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Flying - owls and raptors

Increased desire to hunt, longer endurance and faster recovery are all being achieved with some simple new techniques.


Hunting birds are maintained on a nutritional knife-edge. They must be kept hungry to guarantee their desire to hunt and this provides the risk that, if exercised beyond their fitness level, they can rapidly succumb to exhaustion. We have discovered that when birds are supplemented with Raptor Essentials they put on a small amount of extra weight without losing any of the desire to hunt. This simple measure makes hunting considerably less hazardous.
Fitness training is critical to the performance of your bird but just as with athletes, we can enhance the bird's performance even further. The sporting analogy is a good one as your birds can use techniques developed by human athletes.

Firstly we can load your bird up with a long -lasting stored energy supply. Adding Spark (Energize) to your bird's food, for 2 to 3 days before hunting, loads its muscles with glycogen and so improves its endurance. Remember that this technique will enhance the bird's performance but is no substitute for correct fitness training!

Another group of nutrients incorporated in Spark (Energize) are called electrolytes. These help maintain the water balance of the bird. Prolonged flying, particularly in hot weather, can lead to severe water loss in the bird (dehydration). The electrolytes make a major contribution to the bird's natural ability to retain water.

If the bird is severely dehydrated or short of energy when it has finished its fly, use a crop tube to force feed the bird either with Spark (Energize) or with its even more powerful sister product Poly-Aid (Survive). Both of these products will provide very rapid recovery and more importantly, a prolonged support for the stressed bird.

Whenever using these techniques, fresh drinking water must be made available continuously because water consumption will rise when electrolytes are consumed; this brings us to the issue of water hygiene. During hunting it is quite common for birds to pick up small wounds and injuries. Dirty bathing water is a major source of nasty germs that can cause unnecessary infections. By adding a water sanitiser, Aviclens (Saniclens), to your birds bath water, the germ levels will be maintained at very low levels, thus dramatically reducing the risk to your birds.

At The Birdcare Company we have been assisting owl and raptor owners increase their satisfaction from flying and hunting their birds for many years now. The pleasure of successfully training a bird to work with a lure, be comfortable with its jesses, to be masters of the sky and return fit and happy is immeasurable.

Raptor Essentials also dramatically improves the water-proofing of birds feathers. It is commonly said that flying birds in damp or wet weather is risky due to waterlogging of the bird, but many a raptor and owl enthusiast have reported to us that on Raptor Essentials this is a problem of the past.

A moult that lasts too long is also a problem, as the bird cannot fly adeptly with feathers missing, so birds may miss many opportunities to fly and hunt. Moults that don't resolve themselves for a long period are also the bain of those people who like to exhibit their birds at flying displays and raptor fairs. Again this process can be sped up noticeably when Raptor Essentials is supplied, as it ensures the bird has adequate supplies of the key minerals, vitamins and amino acids necessary for healthy and speedy feather growth.

Raptor Essentials, Calcivet, Aviclens and Avisafe (to disinfect your birds mats and perches) all help you to get out there and enjoy flying and hunting your birds more!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

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