So you wanna be a bird breeder?

Well, if you wanna get started, you've basically got the following options:

• Join the R.S.P.B. See Links for web site address.
• Do voluntary work for a local Zoo or Bird Sanctuary.
• Take a course at your local Falconry Centre. Or, better still, join the British Hawking association apprenticeship Scheme. See Links for web site address.
• Open a store on a market selling big and beautiful tropical birds in tiny, cramped cages. See Links for web site address.
• Become the next Griff Griffiths.

Of all the options available, the last one is arguably the hardest to succeed in. But it’s also arguably the most rewarding. So here’s how you can go about achieving it:

1. Ok, let’s fly!
Breeding birds of prey isn’t just a matter of sticking two of them in a cage and letting nature take its course. It’s something that takes years of skill, patience, and knowledge acquisition (it has taken Griff over 20 years to get where he is today).

2. Show us your documents!
It’s also a highly regulated business: you need a licence to actually own a bird of prey, let alone attempt to breed from it.

3. Why do I need a licence for something that’s wild? Under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside act, it is illegal to take a bird of prey, or a bird of prey’s eggs, from the wild. See Links for details.

4. So where do I get birds of prey from?
Birds of prey kept in captivity must be captively bred. This means that not only the bird in question, but also both of its parents, must have been born and bred in captivity. If you want to acquire a bird of prey, you must find someone with a WLF 10095 – in other words, a licence to sell wild birds bred in captivity.

5. Check their credentials
If you do attempt to buy a bird of prey:

• ask to see documentary evidence that the bird is captively bred.
• check that the bird is ringed with an individually numbered closed ring.
• notify the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (see Links for web address).

6. Serious, isn’t it?
Birds of prey are not playthings, they are endangered wild animals. Griff uses a large portion of his profits to maintain a breeding programme which allows the re-introduction of endangered birds of prey back into their natural habitats (See exclusive ‘Out Of Africa’ footage featuring Griff.)

7. Penthouse or coal shed?
It is illegal to keep a bird of prey in the coal shed. See Links for advice on keeping captively bred birds of prey.

8. Who loves ya baby - part 1?
You could try dressing in high heels and a tight skirt, and then blowing kisses at your prospective conquest. If this doesn’t work, try imprinting as a first step.

9. Come to mamma!
Imprinting means persuading the newborn chick that you are a 'mother'. You need to be there when the hatchling is born, or shortly after as, during the first few hours of a bird’s life they have no fear of unfamiliar objects.

10. Who loves ya baby - part 2?
Once your imprinted bird is sexually mature (ages differ according to the breed), it’s time to persuade that bird that you are now its ideal life-long partner. Achieving this is a bit more complicated, and involves a detailed knowledge of the mating calls and rituals of the bird involved. Griff is still subject to the occasional attack by females unimpressed by his courting techniques.

11. Why not let the birds do ‘the wild thing’?
First, the female’s penchant for killing any prospective mate she doesn’t take to makes introducing a male into her cage a very risky business. Artificial insemination means that breeders can control the quality of bird produced.