What age?

B

Byrdoglvr

Member
Probably an age old question on this board but I'm to lazy to search it. Looking for recommendations on what age to release my birds. Two years ago was my first attempt, raising 30. I believe I released them to late because bugs etc were dead and gone by then. This year I'm raising 60 for a friend to be released on his 500 acre farm where he takes me deer hunting. He is thinking 5 weeks. Hoping for a consensus of opinions.

Thanks
Scott
 
Way to young! Best bet is to release when they are hard feathered and big time flyers. Best bet is to prune the predators back as much as you can. Make sure you use natural food, alfalfa leaves, grains, which they can find, berries if available, like mulberry, black berries, etc. You loose a lost anyway, like 80%. It's a supply and demand, more birds released will be more that survive. If you continue, and the ground is tailored for it, you will succeed....at least for awhile. You will spending a lot of dollars and time, which could be better spent and more successful with habitat improvements, and let nature do the rest.
 
Release them the day before you plant to hunt them for best results.
 
Like oldandnew said, 5 weeks is way too young. They are just starting to get weather and flight conditioned.

I agree with quail hound. If you plan to hunt them release them the day before or morning of. I would recommend that you do a soft release in the best cover instead of letting them fly out of the box. They are more likely to stick around on your friends land longer.

I've been raising pheasants the past few years for a local club. I release some of the hens in early September and the remaining roosters and hens throughout the hunting season. Some enter the food chain early and there are others that are still around. I think they have a better chance of surviving if they are mature and can fly well. Good luck.
 
The best results I have is to keep fewer birds over winter and release adults in the spring right at first green up signs. Plenty of food, water and 0 hunters. They have all spring, summer, fall to educate themselves and get wild fast that way. I used to release hundreds of younger ones in the fall etc and up here it just did not work great. Some sure will make it. But if I let go 50 strong flyer hens in the spring and go back to that area the result is very clear. That works great.:thumbsup:
 
I released a bunch of birds at a little over 8 weeks, they have been doing very well, they are very hearty right now very plump and flying very well, they are still in clumps of 10 to 20 birds, but have adapted very nicely, I didnt want to keep them in a pen for too long to reli on me for feed,
 
PF says its a waste of time to release birds. I could not disagree more. In the early sixtys On the family farm we would raise them in an open pen. No top when they could fly out they where free. It worked.
 
Sure, your right. They are right as well. Releasing at certain times, and at too young, is in fact a waste of time, money and resources. If done right it works very well. After 15 years of doing it, I learned what does and what does not work. And only in the climate here. If you release young birds in the fall in MN, your wasting your time. You will see them for a while. You will flush nearly as many of them as you let go when you go look for them with a dog. That sign will be there and have you thinking it is wonderful right up until winter. Hunters will blast many of them because they are young and dumb. The rest will die from exposure, etc. If your in a less stress environment it may work for you. Here the only way to get real results is to let adult strong flying birds go in spring. Then you will have something.:thumbsup:
 
That makes sence, FC, the birds i let go are doing very well, they now are in smaller groups, and they have migrated to different areas i seen a group 2 days ago 1 1/2 miles from were we let the birds go, a group of 8. there is a ton of cover this year so i expect them to do good this winter as our winters are not as bad here, there will be no hunting pressure (unless poached) As the farmers and i are going to wait until next year to see if we can have some good hatches this coming spring, there only pressure will be from me working dogs on them, that was part of my plan to begin with. I want to train my dogs on more wild birds so the dogs learn not to pressure the bird. The birds are very huge right now, they are eating well, and they are flying just like a wild bird right now.
 
Couple stories, mostly unrelated to the topic, sorry.

Years ago I cut a lot of oats around the neighborhood. Opening one field up for a fellow, right next to his buildings I get a big white rooster pheasant up.

Holy beJebus, I had heard of such things but never seen one. Go a few yards further and two white hens get up, man, must have been an entire brood of rare white pheasants.

About fifty yards more and probably 15-20 get up, all white. Well, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I knew something was up then. Come to find out he bought 50 chicks to butcher and they got out about a month earlier.

On quail: our son bought some chicks to show at the county fair, had really good luck with them. He did chores the night before they were to go, set the crates out and all was good.

The building was down the lane a ways, some taller grass all around it. We walked down that morning, had a Gordon Setter at the time. She goes on point about 20 yards from the house, two quail. We walk a ways and she points up into a tree, a few more quail, then points the roof of the poultry building, a couple more. We spent the morning with a dip net on a long pole trying to net the birds the dog would point. I fricken fell out of a tree trying to get one.

Always a good family story.
 
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