mike555 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 basically is it a good idea . i have a small walked up shoot just for friends and family currently have a really good wild population and they seem to stay well with feeders and drinkers and a couple cover strips (we also benefit from a 10 acre field down to cover for environmental reasons) however there is no woodland. just wanted to release a few around 50-80 to bulk up the numbers also would you recommend poults or ex layers for this situation. any help appreciated cheers mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatherandSon Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 They need protection if you get poults. Youll neead a release pen to protect them fron Charlie! If you got ex-layers they would just migrate to cover until they are accustomed to your land! Start to build/plan now ready for next season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1steele Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 You're biggest problem without woodland is that the birds will probably go elsewhere to find some good roosting and then may not return. Maybe have a think about partridges instead of pheasants. As post above says, you will need pens for poults so start planning now and have everything ready to go for when the season ends if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Depending on ur cover pheasants will happily jugg down in long rushes and stuff instead of roosting, but are easy prey for foxes/badgers etc. And they very well wander looking for roosting will depend on the cover and if they like it. Partridges may be the answer, i would actually reccommend putting down Grey/english partridge rather than the more commonly relased redlegged, greys can hold easier and tighter sometimes but the biggest thing for me is if ur walking them up greys willl sit tight and flush while reds will run all day in front of u and u can never catch them. Might be better investing the money u would put into poults/ex layers into buying extra feed and feeding ur shoot hard all year so wild birds are in better nick for breeding in the spring, possible extra habitat and predator control work, larsen traps etc if u have time. Realistically releasing say 100 birds, u will prob only shoot around 30 of them (possibly more but also possibly less) yet it will cost u the best part of £800 to buy and feed them plus pens extra hoppers etc If ur wild birds are breeding well and fledging poults every year only takes an extra 10 or so broods to be eqivelant of 50 poults, u could only shoot cocks for a few years to try and get ur hen population higher, a lot of wild bird shoots do that, or release only hens but shoot only cocks, althou probably an argument about released hens not doing ur wild birds any favours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinF Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) We have a similar situation on part of our shoot. We have 4 or 5 cattle sheds in the middle of 4 fields, with small plantations around the perimeter, and a strip of cover crop. There is no roosting on site, the nearest is 300-400m away and is not on our land. We made a pen with a netting roof in one of the plantations, and put about 50 poults in it. We kept them in until the field next to the pen had been combined, then released a few every couple of days until they were all out. It's obviously not as good as the usual open top pens surrounded by roosting that we have elsewhere, but it has worked, and it's the only way we have of getting birds released for that particular drive. If you already have a stock of wild birds, they must be roosting somewhere? Edited January 20, 2014 by ColinF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 it can be done, I have seen many hundreds of pheasant poults released in the same manner as partridges using netted 10'x10' pens in cover strips. The birds will find somewhere to roost, hedgetops, hedge row trees, jug on the ground etc. It is not ideal but can work. Foxes need to be under control during the release period, after that the birds wise up and are generally safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Your birds may not actually be 'wild' but birds which have strayed some distance from a release site. These days unless there is a very strict vermin control program, not only on the shoot but for miles around, the chances of wild broods surviving are relatively small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike555 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 cheers for all the comments guys new to this and every bit of info helps scolopax how many birds were you putting in each 10'x10' pen?? also anyone know how long the cover has to be to hold birds best apart from maize cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Someone else mentioned it but are ur birds truely wild and breeding succesfully or just wandering in from neighbouring shoots? As for cover, its a strange thing some cover can be too thick or not thick enough, they like to feel secure from areil preators but cover doesn't need to be massively tall althou often good cover is 2-3 feet as often will have a good canopy protecting birds but also plenty of room for birds to move about throu the stalks. Also birds will hold better if cover has some feed value to it. Do u not know any local keepers/exp shooters that could come out and give u a few pointers? hard to advise over the net with out seeing the ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) cheers for all the comments guys new to this and every bit of info helps scolopax how many birds were you putting in each 10'x10' pen?? also anyone know how long the cover has to be to hold birds best apart from maize cheers These birds were released on a keepered shoot where they reared there own poults. Twenty five were released into a pen (a crate full), next day 20 or so were let out but another crate would be put in. This was done daily for a couple of weeks using numerous pens. It was really to get pheasants into predominantly partridge drives which were well away from the main pheasant coverts. As for how long the crop is, I guess you mean high ?? I would say knee high as a minimum, preferably waist or chest high. It is important to not have too thick a crop, the birds like to keep dry and be able to run around whilst still having cover above their heads. I have seen a very good mix using brown mustard, triticale and a hybrid kale, the brown mustard is head height and stands very well, the triticale provides feed and stands well, and the kale I guess thickens up the bottom of the crop and gives the birds something green to peck at. Edited January 23, 2014 by scolopax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.