club birds

charlie10

ok lads got a phone call from club asking would i be around to release a few birds,now they r getting them in the morning and we need to have crates back in an hour to the lorry/deliverer,now should these birds be penned or is it ok to release straight away.i was told they only feed from blue barrels so got 3 today and put on spring feeders,is rolled barley the way to go ,i have layers pellets from the hens will this do.all ideas greatly appriciated as this is my first encounter with releasing :Dbut am excitied all the same.

TriggerPL

ideally you should pen them and give them few days if ya cant then open the crates and just walk away dont flush them out so they fly just let them walk out and check out the surrondings

are u tagging them ? you should it interesting to see the return

charlie10

what u make of the feed lad, and should i let release them next to the feeder

TriggerPL

charlie10 wrote: »

what u make of the feed lad, and should i let release them next to the feeder

sorry lad didnt see the feed as a question . i wouldn use rolled barley , just normally barley as rolled barley tends to get clogged up in the spring .

yea just release them close to the feeder and they see where the food is

blackstairsboy

I would not put layers pellets in a feeder although it will increase the egg production of the hen pheasants it will lower fertility of the eggs.
I feed oats because I can get it easy here at home but also sweepings of barley and wheat when I can get them. They all seem to work fairly well for me but I think wheat is supposed to be best.

charlie10

ok will do thanks again ill set up feeders during the week so. i got 5 gallon drums at work and spray painted them blue so should do the job, i am gonna set them up so i can see them from a distance with binoculars . looking forward to it . was looking at the spice in mac eon is it any good or has any one tried it

charlie10

ya all tagged gonna ask club to put a bounty on one number that they know and announce at next meeting if bird was got . what ye think

Thomas Drennan

Exactly how many phesants are you getting ,I would say a pen for a day or two but be very carefull cock phesants are already fighting for territory i lost a breedind cock a week ago i would suggest wheat its got more protien than barley or oats

charlie10

thanks thomas ,and thanks lads this is helpful info ,they are getting 50 of each which probably isnt a lot ,how many cocks and hens in one particular area would be the norm .these questions may be stupid but there questions all the same:P

deeksofdoom

By any chance did ye get those birds in from the UK?

charlie10

i dont think so why u ask

EPointer=Birdss

I feed wheat Charlie. Goes through springs well. Pheasants eat plenty of it. Got 1 last year with a tennis ball size of it in his crop!

deeksofdoom

There are truckloads of these birds sent over from the UK every year and sold to gun clubs here. They are late season birds which are too young to be sold to shoots as they would be too small, they are kept in large game farms in sheds during the winter. They are then graded. The good birds are kept for breeding and the birds which don't make the grade (i.e. infertile etc..) are shipped over here to Ireland.

They are sold to gun clubs here, they don't breed coz they're infertile, they won't roost because they lived in sheds all there lives, they can't feed because they've been hand fed in captivity. If they manage to breed they make poor parents, they have no natural instincts.

charlie10

so i go and ask for a bag of wheat ya? should i hang the barrell or make legs for it

charlie10

cheers deeks ill enquire i dont honestly know

blackstairsboy

charlie10 wrote: »

so i go and ask for a bag of wheat ya? should i hang the barrell or make legs for it

You should get some sweepings from a tillage man handy enough. It wont be spotless there will be bits of dirt such as feathers and that but it is grand for the feeders. Bet if you ask a lad you will get more than you need and he will be only too happy to have you cleaning it up will keep the rats and ferals out of his yard.
You could buy it but with the recession .... :rolleyes:

I hang most of my feeders 16 inches to the spring or a barrel with holes sixteen inches to the hole. I have some set up in a wood tied to low boughs of trees and some more on open land tied to a fencing stake. Just make sure it doesn't interfere with wire etc.

deeksofdoom

Well there are 2 types of adult birds that you can buy after the season. Birds from shoots or birds from game farms. You have a better chance with birds of the shoots because they are just a little bit wilder.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but i've come to the conclusion that they are as good as christmas turkeys the natural instincts have been bred out of them. The cocks that survive will probably breed with wild hens, but the return on tagged birds is really poor 5%.

charlie10

i dont really know any tilage men but might call to a few places and ask them an offer to shoot a few pidgeons maybe, kill two stones with the one bird as i heard a man once say;)