Pheasnt Chicks- Hard part is over

bauerline

bauerline

Well-known member
In early May I picked up 211 day old pheasant chicks and this morning my wife and two boys helped put the blinders on the 209 we still have. This has been my best year as far as survival rates go.

Some of the birds in the brooder house after we put the blinders on:
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A couple of more outside:
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Part of the work crew:
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One of them is a bigger clown than the other. I'm sure you can figure out who.

It took about 90 minutes to get them all done. It was wet and muddy from all the rain but the blinders needed to be put on. Now the hardest part is over and the birds just need to eat and grow until fall arrives.
 
What is your secret because that is amazing!!! Only 2 birds? You must of picked them up fairly close to home??? Now is the easy part when they are this old.. Great job and would love to hear more on your success.:thumbsup:
 
It was a 2 1/2 hour trip to pick up the chicks. Two years ago I switched from using pine shavings for bedding to straw. And for the first several days I will mix water with the food and place it on paper plates so the birds can eat and get water at the same time. Some of them have a hard time finding the food and/or water. I also throw in clover and give them fresh water each time I check on them and I do that up to 6 times a day when I can. Temperature is the other key and I keep checking the temp each time I go to the pen.

I'm still seeing birds from last year in the area. These guys are over a year old and are doing well. A friend of mine was fishing several miles away from our release area and he heard some birds crowing.
 
Hey Buddy, you're getting to be a real Pro at this! You're mature birds always look fantastic and do real well when released. I take it that these are the PGC birds?
 
Thanks.

They are from the PGC. I lost a few more after the blinders were put on. There are always a few who can't figure out how to eat with the blinders on. But I still have a survivor rate of 96% after 7 weeks.

When I was checking on them this evening I could hear a rooster in the distance. I have not seen the hens very much. With a little (or a lot) luck they have chicks with them somewhere.
 
Great!!! Love to see your success and pic's!!! Hopefully you will get to see some little ones running around soon.
 
bauerline said:
It was a 2 1/2 hour trip to pick up the chicks. Two years ago I switched from using pine shavings for bedding to straw. And for the first several days I will mix water with the food and place it on paper plates so the birds can eat and get water at the same time. Some of them have a hard time finding the food and/or water. I also throw in clover and give them fresh water each time I check on them and I do that up to 6 times a day when I can. Temperature is the other key and I keep checking the temp each time I go to the pen.

I'm still seeing birds from last year in the area. These guys are over a year old and are doing well. A friend of mine was fishing several miles away from our release area and he heard some birds crowing.
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Bauerline, when you write of clover do you mean you feed them the green clover from the field? For that number of birds, you would need quite a quantity of the clover, I imagine.
 
Tori said:
Bauerline, when you write of clover do you mean you feed them the green clover from the field? For that number of birds, you would need quite a quantity of the clover, I imagine.
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I would just grab a couple handfuls of clover that is growing in the grass and toss it in the brooder house. I did it every time I checked in on the birds. You don't need a lot, just enough for them to peck at.

You can also put some lettuce heads in a onion bag that has holes in it and hang if from the ceiling. The birds will peck at that, too.
 
I will release some of the hens in early September to help cut food costs and provide birds for the dogs of any club members. They will be about 16 weeks at this time. I'll do a weekly release of hens and roosters once pheasant season starts in late October. At this time they are almost 5 months old. The last release is done in late December when the birds are over 7 months old. I think a pheasant is considered mature at 16 weeks old but they may not be fully colored at that time.
 
Glad things are working out. You should try to keep some till spring to release. You will see better survival in the spring then fall. Keep up the good work. Check with a local elevator to see if you can get some free clean up for food from the roller mill.:thumbsup:
 
Here are some pictures of the birds I raised. They are doing well on their own and a decent number are staying close to the area of release.

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I also see feather piles, so I know some of them get eaten up by other critters.
 
am thinking about trying to get 10 mature roosters and 20 mature hens and releasing them in the spring so they can reproduce thoughts?


remtech
 
Remtech said:
am thinking about trying to get 10 mature roosters and 20 mature hens and releasing them in the spring so they can reproduce thoughts?


remtech
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That is a wise move. The more live and healthy hens available in the spring the greater the odds of having a successful summer wild hatch.

It is always good to release hens and roosters at a 50-50 ratio. I would release 20 hens and 20 rooster. Reason, when pen raised pheasants are released into the wild (new territory) they are terrified and will fly in all directions.

Predators don't alway attack evenly, the predators may take all 10 of the roosters. To increase the odds of successfully mating in late spring, I would release 50% hens and 50% roosters.
 
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