Pheasant Pen

chrisdolan11

I am in a gun club and until recently we have bought in mature phesants and releaced them within a week. We are now in the process of building a release pen so we can rear our phesants for release which should give a better return.Im looking for any advice or tips on building a good release pen

Riggser

Can anyone raise phesants?

What do you need or have to get to raise them?

Riggser

Welcome to the phesant thread.....

chrisdolan11

what does that mean?

Rovi

[quote=chrisdolan11]what does that mean?[/quote]I'm as puzzled as you are, perhaps Riggser has been at the Pritt Stick?

Anyhow, I know nothing of pheasant pens, but I'd figure you could do worse than contacting the National Association of Regional Game Councils (NARGC)- http://www.nargc.ie/
This is exactly the sort of thing they do.

Have a look at their County Bodies page- (http://www.nargc.ie/RGC%20links.htm) and see who the officers are in your area. I'm sure they'd be delighted to help out.

Their Publications Page (http://www.nargc.ie/publications.htm) lists a book entitled 'Hand Reared Pheasant Releases' at €4.00. Could be just what you are looking for.


Edited to add-
Oh, oh, oh! Look what I found- http://www.nargc.ie/organisation/pheasant.htm


.

Riggser

chrisdolan11 wrote:

what does that mean?

I'm sorry, didn't mean to offend. An attempt a humour.

If a Club has decided to produce its own poults, it is a relatively simple matter to catch up sufficient breeding stock from the club's own area. It is advisable to put out and bait the catcher with wheat for a time beforehand. A four foot square by two foot high cage with an opening one foot high and nine inches wide on each end which will allow the pheasant to move in and out freely while feeding on the grain. After a suitable time of pre-baiting, wire netting funnels can be slipped into the open ends. A sliding door in the roof will facilitate the removal of birds. These cages must be checked on a regular basis, i.e., (intervals of every two hours) and the birds removed to avoid stress. Ideally this exercise should be completed by mid February to allow the birds to settle in and get acclimatised to their new living quarters.

Is this suggesting you catch your own phesants?

I'm interested in the whole gaming keeping area, unfortunately I don't know any gamekeepers. How difficult would it be to get something like that up and running?

chrisdolan11

yes thats saying you catch your own phesants.My point was to buy week old phesant poults rear them in a pen for 6-8weeks and release them.All i wanted was imfo on size location ,water feeding tecnique ,feeding tecnique etc.of a release pen!

Clare gunner

chrisdolan11 wrote:

yes thats saying you catch your own phesants.My point was to buy week old phesant poults rear them in a pen for 6-8weeks and release them.All i wanted was imfo on size location ,water feeding tecnique ,feeding tecnique etc.of a release pen!

There is quite abit more to pheasents than you would realise.6-8 weeks might be a bit young to realese.You want them to be well capable of flying properly before realese,otherwise the foxes in your area will be thanking you.That was my first mistake,releasing too early.
I only tried it a few times with a half dozen birds around my home,so I cant say how big an area you need.Depends on how many you are going to realese.Also you want a sick bay" for bullied or pecked birds,as anyone of them that bleeds will be pecked to death by its siblings.Second mistake ,lost three of them in one day that way.
Not to mind doing a good trapping for vermin around the pens,inc these days keeping an eye out for messing by animal libbers.
Fourth mistake,another year a fox made off with two of them over three nights before I nailed his hide.
All in all to do it properly it is a full time job involving at least a two visit per day minimum to pens etc.For what you get back out of them somtimes it can be a right PITA job too.

homerhop

Week olds are very young to buy.
Pen size is roughly 1sq ft per bird as far as I can remember, i can get back to you on this. Put a row of 1 inch mesh on the bottom and a row of 2 inch above this.. Make sure that the bottom row is dug into the ground.Also you will need to put 2x1 lats at a slant roughly 1 1/2 foot with 2-3 strands of electric fence wire fixed to these.We found that worked to keep foxes out.Our pens were roughly 6ft high with shoots opened for birds that got out but found it hard to get back in. They will stay walking around between the electric fence and main pen and will eventually go in through the shoots, and once the birds were able to fly out they were on their own
They will need alot of water, we cut 5 gal drums length ways and placed them all around the pen.Make sure you rinse them out daily cos the buggers tend to **** in them. we also had a few barrels with small ball cocks fitted with shallow troughs under them.
Feeding involved getting poultry feed and feeding them twice daily, until they were old enough to start on corn. Again once on the corn we used barrels with spring feeders on the bottom ,worked quiet well for us.
Ensure they have plenty of shelters and areas to roost, also a tonne of sand doesnt go amis for fluffing.
Keep an eye out for birds that are bleeding from under their tail as this means there is a bird picking.They tend to do this which will result in birds being lost. Also birds that are making a sound like a cough (the gapes) as this is caused by a worm. you can ged a mix to put in their water that will cure this.
Hope this is some way helpfull in a quick way as I have been involved in rearing 1200 birds a year for the past 7-8 years

Double Barrel

As this is my first post, I will say hello to one and all and wish everyone a Happy New Year. I read the BBS but rarely have much time to reply.

Rovi, Clare Gunner and Homerhop have given you good helpful information. http://www.nargc.ie/organisation/pheasant.htm
A few questions, how many birds are you going to house at a time and how many are you planning on releasing each year?
Where are you planning on locating your pen , open field or edge of woods and what soil type?

To avoid the necessity for early maintenance, use quality materials from the start. Galvanized steel or pressure treated posts and galvanized after woven (or welded) side fencing are a must for longevity. Several companies offer plastic netting for your pen tops that not only restrains your birds, but provides excellent protection from avian predators. The bottom of the chicken wire should be buried 9 inches to 1 foot underground and flared to the outside 12" to prevent it from being pushed out and to discourage predators from burrowing under the wire.

As others have stated you should always be on the lookout for cannibalism. The first evidence you will see will be blood on the wing tips and tails of some of the smaller birds. Don't expect it to just go away - instead, it will just get worse. Add branches and hay or straw to the pen for the birds to peck at and play on - this will help. The roosting and hiding places are useful for several reasons. If the birds have enough cover to hide or get away from other birds, there will be less cannibalism. Also, the birds will panic less and injuries will be reduced.

Coccidiosis is the most common disease of domestic pheasants. It generally causes a bloody tinge to the birds' droppings, and death results if the disease is not treated promptly. Coccidiosis can be kept in control by any of the sulfa family of drugs. A veterinarian should be contacted to determine the best method of treatment and dosage. After the birds are 6 weeks they can be fed a 20% protein grower feed. I would recommend that you continue to use Amprolium in their feed until the birds are mature as the coccidia are 50 times as sensitive to this inhibition as is the host.

Stocking of pheasants may increase sightings for a while, but pen raised or game-farm birds are not equipped to thrive in the wild. Most become victims of predation. Once the lads figure out that there is an easy meal to be had they will be setting the table.

Good luck

DB

Double Barrel

Sometimes a picture is worth a .......



DB

scorphonic

homerhop wrote:

Week olds are very young to buy.

Do you honestly think so?

My gun club purchased week old pheasants this year, and out of the 200 - 300 none died while in the pen. The area that we had them in was in the corner of a field which was substantially sheltered with trees and bushes. The pen was actually quite straight forward to make, Used 4 old telephone poles that were cut up to provide supports for the 4 corners and along the length of the pen. The sides and roof were made from a tight chicken mesh. Inside there was a sheltered area made from corrugated iron sheets which provided shelter from the rain that passes usually in the same direction in this area..important feature this. Also there was a series of branches and beams inside that gave the birds a place to rest during the night. During dusk the pheasants will remain on the perch, afterwards...I'm uncertain were they sleep in the pen so to cover all possibilities we laid a good surface under the rain protection.

For food we supplied a bucket with wheat and other cerials, this hung from the roof and was positioned about 2 foot off the ground. The underside of the bucket has holes so that the seeds can fall out when the pheasants pick at it. Also a good supply of vegtables will provide the birds with the nutritions they need. When it came to water we used a bowl with water and a large sponge...slowed down evaporation.

Anyways, I've said enough about it now. I hope you are successful in your rearing, its great fun to see the progress of the birds. O and a word of advice...dont release them all on the same year. Let some birds mature in the pen so that they can be released early during the year when they cant be shot, so that they have a chance to set up home and breed...ensuring a good number for the following shooting season!

Paddy Conlon

Hi there homerhop,

We've just set up a gun club in Co Sligo and we are going to try to raise pheasants this year. You seem to know what your doing. I would be interested in chatting to you if you have the time. Will you post a reply here and let me know if that would be ok with you and I'll orgainse contacting you.

Thanks

Paddy

mallards

Paddy If its any help, you need food, water, shelter, roosting, somewhere to sun and somewhere to dust. Don't crowd them and above all provide them a sanctuary throughout the season. You won't go far wrong.





Mallards.

Kareir

make sure the perimeter is secure, with no gaps in the fencing. mink ot in this year and ate ours. you could put chickenwire on either side of the sides, lying on the ground, so things cant dig in.


_Kar.

pullandbang

Great pics mallards. I see the dangly bits for the birds to pick at. That's essential to stop them picking each other. Another trick is to get heads of cabbage, turnips, beet or anything that can be hung to let the birds pick at. If you are feeding them wheat, put in a few small bales of straw and feed the wheat on the bales - it encourages them to pick and keeps them occupied.

mallards

Agreed, Out of all the veg I ever put in there is nothing that gets them going like a lettuce! I put out them and some tin foil and also some wild bird seed in an onion type bag round the edges of the pen to stop the birds feather pecking. Talk to someone in your local supermarket who will text you when they have some veg they want to throw out. At worst it will save the lives of a couple of birds at best all your birds will have lovely full tails come 1st November! I'm involved with two shoots. One with 1000 birds that you see some in the pictures and one more typical to Ireland that is a local affair, couple of lads, 50 pheasants, 30 partridge released on some rough pasture on a hill. Believe me the 1000 bird shoot on level ground with lots of trees and arable crops show a heck of a better return than the hill shoot. When I get the hill shoot figured out to my satisafaction I will write the book as I have yet to find one for such circumstances!

Mallards

Donalmit

Hi lads,

One other good source of cheap feed/protein that can be hung up in the pen is a rabbit/hare carcase. After the Blowflies get at them there will be a nice supply of maggots for the poults to feast on.

Dónal

pullandbang

Donalmit wrote: »

One other good source of cheap feed/protein that can be hung up in the pen is a rabbit/hare carcase. After the Blowflies get at them there will be a nice supply of maggots for the poults to feast on.

Very true. You can also throw any dead pheasants from the pen up on top of the wire and let them drop the maggots down into the pen.

Waste no, want not!

My father had a pheasant coup back in the 80's when I was just a lad, protected by an electric fence. I recall getting a shock off it once and was duly given 50p by him to stop the waterworks.

After he paid up, it was all he could do to stop me wrapping my hands around the bloody thing!

Think it was somewhere about Clonsilla he had it, the whole area is just houses now...