my husband has recently purchased a harris hawk,i was woundering how cold can the temp get before i worry, and should i put her out if its cold and windy,the problem is i have a nne facing garden.Husband say's i worry but she's only 17weeks old still a baby to me i can't help it i worry
I would not worry too much about cold weather, I think the main thing to watch out for is the chill factor, when Its cold wet and windy at night, so the bird needs to have a corner away from the elements.
I have often used a hair dryer on the bird if I come back home with him wet.
Recently I have been putting my Harris Hawk in his large travel box at night, I,m not quite certain if this is correct. I can see that technicly it could muck up his body clock but so far it seems to work ok well and I feel I'm protecting him a little bit this way.
in my harris hawks mews i have shutters all round and on her door she has clear polly so she is wind free at night i have also put her on a shelf about three foot from the ground she seems to prefur this to a perch,i have now put a tubular heater in on a termistate so if it does dropn it will kick in.
a bit over the top i know but at least she won't get cold
personally i dont think it gets too cold here people forget it freze's nearly every night in the desert lol so unless its wet n cold just leave them too it lol
all the best rob!
ps owen your just being mared lol only joking pal know what you mean bout better safe than sorry lol
I got one of the first Harris hawks to come to the UK in 1969 and nobody knew anything about them being prone to frostbite. I brought her in from weathering some evenings with frost on her shoulders. She stayed loose in an open fronted windows on the mews in Scotland. I had no problems.
My current Harris stays in similar accomodation without problems.
I occasionally bring her in when weather forecasts are talking about tempatures getting down towards -10.
I don't think any closed mews should need heated for a healthy Harris.
Good luck with your hawk and I hope you catch lots of bunnies.
A firend of mine owns the Hawking centre, In Faversham, Kent.
Lee Holmes, damn nice chap if you ever get the chance to get down there.
He has a Harris Hawk Called "Wotsit" that wa given to him after the owner decided to give up.
Wotsit apparently got frostbite, he has 1 claw on one foot and two on the other. We don't know the circumstances, or how cold it was!!!
In a free flying aviary they are much safer as they can get away from the frost, but if you allways keep your bird tied, then I would allways bring him in if it gets below 0.
Personally I have a thermostatic heater in my mews that cuts in when the temperature gets to about 3 degrees, then holds it at about 5 degrees.
My Harris is allowed free movement around the aviary and always sits up high.
Frost won't climb any higher than about 3 feet, so as long as your bird can get above this and is healthy, you should be ok.
Be careful though of bringing your bird into a nice, centrally heated house at night, then putting him out in the cold in the morning, as this can cause other health problems.
