Raising Pheasants

[The General]

Last year a friend and I raised 100 birds together and then had a big competition with friends and neighbors in a CRP field.  Anyone raise pheasants or do something like this?  We are getting ready to buy another 100 and are getting them for just over a $1 a bird.  They don't take much work just a place to be able to raise them.  If you have been thinking about getting into it you should.  I know they say pen raised birds don't have a high success rate of survival, but setting them out and having a dog challenge and then a pheasant feast is a good time.

[MTCOMMER]

What kind of building/area are you raising them in?  I am curious.  In the future, once I have more time I would like to get into it - we haven't had much success on our land for pheasants, so I figured the more chances to raise the population, and have a good time in field, the better.

We released some into the wild a few years back - a bunch of hens and a few roosters.  I dont think they knew how to survive too well, we found lots of feathers the next week (I think there were some foxes that had a nice meal).

[The General]

A neighbor of mine runs a game farm and we use one of his flyways when the get bigger.  This year we are going to raise them in old grain bins and see how that goes and build a flyway of our own.

[nontypicalhunter]

I released a little over 50 last year. Surprisingly their survial rate was good over the winter. I have so many running around out here that I'm thinking about not doing it again this year or if I do I'll cut back on how many I release. Our thing is we want to hunt them with our recurve bows. They are really easy to raise, cheap to do and the kids loved it.

[The General]

I released a little over 50 last year. Surprisingly their survial rate was good over the winter. I have so many running around out here that I'm thinking about not doing it again this year or if I do I'll cut back on how many I release. Our thing is we want to hunt them with our recurve bows. They are really easy to raise, cheap to do and the kids loved it.

If you would please, for MT and others who would like to know, tell us where and how you raised them?  What type of enclosure did you raise them in? Etc.

[Auggie]

A neighbor of mine runs a game farm and we use one of his flyways when the get bigger.  This year we are going to raise them in old grain bins and see how that goes and build a flyway of our own.

General,
    Are you talking grain bins or the old wire corn cribs? Once those birds are off the heat lamp they are going to need some natural light before you can let them roam free in a flight pen. I have not raised any for a few years now, but if you want them to have a better survival rate they should have as little human contact as possible. Feeding and watering should be done after dark. We did some in the hay loft of an old barn one year and they never saw a sole in the daylight until the day we caught them for release. The best success after release we ever had.
This year I am putting up a new flight pen. 50'x 120' give or take. My brother in law wants to release some and I just want a few pair to keep around in the pen.
    I might have also mentioned before to you that you need to watch how you do your little fun day hunt. Once the birds are released, whether on private ground or not they are considered "wild" birds to the DNR. All bag limits must still be followed. There are some loop holes. The birds will need to be "identifiable". Meaning a visible type band or color them them with a stripe of marking paint down the center of the back Red food coloring in water works too. And you better have a receipt proving you purchased the birds as well. Not telling you what to do here, just trying to save you a ticket. I am speaking from experience having been in front of the judge on this issue 15 + years back.

[The General]

Thanks Auggie,

Yes we were thinking of some old grain bins and cutting some holes in the sides for some sun light. 

[nontypicalhunter]

I released a little over 50 last year. Surprisingly their survial rate was good over the winter. I have so many running around out here that I'm thinking about not doing it again this year or if I do I'll cut back on how many I release. Our thing is we want to hunt them with our recurve bows. They are really easy to raise, cheap to do and the kids loved it.

If you would please, for MT and others who would like to know, tell us where and how you raised them?  What type of enclosure did you raise them in? Etc.

I got them at a day old, started with 75 chicks. Feed them Turkey Starter insted of the typical poultry starter. I kept them in a 3'x3' pen with pine shavings. The water dishes are your standard 1 quart, I used two of them. What you do is fill the water tray with rocks, that way when they step/stand in the water they don't get wet, seemed to help the survival rate the first fews weeks. One thing I made sure of was fresh water every morning and night. I used 2 heat lamps, 65 watt flood bulbs about 12" off the floor of the cage. When they got to the point where they were somewhat jumpping/flying too much for the small cage, I moved them to my bigger pen. The bigger pen is 20'x16'. it's in a maching shed, has 3/4" chicken wire sides, bottom 3 feet is a tightly woven fiberglass that is critter proof, burried 12' into the ground. the roof is just made from that plastic deer fencing/netting you get for covering your shrubs. It is 1/2'/12/ mesh like.

[nontypicalhunter]

Sorry my computer messed up before I was done. The top is 1/2"x1/2 mesh you use for keeping deer off you shrubs. Once in the bigger pen I bumpped the waters upto the 1 gallon water jugs, kept feeding them the turkey starter. Fed them that until the 50 lb bag was almost gone. When I was getting low on the turkey starter I went to plain cracked corn, mixed in the last of the turkey strater with corn and fed them that. They say if your going to release them to do it at the 8-10 weeks. My pen is by no meens big enough for that many birds of that size. I also had some big pine branches around in the pen. Anyway at about 5 weeks they strated pecking each other, which I was told is one sign of being over crouded, so I let about half go, which was thta 25-30 birds. Two weeks after that we released the other half. I think we did pretty good for our survival rate, there are an insane amount of birds out here now. We are by no meens "pros" at this. I credit the rocks in the water tray trick and the turkey starter feed to being the biggest help in so many of the birds surviving. The fresh water is another big factor, so I was told. I think over all we had about $200 total in the pheasant raising last year, that includes the birds, feed and materials to build the pen along with the water and food trays.

[The General]

Nice read.

I also did the rocks in the water and was told that helps keep them from drowning. 

[Auggie]

    Another thing you can do when they are real small is add a tablespoon of sugar to the quart size water the first week or so. Got this tip from an old timer many years ago that used to raise a ton of all types of birds. Or you can by a commercial water supplement as well. I have had the same results with both. Better than adding nothing but found the sugar worked as well as the store bought.
    Red heat lamps will help keep them from picking when they are real small. When they get larger and you don't have the space needed, blinders do wonders and can be removed before release. They are pretty cheap and will save you some birds if they start picking. When you get them on corn it is also important they get some grit. You can get a bag anyplace that sells feed I would think, or at least make some sand available to them spread out someplace in your pen. The pine branches are a good idea too. I used to go to the Christmas tree dump and pick up a bunch of clean ones without tinsel on them. Spread them out all over the pen. Helps with picking and if you hold birds over you may even get a hen or two to set. Rocks work well but make sure they are clean. Another alternative is glass marbles and they are easier to clean when you change the water.

[stevejedlenski]

anybody ever do this with grouse? or heard of it? not too many pheasants in my neck of the woods but have wondered how this would work with grouse.

[The General]

I would think it would be about the same.

[stevejedlenski]

i looked up grouse last night apparently its so hard to raise them that you cant find chicks. an adult bird goes for $250. and according to the grouse society it can be bad for local populations and in some cases illegal to release them. guess i wont be trying this.

[The General]

you learn something new every day.  I wonder why it's so hard to raise them?

[nontypicalhunter]

I was set on raiseing grouse, untill, like you, I started researching it and yeah, supposedly one of the hardest birds to raise let alone trying to find any adult birds. I once saw a breeding pair on a auction and the starting bid was $900. I spent alot of time looking for eggs to buy and about all I came up with was alot of universities that do studies say your best bet is to find nests in the woods. Now, how leagle that is I have no clue. That's the main reason why I decided to raise quial, as stated in my earlier post I had a fairly successful pheasant raising experiance so I went with the quial for something different.

[The General]

Chuckar is another thing i see being raised by people.

[Auggie]

Chucks are easy to raise and work great for training and cheaper preserve birds. That is why see them more. I have a few this year.  I have had 95% success rates with chucks in the past on groups as large as 100. Just a really easy bird to keep.  I have had Hungarian partridge in the past and they are pretty hard to raise. Kinda like grouse, same reason you don't see many people raising them.