol. All the frozen stock that I buy from my supplier comes from Honeybrook farm, so should be of good standard I would imagine, having the majority on suply! would there be any problems would you think if i get the quail fresh from the mate? Ive been told more than once or twice that I think about things too much, and spoil the animals in my care too much, lol. Quote Link to post
paulus 26 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 nature did invent a freezer, its called the Welsh Winter, lol. As you say, a Harris seems more forgiving with alterations in waight flutuations, more than a small falcon. A mate of mine breeds Quail, and sells to falconors regular. Is there any benefit of freshly killed birds rather than the frozen bulk buy ones I already get now. Apart from price wise, lol. All the frozen stock that I buy from my supplier comes from Honeybrook farm, so should be of good standard I would imagine, having the majority on suply! would there be any problems would you think if i get the quail fresh from the mate? Ive been told more than once or twice that I think about things too much, and spoil the animals in my care too much, lol. when i had birds i always bred my own quail and also brought in chicks, supplimented with rabbit, hare. duck. moorhen when thy became available its a lot like humans a varied diet is a healthy diet but you just need to understand how each will effect the weight of your bird, and the only way you will do that is through trial and error. Quote Link to post
Chid 6,376 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 birds my lass's dad keeps are fed on any thing the birds catches , aswell as day olds and quail caught stuff includes rabbit, hare , corvids, magpies pheasant they also get pigeons that have been culled by the racing men and they sometimes get fish .. Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 birds my lass's dad keeps are fed on any thing the birds catches , aswell as day olds and quailcaught stuff includes rabbit, hare , corvids, magpies pheasant they also get pigeons that have been culled by the racing men and they sometimes get fish .. Fish? Thats the first time Ive heard that mentioned anywhere! What fish fid they feed? Spos the oils would be of benefit for them. Might sound dumb, but what are Corvids? lol. Cheers for all replies had and to come guys, Ime keeping note of everything. Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 nature did invent a freezer, its called the Welsh Winter, lol. As you say, a Harris seems more forgiving with alterations in waight flutuations, more than a small falcon. A mate of mine breeds Quail, and sells to falconors regular. Is there any benefit of freshly killed birds rather than the frozen bulk buy ones I already get now. Apart from price wise, lol. All the frozen stock that I buy from my supplier comes from Honeybrook farm, so should be of good standard I would imagine, having the majority on suply! would there be any problems would you think if i get the quail fresh from the mate? Ive been told more than once or twice that I think about things too much, and spoil the animals in my care too much, lol. when i had birds i always bred my own quail and also brought in chicks, supplimented with rabbit, hare. duck. moorhen when thy became available its a lot like humans a varied diet is a healthy diet but you just need to understand how each will effect the weight of your bird, and the only way you will do that is through trial and error. I was talking to someone the other week, that fed his Falcons on day old Ducks. They said that the ducks put the waight up on the Falcons a lot, so to be carefull! Is this right? Quote Link to post
Chid 6,376 Posted October 6, 2012 Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 birds my lass's dad keeps are fed on any thing the birds catches , aswell as day olds and quailcaught stuff includes rabbit, hare , corvids, magpies pheasant they also get pigeons that have been culled by the racing men and they sometimes get fish .. Fish? Thats the first time Ive heard that mentioned anywhere! What fish fid they feed? Spos the oils would be of benefit for them. Might sound dumb, but what are Corvids? lol. Cheers for all replies had and to come guys, Ime keeping note of everything. corvids = crow,rooks,jackdaws fish = mackeral Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Cheers for the enlightenment! Should have known, lol. As far as Mackrel is concerned, does he debone it, or give it whole? Ide be on edge with the bones in fish, lol. ( my mum used to always tell us to eat lots of bread and butter when eating fish, it helps the bones go down) Cant tell a Harris that though can we, lol. 1 Quote Link to post
Wingbeat 2 Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 Hi KenKeeping Day old ducks are a good source of food if you can get them, they have NO egg sack and will put more weight on your bird, if feeding pigeon make sure you remove head & crop and freeze before feeding to your bird, they carry lots of nasty's ..... Alec Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Hi KenKeeping Day old ducks are a good source of food if you can get them, they have NO egg sack and will put more weight on your bird, if feeding pigeon make sure you remove head & crop and freeze before feeding to your bird, they carry lots of nasty's ..... Alec Hi Wingbeat! Thats what Ive been told! Surprised me a bit, as I thought a pigeon, like squirel would be healthy as they dont eat crap. Well that knocked that idea! lol. I assume day old ducks, or ducks in general would only be fed ocationaly then, as you say, they put waight on with them. cheers Quote Link to post
Mooshie 4 Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 No pork as its too salty, iv tried fish before but stunk the avairy a out. My harrises are mainly on white meat through the season including doc's squirrel but mainly rabbit they have caught and occasionally red meat, throught the moult they are fed mainly red and occasionally white meat as a veriety. Ben Quote Link to post
KenKeeping 13 Posted October 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Talking to one of the boys today, and he said his mates Owl died after fish bones stuck! Thats one thing I would be worried about. Cant see a Harris getting much fish in the wild would they? I thought that if you soak pork it takes a lot of the salt out? Quote Link to post
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