predation on reared birds

jwshooter

i have been rearing pheasants and partridges for the best part of 30 years

what percentage of the released birds get taken by raptors ?.

what percentage are taken by foxes ,magpies,grey grows ,etc ? .

what percentage die from starvation and the elements ?.

vermin control is most important for us "living in the countryside" are the old ways best or should we look again at the way we carry this out .

Dusty87

Good post JW as iv been thinking about this the last few weeks.
Around here its the same few boys doing the vermin control. 90% of which arnt in a gun club. It frustrating sometimes. I think if you rear birds yourself your more likely to put in the effort where as if your rearing them for the club or anyone one else a lot of them wont bother their arses.

Cant comment on old ways as iv no experience with them

cavan shooter

I read somewhere that concentration should be on the following
1. mags
2. Greys
3. Rats
4. fox

avian vermin and rats do more damage. As for foxes my Father always said keep an old one around to stop the younger ones coming into the territory. Which kind of backs up, lads saying that the more you shoot the more there is, i.e your creating a vacuum to be filled.

Anyway, The NARGC booklet on pheasant rearing gives some stats ill see if I can find it

Dusty87

cavan shooter wrote: »

As for foxes my Father always said keep an old one around to stop the younger ones coming into the territory. Which kind of backs up, lads saying that the more you shoot the more there is, i.e your creating a vacuum to be filled.

Cavan shooter, i heard that recently actually. I also heard that an old fox wont '**** on its own doorstep'. How true that is i dont know. I wouldnt like to chance it though

homerhop

When the club started rearing birds we were lucky enough to get the advice and guidance from a professional game keeper. He said a rule of thumb he had always worked on was anything more than a 40% return on released birds was a bonus, the rest would be lost to vermin, the elements, sickness and straying.
The one thing he couldnt stress enough though was the control of vermin, if it was not kept up all through the year we were wasting our time. I found the biggest problem we had were sparrow hawkes. They were taking on average 5 chicks a day, even taking chicks when we would be in the release pen.

EPointer=Birdss

I've had sparrow hawks take 8 week old poults! They were grabbing them by the head! Very capable killers
As for rats - how would you go about controlling them effectively in the field?
Traps or poison in pipes??
I would think there's so many of the things that this would be very tough but only necessary April to say August when laying hatching etc

Half-cocked

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

I've had sparrow hawks take 8 week old poults! They were grabbing them by the head! Very capable killers

Had this problem too. A pair of sparrowhawks feeding a juvenile. Lost quite a few poults before hanging old CD's from fishing line all around the pen. This seemed to deter them.

Slightly OT, but when do people start shooting foxes again? I usually kick off August 1st. Am I leaving it a bit late? We'll be getting in 8 week old birds end of July. I don't like shooting foxes if they're rearing cubs, there are no sheep/lambs on the shoot so no need to target foxes during lambing season.

pedroeibar1

Any annual bag at above 40% would be great - usually it is in the 30%s. Sparrow hawks will take one bird every few days IMO. A decent return is 80% due to effective predator control, dogging in, and LUCK. E. G. a buzzard or two (protected) will drive away many more than it kills - particularly ducks.
There have been lots of studies - here is one from the US and a reference for another at the end. (cut/paste from stuff I saved_ so google some of the text and a few more should turn up.
Rs
P.

a) Musil, D. D. and J.W. Connelly. 2009. Survival and reproduction of pen-reared vs translocated wild pheasants Phasianus colchicus. Wildlife Biology 15:80-88.

This was a two-year radio telemetry study comparing survival and likelihood of nesting for wild and pen-reared pheasants that were released in spring to augment low resident populations. Two study sites in southeastern Idaho were selected based on recommendations of a citizen’s advisory group. Habitat in these areas was believed to be
adequate but pheasant numbers were too low. Wild pheasants were trapped from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and the Sacramento Valley in California.

In both years, 10-month old pen reared stock was purchased from local game farms. During 2000, no predator control was used. 92 wild pheasants (71 female, 21 male) and 189 pen-reared pheasants (159 female, 30 male) were released. Fifty-nine percent of pen-reared hens died within 7 days of release compared to 6% of wild hens. By October 1, 96% of pen-reared hens and 100 % of pen-reared roosters had died compared to 60% of wild hens and 80% of wild roosters.

During 2001, 2,358 and 1,526 trap nights were conducted on the two study sites removing magpie, skunk, coyote, mink, badger, red fox, and feral cat at a contracted labor cost of $8,560, or $13.87/animal removed and $2.20/trap night. Also during 2001, 51 wild pheasants (41 female, 10 male) and 1,100 pen-reared pheasants (900 female, 200 male) were released. Twenty-two percent of penreared hens died within 7 days of release. Authors did not report wild pheasant mortality 2 within 7 days during 2001. By October 1, 2001 92% of pen-reared hens and 100% of
pen-reared roosters had died compared to 57% of wild hens and 30% of wild roosters.

Hen survival to nesting season was not significantly different between years for either pheasant stock. Combined years, hen survival to nesting season (May 1) was 86% for wild hens and 28% for pen-reared hens. Ten percent of wild hens and 1% of pen-reared hens survived to produce chicks. Predation was responsible for 99% and 82% of deaths among pen-reared and wild pheasants, respectively.

Authors estimated that wild pheasants cost $53/bird for capture, transport, and release compared to $9.50/pen-reared bird to be released. But, based on these costs, the cost of a hatched egg from pen-reared hens was $170 compared to $62 for wild released hens. The authors concluded, “Low survival, poor productivity and higher costs of spring-released pen-reared female pheasants strongly suggest that this is an inappropriate management tool for increasing
pheasant numbers.”

Another study is by Diefenbach, D. R., C. F. Riegner, and T. S. Hardisky. 2000. Harvest and reporting rates of game-farm ring-necked pheasants. Wildlife Society Bulletin 28(4): 1050–1059.

pedroeibar1

Another one - from a UK study A study from 27 radio-tagged pheasant from six pens on six estates in each of three years:


Mean %s

Early pen death 3.5%
Shot within estate 30.5%
Shot off estate 7%
Predated/scavenged before shooting 23%
Predated/scavenged after shooting began 13%
Other death 7%
Survived 16%


Early pen death = disease, accidents, etc.

Predated- = killed , mostly by foxes.

Scavenged = died of other causes before being eaten by foxes.

Other = mostly road kills

EPointer=Birdss

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Another one - from a UK study A study from 27 radio-tagged pheasant from six pens on six estates in each of three years:


Mean %s

Early pen death 3.5%
Shot within estate 30.5%
Shot off estate 7%
Predated/scavenged before shooting 23%
Predated/scavenged after shooting began 13%
Other death 7%
Survived 16%


Early pen death = disease, accidents, etc.

Predated- = killed , mostly by foxes.

Scavenged = died of other causes before being eaten by foxes.

Other = mostly road kills

Very Interesting Facts that. Cheers Pedro!
Good Study. I'd be more intersted in the UK results than the other US study based on similiar conditions vermin etc.
The sample sizes are some way statisitically valid also!
If the fox numbers were reduced, the 23% might add to the 30% shot but not completely as the laws of probability are such that the 23% would be shared across the other factors. It would indicate a strong possibility of a minimum 40% return based on good vermin control however which is line with the other numbers quoted on here.

Also a survival rate of nearly 20% is impressive. 20 birds out of every 100 is good going & I firmly think that birds that survive their first year generally last!
Interesting :cool: