Pheasant pen
 

at our farm we are raising about 20 pheasants. we are thinking about making a release pen. chicken wire is too short and critters can get in that way. so we are using some geofabric because it doesn't rot in the elements. it is also about 5 feet tall instead of 3 that the chicken wire is. the pen is going to be open topped so when we want to release the birds inside, they can either fly out on their own or we can chase them out ourselves. btw geofabric in non degradable plastic fence used to hold retaining walls in place. it is very strong and the only way to break it is to cut it with a knife. the holes in geofabric are about 1.5 by 1.5 holes in diamonds. the pen is going to be about 50 feet by 20 feet. we are going to just let it up in native grasses. we are going to throw chicken scratch in at night so they are foraging for their food. if anybody has comments please tell me.

~pheasantshooter~

You do not want to have an open topped hardening pen. The hawks and owls will clean you out. You must have a top on your pens or you will be doing no more than feeding predators. Five feet is also awful low, you will need a pen, normally called a flight pen that is high and long enough so the birds will be able to fly well before you release them. I recommend you visit a pheasant propagator and look at their operation and ask them questions so you do not waste a lot of money on something that will not do what you expect it to do. You can call the PA Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife protection at 717-787-5909 and ask for the permit division and get a list of pheasant propagators who are in your county or close to your county.

Ditto what Oldtimr said!

Lay some chicken wire flat on the earth all the way around to help prevent predators from burrowing in. The Geo fabric is a good idea. Been my experience when they get older they spook easily and can hurt themselves running/flying into the wire. Put a lid on the enclosure. Have as little contact as practical with your birds, the wilder they are the better. You can try releasing after the feathers have grown in after their first molt, around two months. But I've found later is better, after around 3-4 months or even later. It helps if they have an enclosure large enough to fly some. I put some cover in my enclosure (a brush pile) so they can hide when I show up. Trains then to go to cover and helps prevent injury from flailing around.

The mortality rate is really high on my releases, maybe 10% last through the first winter.

A single Weasel will kill them all in a single night. Weasels are like Rats, if their head fits through a hole the rest of their body will follow, it doesn't take much of a hole.

I truely hope you contact and visit a letgitimate pheasant propagator to get good information to raise pheasants. It is more than just hatching eggs or buying chicks and if not done properly you will just waste your time and money. Do not bother covering the ground with chicken wire because it will stop nothing from entering your pen. You will need to have your pen sides burried in the ground anywhere from 12 to 20 inches to keep predators from digging into the pen. Additionally, if you are going to have tall native grasses in the pen, additional cover such as brush piles are not necessary. There is a lot to know in order to raise your birds to release age and have enough of them survive to get the most for your money. They can start to fly already at 2 weeks of age for short distances. They should not be left outside in a hardening pen for more than 8 to 10 hours until they are at least 8 weeks old because they will not be fully feathered until then. There is too much you should know to get it from a message board. A message board is not the place to get the best information to do what you want to do, you will get information, but not all will be correct or the best way to proceed. Go to the PGC or a licensed pheasant propagator and pick their brains and take notes, to give you the best succes possible. It will cost a little more to do it right, but you will like the end result better. Good luck.

Burying the fence really doesn't help much, laying chicken wire flat on the ground buried under a few inches of dirt, three feet out does. My main predator is Fox and they can dig twenty inches in minutes. The wire laid flat out on the ground seems to confound them a bit. They most always want to dig at the fence edge. And laying it out flat on the ground is a whole lot easier than digging a hundred plus foot trench. I used pieces of rebar as stakes to hold the wire down.

Good luck getting much to grow in the enclosure. Mine gets picked clean pretty quick.

The reason I release mine late is the males don't get their full color until later and can be hunted before the winter hits. The mortality rate is high anyway. The younger they are, the easier prey they are.

I have a lean-to on one end of my enclosure, with some old crates and straw. I usually keep a couple of full grown hens from last years batch. Cocks don't work out well.

If a predator does get into your enclosure the only real chance they have is a brush pile, they can bob and weave and try for altitude for awhile. I also put in a few long perches up high.

I really haven't lost many Chicks before release unless they beat themselves to death on the enclosure sides when they get spooked, or a varmint finds it's way in. I did keep a Cock Pheasant with the younguns one year, he killed some.

Somebody that does it for a living may have some good tips on feed for the Chicks. They seem to be partial to bugs, grain doesn't excite them much, they will eat mash but I think they may do better on something high protein. I feed mine maggots and meal worms (fish bait) periodically.

I get my Chicks at around 3-4 weeks old. a buddy raises them in a brood house until then.

Get all the info you can from as many sources as possible. Some you just learn by trial and error, the hard way.

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.

I also hope that the OP gets some information from a reputable source like you mentioned Oldtimr. I've yet to see birds raised in a pen with wire laid out on the ground. A properly built pen's sides should always goes down at least 1 and preferably 2 or more feet below the ground surface and then preferably horizontally underground another 3-4 feet with the wire such that it takes a varmint a lot of time and energy to get inside. If a varmint only had to go down a few inches before tunneling under the exposed wire those birds wouldn't have a chance within just a few minutes. The OP will also find out the proper nutrition and amount of food each bird needs from the getgo to survive to a healthy release stage and I don't believe maggots/meal worms are on that list! Perhaps our other member shouldn't offer these "helpful" comments that don't appear to be the least bit accurate, even though well intended!

Here is just one link I quickly found that is from a place that has been in business for 50 years and has a lot of valuable information in it about raising birds from 5 day old chicks to adult size with a lot of great tips on construction of the places needed to keep them from that age until releasing, feeding, watering, etc. http://www.oakwoodgamefarm.com/pages/Tips-for-Raising

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.

Just save it, I have been around raising millions of pheasants and yes I said millions, so save your claptrap for those who do not know better. Those birds were raised on special formula game bird food which has all they need except grit. Here is a young man who early in life is looking for advice to do things correctly and you are not helping him. Your story changes with every post, I don't really care if you try to blow smoke up the backsides of the adults here, they will figure it out but leave the kids alone. Not everyone is a naive as you appear to think, you are fooling nor impressing no one.

MudderChuck---You really do need to read up on this before you tell anyone else how to do things. If the OP reads that link in my post that will only take several minutes, he will find out that what Oldtimr has stated is excellent from building the release pen to the feed they need with a minimum of 28% and preferably over 30% protein where you said you "thought" that maybe your birds needed protein!

I just measured the geofabric and it is approx. 7 feet. I will put a brush pile in when we get the time. I was thinking about putting a 4by4 post with an old pan screwed fast to the top of it. that would make some kind of a flight pen. I think that I am going to dig a trench and put some chicken wire in to keep the predators out. I will listen to you oldtimr because you have helped me the most with what I ask.

What you want to do in the flight pen is have your netting loose enough that you can 2/4s with a 12 inch board on the top side inside the pen and push the netting up to about 8 feet, the legnth of the pen will determing the number of poles. 7 feet is a bit short for a flight pen. Check your pms.

Here is a picture of a flight pen like Oldtimr is talking about that shows how the posts/poles hold the net up at least 7-8 feet high at those points. Definitely put the wire down into the ground along the sides a couple feet if the ground is easily dug and maybe a foot or two horizontally also, as that really slows a varmint down when it digs and then comes up only to hit that wire. IMHO it's even better to run that horizontal wire out away from the pen. Then a varmint has to figure out that it needs to start digging way away from the side, whereas normally they will start right at the fence itself and go down only to hit that horizontal wire. All it takes is one fox or weasel to get in and they will kill every bird in one or two nights and it's not a pretty sight to see! Good luck with the project and when you're done maybe post up a picture or two.

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WTF MUFFERCHUCK?!?!?!?!?!?! That was NOT necessary to say that . I hope you know that I am a 12 year old kid. I am just trying to get advice, not get involved a heated argument with bodily functional words. That was very insulting. I am going to report it the next time I see that.:sign0018:

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.

For sure! I took the 7' measurement he mentioned to mean that is the width of the product and when it is run along the outside to make the pen that will then be how high it is to the top. He can correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I think that's what he means. If the OP reads that neat link in my post, it covers quite a few things and I was very surprised at how much room per bird that is suggested so they don't harm each other. I really do wish the OP well and commend him on wanting to do stuff like we're talking about instead of being on an Ipad or whatever it is these kids do with their time nowadays!

Yes sir, it sure beats playing video games.

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.

Between you and the 12 year old OP I know who I would vote for right now if a question was asked as to who has the highest IQ and it ain't you booby, as you're making a complete jackass of yourself every time you post here. I hope the OP does hit the alert button and turns you in because all you're doing is ruining this thread, especially with the derogatory remark you made about Oldtimr that the OP called you out on and now you just come back with even more! Not too smart dude, especially when this involves a kid! Actually, it involves two kids with you being youngest after reading all the baloney you keep coming back with! This is really ridiculous when all we're trying to do here is help a 12 year old kid and you keep acting like a 4 year old with your little tantrums! That last line in bold should especially have the OP in stitches, as I'm still laughing at that one! :lmao::bash:

Mudwhatever, if you were as interested in helping this young man as you are trying to convince everyone you know all there is to know about everything, you would have known from his previous posts that this is a project him and his father are taking on together and perhaps you wouldn't have made this ludicris post."I guess shoveling 10-15 tons of dirt for something you'll use a couple of months a year, beats playing video games. Your smallness and self engrandizment in pumping yourself up while kicking a young man's thread off the tracks says more about you than anything you ever said here. BTW, I call men sir, you do not meet that standard, men do not try to discourage children..

Derogatory remark, all I did was quote him, you are the ones who misread my intent. He said blah, blah, blah period and then said some more blah, blah, blah period. His use of "period" is an interjection, I guess, and not a bodily function like you and the kid surmised. Some people just have dirty minds :).

I just read your link and didn't see much of anything that drastically conflicted with much of anything I posted. I may not be a hundred percent right, it doesn't make me wrong either. Most of this stuff I learned the hard way, it's a process. Mostly just some ideas and stuff that has worked for me in the past and some things that went wrong also.

Back on topic, if you get young birds that want to peck the others, toss them out to fend for themselves quick. They will infect the other younguns and you'll have them all doing it. Nothing says you can't trickle release after the first molt. You can release some young and keep others longer, depends on the size of your pen. You don't have to release them all at once.

The bitties I get are way wild genetically and seem to go full wild quick, if they don't get eaten quick.

You also have to think about where you are going to release. Good cover, food and water in that priority. Young ones are food for anything from Jays, to Hawks or whatever, good cover is important. The best is a hedge or brush with thorns, on the edge of a field. They tend to head for the lower places, like brush on the sides of a farm road near a ditch.

Predators often den or nest in just the same places as Pheasants prefer to live, which is unlikely to be an accident.

And on and on it goes.

Exactly right.
A small project, likely on a budget, that has to be done in a hurry. I'm not trying to discourage anybody, just trying to maybe give him some helpful ideas, right or wrong, his decision. Maybe some easier ways to get the job done. And maybe a few tips on avoiding catastrophe. I've walked out to my pen in the morning and found a war zone, it was a real downer.

Pumping myself up? Other people seem to want to inflate their ego by tearing me down.

I remember a recent thread "Where have all the people gone"? I have my suspicions, they likely got tired of their opinions being denigrated and found a more user friendly board.

OK instead of taking cheap shots, why don't you just come out and say what you want. You feel threatened and you want me to leave?

What's the deal beyond criticizing me, what's the solution?

You really need to stop with your posts because even the 12 year old OP knew exactly what you meant in that bolded sentence of this post of yours. Now you come back in more posts with more BS and an outright lie even after the OP stated he was going to just listen to what Oldtimr was saying to help him! Then you have the nerve to infer a reason why you think the site is slow and don't have any idea that hijacking a thread like you have this one may be a big reason.

LOL! Feel threatened by you!!!The solution is for you to quit posting information that isn't correct just to be posting and arguing with others. Another example is telling the kid to throw out birds that are pecking on the others. To take care of that you either clip the top beak (debeaking) or put blinders on them by simply pinning one on through their nostrils! Oldtimr has forgotten more about this subject that you have obviously ever known about it! When you argue with a person with his knowledge on this subject it does not speak well of you. You didn't even know that the birds need 28% to 30% or more protein in their feed and that is why the OP was told what to feed them. That alone should have been enough for you to quit while you're behind and move on to something else, but now you come back and even tell a big lie about what you posted! Sad, very very sad!

You didn't answer my question, what is the solution?

If it is all about control, you and whomever are bound to fail, not likely to happen.

Maybe I should have said before you get our "period on". It's vernacular and may be regional. I was honestly thinking "period" as a injunction, mostly, though I was aware it had a double meaning. Both seemed to fit. Some people chose to jump on the lesser meaning and this indicates they knew the cause, probably? Where both meanings applicable, probably.

I also said after the first molt. Release after the first molt is acceptable, though it has a low survival rate. I knew the birds need high preteen, finding feed with over twenty percent can be problematic, maybe Turkey mash? Scratch is likely to be a disappointment.

The feed is also age dependent. Under a month got a special food, a 10 kilo (twenty pound sack) lasted a month or more.

Chasing those birds around the enclosure trying to cut their beaks is likely to cause more harm than good. They tend to injure themselves a lot when they panic. Sometimes it is the lesser of two evils. Oppinion.

***If you think anyone reading the first half of that excuse (lie) is going to believe it, then as the old saying goes: "I have some nice swamp land in AZ..."! The kid knew exactly what you meant and so did everyone else that will read it. The second half of the paragraph says exactly why you put up that sentence and the more you post the deeper hole you're digging for yourself! Now I see you have come back contradicting what I posted about pecking and what I stated was taken right off the website of the biggest pheasant farm in the US! Please let the thread die, as you are not helping yourself at all when you keep posting just to argue. Otherwise, we'll all probably get a time out since the last few posts are not helping the OP one bit.

Now that is a hoot, chasing pheasants around a pen to debeak them. That is done when they are chicks hotshot, that way the beak grows back except for the very tip. You continue to revise what you said earlier when faced with the fact you were blowing smoke. You ask what you can do, easy, stop stop bloviating about things you know little about in order to impress, it doesn't! My solution is to put you on ignore for a while because my ribs are sore from laughing.

I said put a brush pile in the enclosure, somebody said that was hogwash and to forget it. Maybe read your own link.

Bombast doesn't make you right, calling people names doesn't either, it is usually a sign of a failed discussion.

I guess time will tell what works and what doesn't.

Now this is a perfect example of just arguing to argue and continuing what should have ceased two pages ago! What does a brush pile have to do with this latest lie you posted about your "period" statement? Answer---Absolutely nothing! You have a lot of nerve to talk about anyone calling names after putting up that sorry sentence that even upset the 12 year old kid! Yes, time will tell that most of what you have posted was inaccurate and that what was said to contradict your statements was right on the button. You know, maybe you should stick with the hog killing threads since you do seem to know a lot about pigs!

I wonder if his chicks are beak docked or not?

You assume a lot and set yourself up as the know it all master. I've found even the dumbest guy in the room has a good idea sooner or later and not listening to him is your failure not his. If they are already beak docked, it is a non issue, forget about it. If they aren't, what's the solution?

So what's the solution? I have one, you mind your business and I'll mind mine and we try to avoid each other.

Well, you must be the exception to the rule about the guy in the room. When you don't know what you are talking about, don't fake it, it shows. There is the solution for you.

I said my primary thought was "period" as the injunction and secondary as a body function, That is not a lie. No matter how many times you say it.

How about a compromise and we label it a double double entendre.

I upset the kid who's first word in the replay was WTF? You ought to be a politician, "I did it for the children LOL:"

Your right I don't know a whole lot about raising Pheasant, I've only raised a few hundred birds over a twenty year period. But I did learn from my mistakes.

Here's an even better solution and I've stated it several times and you don't get it. Don't post with inaccurate information that does nobody any good. Debeaking can be done at any time, as can putting on blinders, which some feel is easier on the birds. Here is an expert talking about both methods:

The least extreme methods involve fitting the birds with structures – rings (like that shown above) or blinders or ‘spectacles’ – that stop them pecking. Rings fit under the palate, over the tongue, and insert into both nostrils. The ring is not complete, and if fitted properly it doesn’t damage any of the bird’s soft tissues. It also shouldn’t hurt the bird, but it does prevent it from closing its jaws, and thereby stops it from forming a point that can be used to peck with. Different sized rings are available for chicks and adults. ‘Spectacles’ and blinders are a bit more complicated, more difficult to fit, and more of an obstacle to the bird’s behaviour and well-being (they sometimes snag on feeders and other structures). They fit on to the dorsal surface of the bill, sometimes attaching to the nostrils.
By far the most extreme technique used in poultry management is beak trimming. The name makes it sounds less extreme that it is: it doesn’t involve shaving a few millimetres of keratin off the bill. Rather, about a third of the upper mandible is broken off. This can be done manually (with clippers of some sort; even nail clippers), or automatically with a machine like that shown here [image from here]. Because the beak tissue does grow back pretty quickly (like everything else in birds) trimming has to be repeated every 4-6 weeks. Lack of wear from an upper jaw tip sometimes leads the lower jaw tip to become over-long, so it has to be trimmed as well sometimes. I say that beak-trimming is ‘extreme’, but I think it’s practised pretty frequently in the poultry-rearing industry.

So it escalates from bombast to threats? What you wrote could be read that way?

Say it plain, what is your solution?

And I said earlier, in general, the less contact you have with the birds the better. Two reasons, one is you want them to be wild, the other is they damage themselves, sometimes seriously, when they panic. Some of this is opinion, some is fact.

I think trying for the least invasive method, like culling, might be an alternative. I ate the Cock Pheasant who was killing my chicks ;). I've early released some of the birds who were the most aggressive.

I thought I would chime in a bit but things appear to be heading south.. I will say that chicken wire does come in 6 foot high rolls if you look around for.. Granted perhaps in your area you may need to order it.. The very worst problem I have had is coons getting at my birds. They will climb the wire and posts to get to the netting on top.. Then chew a hole threw it and your entire pheasant pen can be wiped out in just one night.. I lost 50 to coons and wasn't long placing a live trap out.. I ended up catching 15 coons.. But they did enough damage that I decided it was not worth trying to raise them again.. If you are going to raise pheasants it is a good idea to have netting on top of your pen as well as to have plenty of room for the to fly around in it.. A big part of raising them is to have them be able to fly when they want to plus plenty of room for them to roost.. Good Luck to you and yes check with the officials in your state for the propagation permit..