Pheasants I raised

bauerline

bauerline

Well-known member
A sportsmen's club that I belong to gets day old chicks from the PGC each spring and I was asked to take care of them. I posted about survival rates of chicks several months ago. The chicks did well and grew into good looking birds. I had planned to do a weekly release of birds so members of the club would have something to hunt for during the season. I went down today and saw that the heavy wet snow ripped the netting and the birds were able to get out. Now I have zero birds to release for the rest of the year. I was going to do the largest release on Friday since the following day is the club's youth hunt. Most of the birds flew in the opposite direction of the fields the club owns. Toay just wasn't a good day. :(
 
Sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better I know someone who had a similar situation a few years back. Thousands of pheasants escaped his pens due to heavy snow. Eventually most birds came back to the pens to feed.

Good luck!
 
Call Back will work, no joke. You won't get them all but you'll be surprised how many. Set up a recall pen with funnel or a way to get them back in. I had a dog trainer years ago who's pheasants recalled as well as the quail! Good Luck!
 
Were you able to get any of the birds back?
 
Last edited:
I have seen a few around but since the nets ripped I would not have a way to keep them in the pen. I hope to try and find one or two tomorrow.
 
When I got home I could hear a rooster crowing from a nearby farmer's field. I think most of the birds are hanging out in area's that are not open to hunting. At least the dogs got on a few birds. Now they have 2 days off before our PF youth hunt on Saturday.
 
I saw two roosters and 3 hens walking beside my house today. They are some of the birds that escaped during the snow storm over a month ago.
048-1.jpg


049-1.jpg


Glad to see some are making it but I wish I saw them in the fields I can hunt.
 
Those pheasants look really good and healthy, great job. Since you can't hunt them in that area ask your neighbors to pretect them this winter and try to plant some type of nesting cover this spring. Keep us posted.
 
Last edited:
There is a field of switch grass a half mile from my house that can offer some cover for them. There are a few fence rows and some woods in the area as well. Other than that there are a lot of harvested corn and soy fields that offer little over the winter. Even though they are pen raised it is still nice to see them. There are quite a few hawks, owls and foxes in the area for them to avoid.
 
I agree those birds have no doubt encountered all sort of predators.
The survivors are a good as wild.
 
Saw this guy hanging out with one other rooster and three hens close to home. They all look like they are doing well. Should be the same group I saw before. I have also seen some single birds in the area.

IMG_20111216_161154.jpg
 
This shows how resourceful pheasants are, those birds have been out there for over a month avoiding all type of predators and foraging for food. If only the hens had better skills of raising the young in the wild!
 
They do survive better than I thought they would. In the past I have found groups of birds into the spring but they never produce any chicks. I guess that's the way it goes when you're raised by a light bulb.
 
There were about 60 roosters and 15 hens left in the pen. I had already let about 50 heans go and 20 roosters. I don't expect them to reproduce but it would be nice.
 
Your birds have been on the loose since Oct. 2011 and many of them are still alive, they look healthy and wild to me. By now all of the weak and dumb pen-raised pheasants have been eaten up by predators.

Pheasants are genetically programmed to try to reproduce, if still alive even pen-raised roosters will automatically have a natural urge to crow, mate and fight in the spring time. And the healthy pen raised hens if still alive in the wild and fertilized will naturally look for safe undisturbed place to make a nest and lay eggs and brood them.

The only reason your pen-raised pheasants don't reproduce in the wild is if a predator eats the hens before the nesting season or while on the the nest the hen and the eggs are eaten by predators.

I have raised pheasants from chicks to release time (released birds in fall and some in spring) and yes after high mortality have been some of the hens show up with chicks.

When the Manchurian-cross (Ringneck) pheasant chicks first became available I ordered 100 chicks in June and released most of them in October. But I keep a rooster and 3 hens all winter as brood stock. I made the small 25 ft. by 15 ft. pen look natural with tree branches and leaf and grass clippings. That following summer one hen in that pen made a nest in the corner and hatched 12 chicks.

If you set up some type of predator control system, I am sure that you will see chicks.
 
If you can get a good size pen [mine is 24X48]
1 rooster pheasant and 3-4 hens.
Have plenty of stuff for the hens to crawl under, hide in, so they don't fly off whenever something approaches the cage.
The hens at first will likely lay an egg here and there before beginning to nest. [hens do this in the wild to]
Once the hen starts a nest in a concealed type spot do not disturb her in anyway. As she gets her clutch of eggs and is left alone she has a hormone change and goes into incubation, and if all goes well will hatch and care for chicks. I guarantee it:thumbsup: I've had a lot of success this way.
It is a good idea to get the rooster out before the hatch. Some roosters get mean as heck around chicks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top