|
|
Post by Calusa on Apr 14, 2005 10:25:37 GMT -5
What do you feed, and from where do you get it?
I know a lot of larger facilities that order from labs that breed mice/rats/quail for that purpose, and I also know of smaller facilities that breed their own rodents.
What is your preference?
|
|
|
|
Post by Weasel on Apr 14, 2005 10:33:24 GMT -5
I assume you mean supplimental food such as quail....I don't really need it, but every once in awhile I order it through a friend who is a vet. Quail is great food for a raptor, but it is also relatively expensive too at $1.30 each(on average). I usually just feed my birds the quarry they caught during the season or I use the jackrabbit I shoot down at my ranch. Another main food I use is Beef heart with Vitahawk on it. This is the main food I feed my RT during the season with the occational full crop of fresh squirrel or feed store rats.
|
|
Minca
Full Member
Posts: 389
|
Post by Minca on Apr 14, 2005 10:42:55 GMT -5
This last season I fed my kestrel a total of 6 donated quail, a handful or two of mice I had bred on my own back porch, and all the rest was wild caught sparrows and such. Oh, and I did buy a few fuzzies from the local Petco at one time. But I would say about 85% of her diet when she was with me was wild caught. I've seen captive bred feeder rodents and quail in pretty horrible shape at times, not to mention wild caught is FREE! The few fuzzies and the parent breeder mice were the only thing i spent any money on, and the supplies for making a sparrow trap.
|
|
Yarak
Junior Member
Whosoever would be a man must be a nonconformist
Posts: 145
|
Post by Yarak on Apr 14, 2005 12:26:32 GMT -5
IMO diet is THE most crucial aspect to raptor husbandry. I feed as much of a whole carcass diet as I can. The vast majority of her food is wild caught squirrel. Some Beef heart for tid-biting and small lure garnish. I tend away from feeding birds. Quail is very good. Duck is very rich. Pheasant is probably the most nutritious bird. Any member of the family Columbidae is right out! Snake, rat, rabbit comprise the remainder of her diet. I am not an expert on nutrition. My bird has thrived for more than 10yrs on this diet with NO health problems,except WNV which she survived inpart due to her great physical shape. The proof is in the pudding.....  Yarak |
|
Ooby
Junior Member
Posts: 213
|
Post by Ooby on Apr 14, 2005 13:23:38 GMT -5
I feed what she catches. I did shy away from the squirrel that she caught, but that was just on a whim. Bunnies and jacks, with a quail thrown in every now and then just for variety in her diet. I used beef heart at first, but i will shy away from that from now on. I learned that cotton tail is put over just as fast, and makes her hold about as much weight, meaning when she is fat and i need to drop her weight, i feed bunny instead of beef heart. Her weight drops just as fast, but the bunny has a bit more nutrition in it. Worst case, it makes me feel better and its something she would eat in the wild. Just something i learned from an old school falconer. I would say the key points are: fresh food, and variety. Although i would lump wild caught in there too, because its an aesthetic thing, and if your bird ain't catchin, you need to change something  |
|
Jay
New Member
Posts: 39
|
Post by Jay on Apr 15, 2005 9:50:46 GMT -5
Ooby I dont think rabbit is more nutricious, it is far less. Then again I dont know much about beef heart. Redtails do well on rabbit, but to much rabbit can actaly kill some birds as there is nothing to it. Just what I have heard from an old school falconer aswell as read in books.
Perosonaly I feed all the kills. Also I have friends that duck hunt, anyone that has ever tried sea duck will know why they give it to me. My neighbor also shoots squirrels with a pellet gun, which I always make sure to remove the pellet from. I also shoot a large number of sparrows and starlings. My main source of food during the molt is lab mice, my former sponcor gets them for us in bags full of about 6000 mice, all for free and all different sizes. Pinkies to jumbo adults. They are in about 12 smaller bags of about 200-600, u just need to feel around untill you find a bag containing the size mice you want.
|
|
Ooby
Junior Member
Posts: 213
|
Post by Ooby on Apr 15, 2005 12:27:17 GMT -5
I guess i didn't explain that the REASON i feed it is BECAUSE it is basically nothin. Where the common practice is to feed beef heart (because it is almost nothing either) when you want to drop your birds weight, i use rabbit instead.
Did you read the whole post? I thought i explained it pretty well.
|
|
