Page 347 - Hand rearing birds second

Diurnal Raptors 337

Hacking

Hacking is an appropriate technique, especially for a lone nestling at high risk of malimprinting
and for young, bird-catching falcons and accipiters, for which it is really impossible to provide
adequate live-prey training in a cage. A hackbox is a wooden box, the size of which varies depend-
ing on the type of bird for which it is designed. The front of the box is a door that is opened when
the bird is old enough to begin exploring its environment, when it reaches “branching” age. The
primary considerations are: (i) that the box be mounted such that the bird has a wide view of its
surroundings (which should be habitat appropriate for the species, obviously, because the bird will
be released there); (ii) that the bird be protected from the elements and predators; and (iii) that the
back of the box must be solid except for a feeding slot so that the bird does not associate humans
with food. For example, to meet the first criterion, the front and half the roof and sides can be slat-
ted. For the second, the remaining part of the roof and sides would be made of solid wood for shade
and protection from rain, and consideration should be given, depending on the location of the box,
to add predator barriers such as wire on the outside of the slats or flashing around the base of the
tree to prevent climbing. For the third, human access to the hackbox and the entire approach to the
box should be from the back or blind side to avoid even a conditioned response that the approach
of a human means food (Figure 20.2).
The young bird must be placed in the hackbox at nestling age, as soon as it is thermoregulating
and eating cut up food from a plate. The hackbox is its nest, and it must have the opportunity to
branch and fledge from there. It is of little use to place an older brancher or fledgling in a hackbox.
There is typically not enough room to give it the exercise needed for flight and as soon as the door
is opened, the bird may just disappear as there has been insufficient developmental time for it to

Figure 20.2 Hackbox with half of the front removed. Note the feeding slot that allows food delivery
without chicks seeing humans. Once the front is permanently left open, the chick may return for
supplemental feeding as it learns to hunt.