Pheasant Chicks

Ju_Ju

Well lads, long time lurker first time poster here.

If you're rearing chicks this year how're ye getting on with them?

I bought 54 day olds a fortnight ago and I've managed to keep 52 alive. The 2 deaths were within a couple of hours of receiving the chicks, so I'm putting it down to the stress of the move.

Its the first time I've tried to rear day olds so I'm delighted with the progress so far.

At this stage, they're off the chick cloth, have full access to a 12ft x 12ft run, and the lamp height has been increased so the temperature beneath is around 35 degrees.

They seem to be doing quite well, yesterday a couple of them managed to fly over the top of the run..... It's 6.5ft high! I ended up having to increase the height of the pen up to the top of the garage.

I was wondering about worming. How're ye planning on doing it?

I was either going to buy some medicated grower feed or buy flubenvet and treat the pellets myself.

I was thinking of treating them for 7 days when they're 6 weeks old, holding them for another couple of days inside, then moving them to the release pen when they're 7.5 to 8 weeks old. What do ye think?

mallards

I'd give them a dose around eight weeks when they are in the release pen. If you're rearing them indoors until six weeks they won't have any worms. And the two weeks on grass won't give much of a worm burden unless it's been heavily used for poultry before? I used to add flubenvent myself to the feed but it was handier to get an all in one feed.

Ju_Ju

There'll be a couple of chickens on the ground up until the pheasants get released.

Knowing that, do you think I should I worm them straight away after releasing them, or wait until they've been in the pen a week or so?

mallards

I'd start after they have been in the pen a few days. They will be going into it as clean as a whistle judging on your set up. The feed is only a little more expensive than the normal stuff so there's not much harm in starting them earlier. It's just that when they first get into the pen they won't have worms so pointless worming them. Even if the release pen is full of worms it would take a week or more for it to show on the birds, so if you start them on wormer a couple of days in then it gives them time to settle into their new surroundings and the wormer will start working when it's most effective. I generally have at least one feeder constantly with wormer in it for four to six weeks until they start moving out from the pen. If I came across any problems, I would replace the normal feeders with wormer feed until the problem cleared. Touch wood, I'm sixteen years at it and haven't had any problems yet and I've always used the same ground. Best of luck with them, I used to hatch and rear my own so I know the worry you have with them. Make sure the water is clean and they have plenty of it. Bit of sunshine and shelter and you'll have great birds.
Cheers

Ju_Ju

Thanks for the advice.

Thinking about it logically, it makes zero sense to worm them earlier if they're clean!

The worry that you get regarding them is unreal alright. Hopefully they keep going as well as they've started.