Gamekeeping

[jall55]

I thought i would start a thread on gamekeeping
Nothing too deep - and i appreciate much of the shared advice may well be common knowledge - but it may help some - so please share any experiences or tips

As some may have read i have had issues with stoats this year killing a few poults - historically we may have said this was / buzzard / owl - or who knows what as some were eaten and some hardly touched - i sat out for hours on end and have seen the stoat doing the damage - I have tried and failed to catch it in traps and to shoot it. Its also hard in the pens as the cover is thick and there is a strong chance of upsetting or disturbing the birds pushing them out

So what have i done to stop the killing - radios - lights and as i thought about it - drop the electric fence to a mere centimetre or two above the ground - Touch wood no further issues

The other thing i would say to any shoot getting birds - is dont have too many for your pen - manage the habitat in the pen - get the cover going - Our pens look nearly as good on day 40 as they do day 1
Get the birds some grit and treat their water when they first come with electrolytes
Move the feed trays daily - maybe a few feet - so that they are not feeding where they mess all the time

Any other tips / ideas chaps ?

 

[Smellydog]

Old chap I know use to take a clean shirt with him and leave the old smelly one hanging just off the ground up wind from the pen or feed ride. Collect next day.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Make sure you have an understanding wife/girl friend.

 

[Smellydog]

I suggested underpants once to him and he expressed most endearingly how he didn't want to be held to account for causing undue suffering!

 

[jall55]

Make sure you have an understanding wife/girl friend.

Mine helps !

 

[nick.308]

I thought i would start a thread on gamekeeping
Nothing too deep - and i appreciate much of the shared advice may well be common knowledge - but it may help some - so please share any experiences or tips

As some may have read i have had issues with stoats this year killing a few poults - historically we may have said this was / buzzard / owl - or who knows what as some were eaten and some hardly touched - i sat out for hours on end and have seen the stoat doing the damage - I have tried and failed to catch it in traps and to shoot it. Its also hard in the pens as the cover is thick and there is a strong chance of upsetting or disturbing the birds pushing them out

So what have i done to stop the killing - radios - lights and as i thought about it - drop the electric fence to a mere centimetre or two above the ground - Touch wood no further issues

The other thing i would say to any shoot getting birds - is dont have too many for your pen - manage the habitat in the pen - get the cover going - Our pens look nearly as good on day 40 as they do day 1
Get the birds some grit and treat their water when they first come with electrolytes
Move the feed trays daily - maybe a few feet - so that they are not feeding where they mess all the time

Any other tips / ideas chaps ?

would be keen to know how many is too many for the pen size? and what electrolytes you advice. lots of different sources. Thanks

 

[jall55]

would be keen to know how many is too many for the pen size? and what electrolytes you advice. lots of different sources. Thanks

Hi Nick
I use Solulyte

I think with the pen its more the habitat in there than a strict number of birds - air on the side of caution. Look historically at the damage the birds did to the flora - if its bad reduce drastically . Also manage the pens - what i do once the majority are out is start felling some trees - get some light in to kill any worms etc and get different stages of growth in the pens

I also feed / water on concrete slabs - hard working getting so many in there - but again the birds dont paddle their food and create disease

Just to give a rough idea
I put 1100 birds in a pen 350 m round
400 in 200m
400 in 250 m'
400 in 225 m

 

[jall55]

would be keen to know how many is too many for the pen size? and what electrolytes you advice. lots of different sources. Thanks

Just edited with the rough sizes Nick

 

[nick.308]

Hi Nick
I use Solulyte

I think with the pen its more the habitat in there than a strict number of birds - air on the side of caution. Look historically at the damage the birds did to the flora - if its bad reduce drastically . Also manage the pens - what i do once the majority are out is start felling some trees - get some light in to kill any worms etc and get different stages of growth in the pens

I also feed / water on concrete slabs - hard working getting so many in there - but again the birds dont paddle their food and create disease

Thanks, We have a 35x35m pen which grows bracken for good cover, is sunny inside and has trees surrounding for roosting. It has been a successful pen for several years putting approx 500-600 poults in it. The one thing I find is the poults need releasing after 1 week as they hammer the floiage and start to do the yellow mustard poos, and will go backwards if not released.

 

[jall55]

Thanks, We have a 35x35m pen which grows bracken for good cover, is sunny inside and has trees surrounding for roosting. It has been a successful pen for several years putting approx 500-600 poults in it. The one thing I find is the poults need releasing after 1 week as they hammer the floiage and start to do the yellow mustard poos, and will go backwards if not released.

Our birds can get out from day one - and get back in via pop holes

The yellow poo is a sign of stress and the electrolyte will help with that

It sounds like quite a lot of birds in that area if you are noticing heavy damage after a week Nick

We also have a couple of pens full of braken and bramble - much of it nearly like it was when they first arrived

 

[nick.308]

Our birds can get out from day one - and get back in via pop holes

The yellow poo is a sign of stress and the electrolyte will help with that

It sounds like quite a lot of birds in that area if you are noticing heavy damage after a week Nick

We also have a couple of pens full of braken and bramble - much of it nearly like it was when they first arrived

Our birds can fly out of the top from day one but it generally takes them a week to figure this out. When I say release them I mean open the door and walk them out daily to make them spread out more.
They seem to take a week or 2 to properly get used to the idea of roosting rather than just sitting on the floor.

 

[jall55]

Our birds can fly out of the top from day one but it generally takes them a week to figure this out. When I say release them I mean open the door and walk them out daily to make them spread out more.
They seem to take a week or 2 to properly get used to the idea of roosting rather than just sitting on the floor.

Yes we have had ours just above 2 weeks and they are just roosting properly

I think if you are actually encouraging them to leave the pen you perhaps do have too many in it mate - far better to have 100 or more too few than 10 too many as the stress will stop them reaching their full potential and many will not thrive and perish once out in the woods / covers often unseen

 

[countrryboy]

Thanks, We have a 35x35m pen which grows bracken for good cover, is sunny inside and has trees surrounding for roosting. It has been a successful pen for several years putting approx 500-600 poults in it. The one thing I find is the poults need releasing after 1 week as they hammer the floiage and start to do the yellow mustard poos, and will go backwards if not released.

I forget the old adage now, but it won't be hard to find.
GCT and most keepering books will mentioned it.

I think it was 1 bird per linear M of ur pen fence.
And when u got to a certain size went down to 1/2m per bird, think it was over 200m perimeter or something .

Ive had a few pens as small as that on DIY shoots and only put 50- 100 birds in.
And they had excellent long lasting cover.
Even 4 weeks in held up well.
All the years I ran it never had a disease problem ever either.
Stress brings on a lot of problems.

Is caramel droppings not 1st signs of cocci?
Must admit I'm out of practice with disease ID as never have any problems

 

[Goingback]

Keep checking the perimeter - when you are happy, check again. I always treat the first four days as the crucial 'bonding' period. I try and minimalise the times that i am in the pen, staying on the outside is better; keeping them around the feed and water and not pushing them away from cover where they will be more vulnerable.
I feed the buzzards with rabbits and pigeon. It's also a good indicator if other predators are present.
Radio's for the first three days are deployed. It keeps a background noise (white noise). Even a shrew sounds like an elephant at night and may freak them out. same as a woodpecker swooping over which will send them into panic mode.

 

[old 30-06]

jall55, In order to try to control your stoat, and if you are visiting your birds every day, then put in a live capture trap, baited with a rabbit if possible. Very little effort to do, and it may just do the job. Even if it does not, it shows others that you are doing something.

 

[jall55]

jall55, In order to try to control your stoat, and if you are visiting your birds every day, then put in a live capture trap, baited with a rabbit if possible. Very little effort to do, and it may just do the job. Even if it does not, it shows others that you are doing something.

Just sat out on the ride next to the pen over some bait and blow me 4 stoats turn up !
No shot on as they are like jack in boxes
- half hour later a poult or two explode from some cover and i think fox ! - but no its a stoat and it chases it to 3 feet from me - i shoo it away and it goes in to cover to emerge 40 yards away and is now dead - back tomorrow night with the shotgun !

How i have underestimated this predator !

 

[jall55]

jall55, In order to try to control your stoat, and if you are visiting your birds every day, then put in a live capture trap, baited with a rabbit if possible. Very little effort to do, and it may just do the job. Even if it does not, it shows others that you are doing something.

I have some DOC traps in and around the pens mate

I have also dropped the wire to the floor and have radio on and flashing lights - i now realise though these stoats will be killing out as well as in

 

[countrryboy]

they can squeek in quite easily at times, esp if young 1s.

Wild bird keepers are always very hard on them as they cause so much damage to ground nesters.

 

[Goingback]

they can squeek in quite easily at times, esp if young 1s.

Wild bird keepers are always very hard on them as they cause so much damage to ground nesters.

I have shot many with just a little pursed lip squeak. They will literally come up to a few paces away

 

[Sika98k]

Old chap I know use to take a clean shirt with him and leave the old smelly one hanging just off the ground up wind from the pen or feed ride. Collect next day.

Do the same myself.