Salop Matt Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Okay folks am curious with my new permition, once iv got on top of the fox population if I could put a few birds down for me and 1 or 2 others to have a walk around for come next years season (2012). But how do you work out how big a pen needs to be ? Is it a set size per head or what ? I was thinking to look to put down a qty of nearly the cheapest bird I can find to put down ! May be 100 birds in 2 or 3 pens, People say about some dieing early on so if I lost 20 - 25 before release then it would leave me with 70 roaming and I would hope to see maybe 30 in the bag at the end of the year any mor would be great but i realise that alot will be eaten or wlk off etc ! As I say its only a wild idea I have currently ! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 From memory I believe the ideal is about 500 birds per acre, so work back from that. Obviously you can go a lot smaller and most years you will be ok but get a wet year and you will have serious disease problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highseas Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 about 1sq m per bird or 3 foot of pen wire per bird if its a big pen 3 20ft by 20 ft pens will do you nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beretta28g Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 1 yard of perimiter fencing is one birds space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 First find out if the woods that you intend to use for the pens have any particular classifications placed on them, i.e. ancient woodlands, or SSSI. There are formulae available for the above. Best practice s 10 square metres per bird, but you can seriously reduce this, it just depends how far you wish to push your luck and risk the health of the birds. The lower the stocking ratio the better the health of the birds will be, and less damage done to the flora within the pen and surrounding area. The rule of thumb of 1 metre of perimeter per bird works OK if you have no conservation constraints, but don't be tempted to do the sums and then bung in some extras. Pens cost money, and cutting corners on construction is false economy. Don't plonk the pen in the middle of a big block of woods, pheasants like sunshine and the woodland edge, keep this in mind when locating the position of the pen, and avoid ground that is constantly wet. webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy111 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Allow approx 1 sq yd/bird. Bigger the better. The initial constuction is importent. Bottom of fence is dug down about 6" and 12" out. Make sure that is plenty of thick cover inside to avoid avian preditors and bad weather but also some sunny spots for dusting. Important that you have a good water supply, preferrably from external pen tanks to drinkers inside. Electric fence all round pen. 1 spring feeder will probaly do for 20/30 birds but, may be better, a 45 gall drum with 3 letterboxes and some grit trays. Bob holes with fox grids, with tunnels inside and guide wings outside. It may be only a wild idea to start with, but it is rewarding. The only problem is the initial outlay. If the poults are from good breeders, they should be at least 7 weeks old and wormed. Get the birds wing clipped. The only problem should be ongoing health with diseases. These are easily treated, if caught early. Ok, may lose the odd 1 initilly through transport shock. Foxes are not the only 4 legged problem, there are plenty others and just as bad, but good vermin control helps. JUST DO IT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 you will get much more ground space if you used the material for one bigger pen rather than three smaller ones. Bigger is better, once you have decided on how big you want it, scrape around for some spare cash, buy a couple more rolls of wire, and make it bigger ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highseas Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 if you where closer you could come and peek at my pens. placement is very very important imho the best pen we have is the smallest we have it holds 1000 birds. it has a strip of christmas trees that are quite dence 5m wide and 200m long then a grass ride about 20-25m widea and the same long then a yound hardwood about 70m wide and 200m long in my veiw this has every thing they need shelter good cover in the rain a good sun strip and hard woods to forage and roost i also think bird relised in small partrige typ pens are more likely to sleep on the ground too i see quite a few out lamping sleeping out like partriges, fox fodder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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