Second day and my little helper

Today was the second day that Orrin would fly free. His weight in the morning was just right or rather what we intended it to be. He hit the scales at 104, which would give him a weight of 101 at flying time. As I had explained to Tami the night before, a bird that is losing weight will have to be fed more to stop its weight loss. Once a weight is established then you can feed the same amount and expect the same result, but going up in weight or going down in weight will need either more or less depending on the direction the weight is going. Since he was dropping weight, I asked her to give him 2 grams more food.

 As expected he weighed in at 101 grams, and was going to get to go without the creance once more.

 We started our walk, and turned him loose. He chose the top of the tanks for his first perch, returning with no hesitation. When she gave him the cue to fly he took the post for his perch. We walked on a bit and again came to the fist once we got his attention.

 This time when he flew he flew to the fence along the pasture. One of the problems with an older bird taken in December is that it already knows how to make a living. A young bird with little experience would depend on Tami to give it food. Orrin know where food is likely to hang out, and sees no reason to wait around or if he does it will be where there is likely to be a mouse. This is not a real problem, just a consideration to work around. Right now we are following him, not the other way around. Today it was enough to make sure that he was in fact going to stick around and would come to the lure even after plenty of evidence that he could go where he wanted to.

 His response to the lure was every thing one could want. I asked Tami to cut him down another couple of grams. He has not hit a "Sharp set" weight yet. He responds well, but he needs to learn to follow us. That will be his next lesson.

My little helper!

Karen asked me to repair the computer tray that I had broken trying to move the computer table. Every thing was fine right up to the point that Josie discovered that I was on the floor. Of course that meant that I was wanting to play.

The attack was on, and Karen was no help, being content to take pictures of my plight.

Nose, ears, eyeglasses, all are fair game.

I did get it fixed, but it wasn't easy.