Opening release pens

[stone]

PKL
Can I just say you are p155ing in the wind
get off your lazy butt and cut some trees down to allow some light in your pen
cold and dark damp pens don't hold healthy birds especially if they are coniferous as conifers hold the damp well
build your 2nd pen and make sure you build it where it has light areas for brds to dust and catch some rays aswell as trees to roost in
hand feeding is a method which keeps birds in a chosen area at a time you want them there
hopper fed birds feed when they like and feck off when they like, also they become more wary
if you intend to shoot Oct 1st then you need to think about the age of your birds
I work on 20 weeks old for pheasants and shoot tailed birds or those that are in colour
before that they are not worth shooting or what I call worth shooting
23 weeks old they are usually fully feathered and coloured up

 

[bogtrotter]

PKL, I may be wrong but I believe you may be in Scotland, if so you will find it difficult to establish a wild bird shoot up here the climate is very much against it.

Why would you want to start shooting 1st October as others have said pheasants need to be a minimum of twenty weeks
of age to reach maturity, more important leaf is still on the trees making shooting difficult most wait till nearer the end of the month or even early November.

I don't like your idea of using your partridge pens for pheasants you want to make your pheasant release pens as large as possible ideally 1 acre per 300 birds somebody mentioned using Herris fence panels would make a good pen but kind
of expensive.

Coniferous woods are to dark and damp so not ideal for a pen if you can extend the pen out of the wood so part of it is in the open it may help.

If you have limited time it may be worth considering ex layers, I used to release a large amount of poults but now stalking is my main occupation, latterly been releasing ex layers for what is mainly a rough shoot, whilst its not ideal
it works with the limited amount of time I can spend with them.

 

[Dickyboy]

We only hopper feed, hand feeding doesn't hold birds better, it just does your head in not seeing them. It makes them more wild which is better. I think the trouble with hand feeding is sometimes birds want more food if its wet or cold and if you haven't put it down they will leave and go looking for it

We put alot of effort into getting the habitat right, not just in pens but all over. We have been heavily culling the deer since I took over that side of it and the undergrowth that has come up is unbelievable. It might be harder to do that where you are but lock your pens down from february, normally 3rd week for us. Cut some trees down and keep the deer out, you will have brambles everywhere there is light, they will be dormant waiting for the light.

If your habitat is right and you leave food down the whole time(as in hoppers) and fresh water you will have no problems.

Also make the pen as large as possible, our pens are roughly 1300 - 1500 paces round for 1000-1500 birds. The birds will tell you when they want to get out, they tend to stand round the edges looking out alot when they are ready.


Wing clipping is fine but pulling is illegal.

 

[User00003]

I don't actually start shooting 1/10, just a figure of speech. I usually don't raise the gun to a released pheasant until 1st November, trying to get older birds in October only.

Bogtrotter, yes, in Scotland (sorry, just don't like having my exact details on my profile) - I know, unless you have hardwood forests with alder, birch, beech, oak, etc. with laurels, rhododendrons, brambles, etc. etc in the bottom. it's really difficult to hold a proper wild population. I have mostly conifers on my grounds, and as they have gotten quite tall, the birds are finding them very inhospitable. I think my project in preparation for next year will be to cut trees and let light in, maybe planting a few shrubs to get natural coverage going. Build a second open pheasant pen in a more open environment, and get the farmer to plant cover crops around the forest edges in his conservation headland, so the birds will stay there, but still use the forests for roosting.

The only thing is the planted conservation headlands will need to be fenced, as the adjoining fields are used for sheep grazing all the time, so I don't know if that's a straight up cost to me, or the farmer will have any government subsidies or tax deductibles for such projects that I can tempt him with?

I know I might never have a truly wild population that will provide much sport here in scotland , maybe worth trying to get grey partridges? or waste of time?

 

[bogtrotter]

PKL just a tip if you have any say in the fencing of the conservation headlands try to get the farmer to fence with rylock net[ not sure of spelling of ryloc] and try to persuade him to put it on upside down large mesh to the bottom will still keep
stock out but lets the birds free access through it, when I was keepering all the estate was fenced like this, but all the estate farms were in hand, might not be so easy to persuade a independent farmer to do it.

Grey partridge superb bird do you have any wild ones habitat is most important thing for them, reared greys are a lot of work, and tend to become a sort of put and take, most people find that they don't over winter well just disappear and you are back to square one in the spring, also if you have a wild stock its not a good idea to supplement them with reared birds as your wild ones seem to disappear

If you already have a wild stock then your conservation headlands will help, that and you would need some rigorous vermin control.

If you are dependent on reared birds red legs are an easier solution as they can be flock reared and released like pheasants, but IMO the grey partridge is a far superior bird.

 

[trouble]

PKL try rearing a few greys under bantys or in the spring put patrs of greys out , each pair in a 30x30 cage and let them rear their own . For any wild bird production keep your feeders full all year to keep you stock fit , worm them in spring and keep at the vermin all year hard as you can