Breeding goshawks

At Dalemews we have always aimed to produce the finest hunting Goshawks possible. This obviously requires good stock but equally as important are the facilities, conditions and welfare of the parent hawks and their young.

Our breeding aviaries average a spacious 15m2 per hawk. During the breeding season this doubles when the shutters are dropped allowing plenty of room for the young Goshawks to play and exercise. The aviaries are well ventilated and are in a quiet secluded area bordering a wood.

Hygiene is another important factor. The aviaries are completely stripped out following the breeding season, washed down, disinfected and painted again just prior to the start of the next breeding season. Each hawk is also provided with a bath that has fresh water flushing through it 4 times a day through a plumbed in irrigation system.

Goshawks in particular require a high protein and well balanced diet and even more so before and during the breeding season. They love quail, but we also feed them wood pigeon, (frozen for a minimum of 2 weeks) rabbit and rat...although they do turn their noses up at it occasionally! In addition we also include a vitamin supplement as a ‘belts and braces’ measure.

We count ourselves fortunate that none of our own hawks have ever suffered from any respiratory diseases including the dreaded aspergillosis or anything else for that matter. While you can never rule out the possibility, we like to think this is due in no small way to the high standards of care and husbandry of our hawks.

All of our young hawks are bred from fully parent reared parents. The eggs are removed after the full the clutch has been laid and incubation is completed artificially. Once hatched the egg membrane is sent off for DNA sex determination and unless the chicks are required for imprinting are returned to their parents at around 4 days old. The next time they see a human, other than ringing at 10/11 days old is at catching up for their new owners following hard penning at 9/11 weeks old at the end of July/beginning of August.

Typical weights at this stage;

Male goshawks; 2lb to 2lb 7oz

Female goshawks; 3lb to 3lb 7oz

I hope this gives you a little insight into the effort we put into producing our hawks.