How to Build a Suitable Mews for Your Hawk

By Sparrowhawk: A Guide to Training the Smallest Accipiter
Comments 35
31 Aug 2026

How to Build a Suitable Mews for Your Hawk

Getting the Basics Right

A mews is not simply a shed with a hawk inside it. It is the space your bird lives in for the great majority of its life, and the quality of that space shows immediately in feather condition, foot health, appetite and temperament. Build it properly once and you will spend your evenings flying rather than repairing split tail feathers and treating sour feet.

The principles are straightforward: shelter without staleness, security without gloom, and enough room for a hawk to bate, recover and hop between perches without damaging itself. Everything below assumes a single bird, though the same logic scales up for two or three.

Choosing the Right Site

Position matters as much as the build itself. A few minutes spent thinking about orientation will save you years of small irritations.

Face the open front roughly south to south-east so the bird gets morning sun and dries out after rain.
Keep it away from roads, footpaths and neighbours' windows — a bating hawk draws attention, and stress.
Stand it on a firm, level base of slabs or a concrete raft, raised a little above surrounding ground.
Allow easy access for you, including room to swing a door open with a bird on your fist.
Check prevailing wind. In most of the UK that means westerlies, so a solid western wall is well worth having.

If you rent, or live under a restrictive covenant, check before you build. A permanent structure of this size may need permission.

Working Out the Dimensions

As a working rule, a mews should be at least 1.8 metres wide, 2.4 metres deep and 2.1 metres high for a small hawk such as a male kestrel or sparrowhawk. For a Harris' hawk, female kestrel or male goshawk, allow 2.4 metres by 3 metres by 2.4 metres. Larger birds — a female goshawk, red-tailed hawk or eagle — want 3.6 metres by 3 metres by 2.4 metres as a minimum.

Height is the dimension people most often skimp on. When perched, your hawk's head should clear the roof by at least 450 millimetres, which gives it room to bate upwards without scalping itself on the ceiling. Tail clearance matters too: perches should sit at least 300 millimetres from any wall so the deck feathers never brush the timber.

Materials That Last

Use tanalised timber for the frame and exterior-grade plywood at least 18 millimetres thick for the walls. Feather-edge or shiplap cladding looks tidy and sheds water well. Roof it with box-profile steel sheeting over ply, with insulation sandwiched between — this stops condensation dripping on the bird, which is a genuine welfare issue in a heated bird.

For the open front, use galvanised weldmesh at 25 millimetres square and 2.5 millimetre gauge or heavier. Chicken wire is a false economy: it rusts, stretches, and birds shred their ceres and primary tips against it. Fix mesh with galvanised staples and cover the cut edges with a timber batten.

Floors should be a concrete slab laid to a slight fall towards a drain, then covered with rubber matting or a thin layer of washed sand. Bare timber floors soak up droppings and mutes and never really come clean.

Perches and Interior Fit-Out

Perch choice depends on how you keep the bird. A tethered hawk needs a bow perch for a Harris' hawk or buzzard, or a block perch for a goshawk or other shortwing. Cover bow perches in soft hide or suede, and check the covering monthly for splits that could catch a leash.

Set the main perch 900 millimetres to 1.2 metres above the floor.
Choose a diameter that lets the toes grip roughly two-thirds of the way round — about 25 to 30 millimetres for a medium hawk.
Fit a second, lower perch so the bird can move about and exercise.
Keep the interior free of projections; a swivel can snag on a hook or bracket with horrible results.
Fit a double-door safety porch so a bating bird cannot slip past you into the open.

Ventilation, Light and Daily Practicalities

Air must move through the mews without blowing across the perch. Fit high-level louvred vents on two opposite walls, with a gap of around 150 millimetres between the top of the cladding and the roof. A fully meshed front above a solid kickboard works well, but add a hinged baffle board so you can close down three sides in driving rain.

Natural daylight is important — a permanently gloomy mews produces dull, brittle plumage. Aim for a front that admits plenty of light while still giving the bird a shaded corner to retreat to. Fresh drinking water should be available at all times in a heavy, tip-proof bowl.

Finally, think about security. Foxes, rats, badgers and loose dogs will all test the structure. Sink mesh or a slab skirt around the base, fit good-quality locks, and check the whole building over once a month. A well-built mews is a quiet, dry, airy place where your hawk can rest, moult and weather properly — and where you will enjoy spending time with it.

Equipment

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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