Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
I really hope that boy does not pay attention to your posts because you have not a clue about what you are talking about, Period, what you posted here about rasing pheasants is nonsense, period. Maggots and meal worms, give me a break. It takes about 100 lbs of food to raise 50 chicks to 6 weeks old, 2 lbs a day of feed for the 1st 6 weeks of a pheasant chicks life and about 1 lb a day from 6 weeks forward. All those maggots and meal worms would break you. Game bird feed has all the proper nutrients they need to grow. Pheasant shooter, please for your sake, ignore whay this guy says.
Do you use your head for anything but a hat rack? I "supplement" with Maggots and Meal worms. Five (big) buckets of each (I raise my own) on a rotating basis, that's a lot of Maggots and Meal worms. I try to mirror as closely as possible what they are going to be eating on release, especially the the younger ones, if I have to thin the flock because of conflict (pecking) or whatever. I wouldn't even know where to get Game Bird feed here and even if I did, it would likely cost an arm and a leg. I use what the expert (a buddy who has a small hatchery and aviary) recommends and what's available. He's been raising them forever (a few at a time). His place is right across the tracks from a grain elevator and processing plant.
I haven't had any starve or die from disease yet. Like I said, my only real failures are predators and people who walk up to the pen and shock the Pheasants into suicide. My pen is behind a hunting cabin in the woods and there is a walking path maybe 50 yards away. People get curious and walk up to the pen, sometimes with their Dogs and screaming kids, the Pheasants freak and hurt themselves.
I guess your way is better, feed them prepared mash and scratch, then when they get big enough toss them out in the middle of a field and they are going to magically find enough food to survive, even if they haven't a clue what real food looks like. Feeding them in the wild is setting the dinner table for predators. I release them into hedges and scatter them all over. A lot aren't watchful enough and get eaten. It gets even worse in the winter when the natural cover thins out.
Laying the wire on the outside of the enclosure flat on the ground tied tight to the bottom of the fence, with some dirt or whatever on top and anchored, works better than digging down. But maybe you will have to try it for yourself and see what works. If you have Foxes around, be prepared, they can really dig. Martens and Weasels can fit through small holes, cracks or crevices.
My goal is to try and keep a steady stable breeding population going, instead of the feast and famine type of pheasant hunting we used to have. We had a rash of Jays that really thinned out the Pheasant population, then a few years later a Crow invasion. Nest raiders and chick eaters. Fox get the adults and the younguns, I try to keep the Fox population in check.
One of my Terriers decided to follow a Rat Hole, dug two feet deep in about half an hour.
And by the way I really hope you'll warn us next time before you get your period.