Originally Posted by MudderChuck

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.

Originally Posted by Oldtimr

Don't worry about him, that is what happens when someone get exposed and has nothing to counter with. We want to se you succeed. Now that you mentioned the legnth of your netting I have a question. If that going to make your pen 7 feet in legnth or is the 7 feet of netting going to be made into a retangular pen? There is recommended square footage per bird so they are not crowded and canabalize each other which they will if crowded and sometime even if they are not crowded. That is why they put goggles on them, so they do not see each other directly. Debeaking also helps with canabalism.

Originally Posted by Oldtimr

Yes sir, it sure beats playing video games.

Originally Posted by MudderChuck

I guess shoveling 10-15 tons of dirt for something you'll use a couple of months a year, beats playing video games.

I've only raised a few hundred over the years. And tried digging down, which helped, but not nearly so well as a horizontal barrier.

Maybe Oldtimr will volunteer to help you move all that dirt, .

You also have to figure unless you compact it back into the hole, it is likely to make digging through it the next time even easier for whatever tries to dig under it..

pheasantshooter123 Don't pay much attention to a couple of old codgers that don't like each other much. In all likelihood Oldtimr should be calling me Sir and/or Mr. if he was raised right.