Hawks

[Ed Bourque]

I am one that likes to keep my pigeon flying, all year round. I also have some late breeds that I will not be able to train around the loft  because that is really hard to do with all the hawks around. we start flying old birds in March,will the hawks be going bye then? are is there a way to train late breeds this time of year?

[DOVEScot]

I am one that likes to keep my pigeon flying, all year round. I also have some late breeds that I will not be able to train around the loft  because that is really hard to do with all the hawks around. we start flying old birds in March,will the hawks be going bye then? are is there a way to train late breeds this time of year?

 

Sparrow hawks, We found that when they stop bothering you is when their eggs hatch, they tend to take smaller food for their young....untill the are fully fledged and fending for themselves

We have some birds out in cotes all year round, it used to be fantails, buy we found the straight tails better at surviving them

We don't let the ones in the lofts out at the same time every day, so the hawk does not get used to feeding time

[Ed Bourque]

DOVEScot, Thanks for the advice. Ed

[jimmy white]

what are the main type of hawks that trouble you in your country ed???  were mostly sparrow hawks , perigrines ,,but others are getting more common,,now

[Ed Bourque]

mostly coopers hawk, but also some sharp shinned hawks, it hard to tell the diffrents from one or the other. they sneak around in the trees so its hard to tell when they are near the loft. older birds have no problem escapeing these hawks it the late breeds I worry about. Ed

[Guest]

Youngsters need to take their cues from the old birds, think that is how they learn until they are able to tune in to wild bird cues. I'm sure old birds take their cues from the wild, mine seem forever on the watch.

[DOVEScot]

DOVEScot, Thanks for the advice. Ed

 

Here is on who has been sparrow hawked twice, realy badly, she stayed in the hut that Chickadee has for isolating birds in cages. She was kept in till she recovered and thaen we just left the cage door open, today for the first time she joined the rest from the cotes in the bath

She seems to be keeping her head low for the time being :D

[Ed Bourque]

she has come around good, durn hawks

[THE FIFER]

they are all over now, dont let ur birds out too early or too late, also not at the same time each day, as hawks get to know when they are available,

[Ed Bourque]

Thanks for all the infomation, Ed

[Roland]

Get a couple of Ferals and treat them, let the stay with your Latebreds, no better watchout than then.... staright into the loft for safty.

[DOVEScot]

Get a couple of Ferals and treat them, let the stay with your Latebreds, no better watchout than then.... staright into the loft for safty.

 

I think it is true what some say about protecting the birds too much, if they never learn about hawks (not sure of the best way to do it :-/) they become easy pickings.

It's funny how you can take a feral from the nest and introduce it into the loft and it still has an inbuilt instinct to avoid hawks

[Ed Bourque]

My racing pigeons have that inbuilt instinct, when in the avairy as young ones

I was near the loft one morning hard some racket turn and looked no birds in the avairy trun back there was that hawk flying across a yard. mother nature

[DOVEScot]

My racing pigeons have that inbuilt instinct, when in the avairy as young ones

I was near the loft one morning hard some racket turn and looked no birds in the avairy trun back there was that hawk flying across a yard. mother nature

 

Our ones are the same because they are out a lot, the ones in the cotes are basically white ferals that we feed and treat. the ones in the lofts are a mix of fancy and racers

I could catch the fancies :D , but the racers take there cue from the ones in the cotes

It has been know for a hawk to devistate a race as the other pigeons are going frantic the minute one pigeon is attacked, not sure if this is normal or the fact that they are too well protected

[Guest]

Get a couple of Ferals and treat them, let the stay with your Latebreds, no better watchout than then.... staright into the loft for safty.

 

Well that is the exact oppo behaviour I see, Roland. Granted the ones nearest the doors will go in, and the ones in the aviary too, but those outside take off and they go high, very high, very quickly ..

 

Often wondered at that - why not go in the loft for safety? I ask myself, and I reckon it is also down to deepest instinct - you don't lead the enemy back to your roost and endanger the rest of the colony - survival of the species.

[DOVEScot]

 

Well that is the exact oppo behaviour I see, Roland. Granted the ones nearest the doors will go in, and the ones in the aviary too, but those outside take off and they go high, very high, very quickly ..

 

Often wondered at that - why not go in the loft for safety? I ask myself, and I reckon it is also down to deepest instinct - you don't lead the enemy back to your roost and endanger the rest of the colony - survival of the species.

 

It must depend how same the feel when roosting :-/ mines in the loft head into it where as the cotes take off.

They instintively know the difference, between which type of potential predator. a buzzard (which we have loads of in our area) which do not attack our birds does not bother them, a sparrow hawk (even though it is a blip in the sky) they are totally different.

We have only lost one bird and two birds attacked but they survived, to a hawk in the last three years  :-/

[Ed Bourque]

This is my first winter with mine team, I fly them one bye one around the loft,

they use to fly in tight circles around the loft but now with the hawks around they travel in all direction a mile or so, leading them hawks away from there home. grate instints would you think? Ed