Time for an overdue update.
My bird is a porker. Plain and simple. I started cutting her back on food in September in anticipation of being ready for the start of hunting season on October first. I pulled her out and weighed her in mid September to see where we were. I've been warned not to drop the weight too fast, so after a couple of weeks of reduced food I needed to see where we stood.
HOLY COW!!! That is the heaviest she's ever been and that was after two week of dieting. Wow. We had a long way to go. Under my Master Falconer's guidance, I reduced her caloric intake a bit more. Now, 3 weeks later, we're at about 1400 grams and I've got about 200 grams to go. Last year I started flying her and hunting at around 1200 grams and that is WAYYYYYYY heavier than most people fly a female red tail hawk.
At this point I'm exercising her and weighing her and her food daily, checking the keel and closely watching her behavior and eagerness to come to the fist for food. We've got a long way to go before she'll be ready to go hunting. Due to my inexperience, I had no idea it would take so long to drop her back down to working weight. I should have started this process in the beginning of August!
So it will be awhile before I have anything fun to report. Here's a pic to hold you over:
My bird is a porker. Plain and simple. I started cutting her back on food in September in anticipation of being ready for the start of hunting season on October first. I pulled her out and weighed her in mid September to see where we were. I've been warned not to drop the weight too fast, so after a couple of weeks of reduced food I needed to see where we stood.
HOLY COW!!! That is the heaviest she's ever been and that was after two week of dieting. Wow. We had a long way to go. Under my Master Falconer's guidance, I reduced her caloric intake a bit more. Now, 3 weeks later, we're at about 1400 grams and I've got about 200 grams to go. Last year I started flying her and hunting at around 1200 grams and that is WAYYYYYYY heavier than most people fly a female red tail hawk.
At this point I'm exercising her and weighing her and her food daily, checking the keel and closely watching her behavior and eagerness to come to the fist for food. We've got a long way to go before she'll be ready to go hunting. Due to my inexperience, I had no idea it would take so long to drop her back down to working weight. I should have started this process in the beginning of August!
So it will be awhile before I have anything fun to report. Here's a pic to hold you over: