Rearing pheasants

Woodcock7

Hello next year i would like to rear pheasants for the gun club. As it would be my first time i will only be rearing about 20-30 birds. I would appreciate any advice you could give me i have yet to decide if i will use an incubator or buy them a few weeks old.

Also what would be the minimum size pen i will need to build to hold 20-30 birds.
I would appreciate any info on this. Thanks

feargale

Oh sorry! I'm in the wrong thread. I thought it read "rising peasants." I'm very interested in the attitude of country folk to water charges.

idnkph

feargale wrote:

Oh sorry! I'm in the wrong thread. I thought it read "rising peasants." I'm very interested in the attitude of country folk to water chatges.

WTF?

daleshooter

I reared 200 Birdes each year for last 2 year's. For my club bought them in as day olds found it works best if I can be of any help let me know.

Half-cocked

I buy mine in 8 weeks old, most of the mortality happens before that age.

Woodcock7

daleshooter wrote: »

I reared 200 Birdes each year for last 2 year's. For my club bought them in as day olds found it works best if I can be of any help let me knowr.

If i were to make the pen to hold about 30 pheasants what size should it be around and any tips on building it would be great as im struggling to find much on the internet about materials and that.

Woodcock7

Half-cocked wrote: »

I buy mine in 8 weeks old, most of the mortality happens before that age.

What time of the year do you buy them in at and then how long would you wait bdfore realease ?

daleshooter

Pm me u number and I chat u about how I built my pens and pros and cons of day olds

Chancer3001

Reared them in batches of 20 years ago

Biggest problem was the fence. Fence kept the birds in no problem. But foxes would dig feet under it to get in and kill all the birds.

You need to put concrete at the bottom. Dont underestimate the lengths foxes will go to.

Also the mortality rate of young birds is quite high. Save yourself a lot of bother and buy slightly older birds

270WIN

as previous posters have said the older the birds you buy the better your chances of releasing healthy birds. i rear them in batches of 20 in runs made from old security fences. put 4 ft chicken wire on the fences and turn out a foot of it at the bottom..that prevented the foxes from getting mine. release them in batches of 4/5 every week or so and they tend to hang around. feed them the same food inside and out and use exactly the same feeders..its a brilliant pastime!

Half-cocked

Woodcock7 wrote: »

What time of the year do you buy them in at and then how long would you wait bdfore realease ?

Get them in end of July. Put them in an open top pen so they can start wandering around fairly soon. Initially only feed them in the pen to keep them coming back to roost, later on start filling feeders further afield.

The pen needs to be secure, good electric fence and bury the wire mesh deep to prevent predators getting in. Be careful you've no overhanging branches that pine martens could get in over the top.

cavan shooter

I stopped buying poult 4 years ago now release adult birds getting better results.

Tikka391

Half-cocked wrote: »

Get them in end of July. Put them in an open top pen so they can start wandering around fairly soon. Initially only feed them in the pen to keep them coming back to roost, later on start filling feeders further afield.

The pen needs to be secure, good electric fence and bury the wire mesh deep to prevent predators getting in. Be careful you've no overhanging branches that pine martens could get in over the top.

We split our pen into two and put netting wire over half and kept them in there for first week or two. Stops the crows feeding, we reckon we are saving a third of the feed this way.
Even when they have access to the whole pen we still feed in closed in part.

Ju_Ju

Over the past couple of years I've done day olds, poults, and adult birds. Here's a summary of some of the pros and cons as I see them:

Day Olds
Pros
- Cheapest way of getting birds on the ground.
Cons
- Most amount of work involved.
- Half your birds will be hens that you can't shoot.
- Most potential for something to go wrong (disease / vermin etc) when birds are enclosed.

Poults
Pros
- Most of the hard work is done by someone else.
- You can select 100% cocks.
Cons
- More expensive than day olds.
- Some potential for disaster (disease / vermin etc) with birds in a pen, but not as much as with day olds.

Adults
Pros
- All the hard work is done by someone else.
- You can select 100% cocks.
- Assuming you get good birds, you won't lose many to vermin.
Cons
- By far the most expensive method of releasing birds.
- It can be hard to get the birds to stick around.

As long as you hammer vermin, keep feeders well stocked and are releasing into suitable habitat, I've found that you get roughly the same percentage return with all three methods. However, you will get far more birds on the ground (so more in the gamebag) for your money with either day olds or poults.

My personal preference is towards poults, but I've settled on adult birds for the foreseeable. This is mainly due to the bandits in my area shooting around release pens..... in the dark..... on the morning of the 1st of November.....

Half-cocked

If you release a lot of hens you can apply for a hen license, usually allows for shooting up to a third of what you release. NPWS will want to inspect your setup before issuing.

Hens will hold better and also poachers tend not to take them because they can't explain away having a shot hen in their possession. But make sure NPWS will actually issue the license before investing in a load of hens.