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 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. 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. Which 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.

For information on all products for use with owls, raptors and other meat eating birds go to our owl and raptor product page.

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