shotgun gav Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 im goin 2 breed pheasants this year ,4 a wee rough shoot any tips on rearin them would b good 1st trying 2 rear cheers gav, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiss.tony Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 yer kill all foxes 1st Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin g Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 How many are you looking to rear, and are you getting them from day old.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ireland's Finest! Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 A bit more information would help mate. How many you planning on releasing? E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 as above, how many, from eggs, or day old, what equipment if any do you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotgun gav Posted February 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 im planing on rearing 150 ..100 form eggs usein a incubtor /50. day olds , have a incubtor ,shed ready,heating lamp ,i have 2cock birds n 10 hens in usein 2 breed form its my 1st time trying ,,have the foxs sort'd so far shot 20 odd thanks gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin g Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Heres some old post which will help, and the Golden Cockeral Series have a book on modern pheasant rearing which would be ideal for you.. http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/61488-my-rearing-programme-in-action/page__view__findpost__p__528605__hl__rearing__fromsearch__1 http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/59887-first-time/page__view__findpost__p__515541__hl__rearing__fromsearch__1 http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/59514-its-that-time-of-year-again/page__view__findpost__p__511850__hl__rearing__fromsearch__1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark g Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 im planing on rearing 150 ..100 form eggs usein a incubtor /50. day olds , have a incubtor ,shed ready,heating lamp ,i have 2cock birds n 10 hens in usein 2 breed form its my 1st time trying ,,have the foxs sort'd so far shot 20 odd thanks gav not wanting to put you off but if you are intending to hatch right through the laying season you will have birds of all different ages, a six week poult will quite happily eat a day old chick, so you will have to separate them, possibly better to buy some day olds for your first attempt,so that they are all the same age, and 2 heat lamps would be best because you never know when the bulbs are going to blow, bed them on chopped cardboard, they love to eat wood shaveings and it blocks them up and they die, pheasants are great at finding ways to die Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) I've never had any real success with eggs, day olds can be quite easy but you must be strict with your husbandry. use (DHC) dairy hyperclorite (at the recommended dose) to sanitise everything, shed, floor, equipment and then make up a large drum for washing drinkers, you must have access to clean water to rinse use cardboard on a roll cut to size for the shed floor, a light bed of large shavings, and more card cut into strips to round the corners off save the birds crowding for the first couple of days, done this way the bedding can be changed quickly and with out fuss on a weekly basis (some will recommend a deep bed topped up instead of changed but done that way gives a higher chance of coxi or hexi) buy a digi thermostat on a lead, so you can get the temp spot on, get the shed and bedding up to temp the day before you expect the day olds always have plenty of water and put some small sized pipe (sanitised) in the bottom of the drinkers to stop the chicks drowning, it's a good idea to put the water on a slate or tile to help with shavings getting disturbed and contaminating the water. sanitise the drinkers each day don't bother with the 'proper' feed trays use fruit trays they're brill for the job and just bin them each day (clean with no squished fruit) i put grit on these too if your relying on heat lamps have a spare bulb or two use your nose, after sanitising drinkers rinse with water and check for DHC by smelling them, also get used to the smell of the birds, if the smell goes sickly or sweet things are wrong and you have problems, keep an eye on droppings they should be solid ish dark with a light tip, runny brown or yellow and you have problems, anything frothy is not good the more you can limit the birds exposure to other wild birds for the first 3 weeks the better, after that their immune system is less naive and up for the challenge don't ignore losses at 3-5 day old, this will be yoke sack infection and will affect a number of birds, get antibiotics from a vet who knows game birds asap if i think of owt else I'll post it up Edited February 8, 2012 by Paul223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy111 Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) I did this last year, built my own 240 egg auto incubator and separate hatcher and turned out good. I had 3 cocks to 14 hens and was getting, on average, 12 eggs a day, at peak. As the max storage time before putting into the incubator is 7 days, with 10 hens, you are looking at around 55 eggs in that time. I had 2 brood sheds, so doing 2 split hatches wasn't a problem Now, fertilised eggs have got to be calculated for. I found, that with even 3 cocks, fertilisation was only about 70%, after candling. So with only 10 hens you are down to roughly, 40 viable eggs hatching, if all goes ok. So you are looking at least at, 2 separate hatches, 2 brood sheds etc. On a small scale, I would suggest you get 1 day olds, unless, like me, you just want "to do it". Last year, I used 250w IR lamps, but getting a gas brooder this year, damn sight cheaper to run but only gonna do ringnecks, whites, reeves and guinea fowl. Buy the ringneck day olds, and buy other eggs to coincide hatching with delivery of day olds.............hopefully Bio security has been mentioned, with good advice, but it's a minefield for smalltime breeders like us. I'm just glad we buy most of our release birds in. Mind you, now knowing what I learnt last year, if I knew when I was younger, I would have got into this , BIG STYLE. Edit If you do go on with it, use Turkey crumbs, Turkey growers pellets, as they normally contain Avatec, without a prescription Edited February 8, 2012 by wy111 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Don't use anything with mould in / on it, make double sure any bedding is dry and mould free, spores from the mould will ****** the birds (and you) up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotgun gav Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 hi would u b able 2 send me sum infor on building a incubator thnks gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 My advise ....GET POULTS We tried a few day olds last year, 160, and it was rewarding but very time consuming. Will we do it again..............most probably Personally our main lesson from last year was that our little shed was just too small, okay up until they were a couple of weeks old but once they started to really eat and grow they were overcrowded and this held them back a bit. Lots of good advice on this thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotgun gav Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 thanks all good advice wy111 ,could u send me some info on makein my own incubator thnks ..gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy111 Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 thanks all good advice wy111 ,could u send me some info on makein my own incubator thnks ..gav Well you asked for it How did I build my own incubator? It all depends on how many eggs you want to try and hatch. If it's only a few, you would be better off buying a purpose built one, like a Brinsea. If, like me, these aren't big enough, then the fun starts. I started with a lot of research on You-tube, there's loads of vids available and picking brains of breeders. I used a glass fronted, back bar, bottle fridge, which has to have a good door seal. As I decided I wanted an automatic turner, things started to get complicated, as I wanted to make it as good as a professional one. So, what did I need, apart from the fridge? A very accurate incubator thermostat. A wet/dry thermometer A heat supply. A motor, to turn the egg trays. A timer, for the motor. A motor speed controller. Microswitch, to stop motor after 180 deg turn. A couple of relays and a bit of pcb and various coloured wire. Three, 2-wire computer fans. 2 adjustable vents. A box to put all the controllers etc. in Some thin galv sheet to make the humidity tray. Some poly pipe so I can fill the humidity tray from outside the incubator These can be bought from professional suppliers, but, as having 32yrs of past electro mechanical engineering, I decided to build my own. The thermostat, I bought as a kit, the heat supply come from Solway feeders, the wiper motor from a Clio, the timer and speed controller from hobby suppliers. Here is a link of work in progress:- http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg128/wy111/Incubator/?albumview=slideshow I added a couple more fans, 1 at each side and moved the heat element into the back of the fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotgun gav Posted March 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 (edited) Well you asked for it How did I build my own incubator? It all depends on how many eggs you want to try and hatch. If it's only a few, you would be better off buying a purpose built one, like a Brinsea. If, like me, these aren't big enough, then the fun starts. I started with a lot of research on You-tube, there's loads of vids available and picking brains of breeders. I used a glass fronted, back bar, bottle fridge, which has to have a good door seal. As I decided I wanted an automatic turner, things started to get complicated, as I wanted to make it as good as a professional one. So, what did I need, apart from the fridge? A very accurate incubator thermostat. A wet/dry thermometer A heat supply. A motor, to turn the egg trays. A timer, for the motor. A motor speed controller. Microswitch, to stop motor after 180 deg turn. A couple of relays and a bit of pcb and various coloured wire. Three, 2-wire computer fans. 2 adjustable vents. A box to put all the controllers etc. in Some thin galv sheet to make the humidity tray. Some poly pipe so I can fill the humidity tray from outside the incubator These can be bought from professional suppliers, but, as having 32yrs of past electro mechanical engineering, I decided to build my own. The thermostat, I bought as a kit, the heat supply come from Solway feeders, the wiper motor from a Clio, the timer and speed controller from hobby suppliers. Here is a link of work in progress:- http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg128/wy111/Incubator/?albumview=slideshow I added a couple more fans, 1 at each side and moved the heat element into the back of the fridge think il buy 1 lol some like hard work Edited March 11, 2012 by shotgun gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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