Shotkam Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 I am connected with a Syndicate Shoot putting down 1500 Pheasants. At present there are only hoppers and the birds do stray off the Shoot ground more than they should. The idea of a Quill trail feeded in the back of the ATV seems a possible part solution combined with additional mixed cover crops. The person doing the trail feeding need to be paid, so I am asking advice on wether feeding every other day would be acceptable combined with the existing feed hoppers and drinkers there are at present. I know of 1 large commercial shoot with 3 beats that does trail feed 'every other day' but I have no personal experience. Any advice of any kind would be a great help to working towards improving the Shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weihrauch17 Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 (edited) If they are not interested in the feed in the Hoppers not sure why feeding a different way would improve things but I might be wrong. The two shoots I know that fed like this did it daily and did not use Hoppers but both were keepered full time. We have the same issue (we use feeders) in that with the warm winters we have been having the birds wander and our returns have been well down. Other local shoots have found the same. Additional cover crops would be a great idea but they can get expensive. Edited January 17 by Weihrauch17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 17 Author Report Share Posted January 17 6 minutes ago, Weihrauch17 said: If they are not interested in the feed in the Hoppers not sure why feeding a different way would improve things but I might be wrong. The two shoots I know that fed like this did it daily and did not use Hoppers but both were keepered full time. We have the same issue (we use feeders) in that with the warm winters we have been having the birds wander and our returns have been well down. Other local shoots have found the same. Additional cover crops would be a great idea but they can get expensive. Thankyou. A Keeper is sure to see this post and provide us all with all we need to know about trail feeding. We all know you only get out what you put in to a Shoot and the Shoot ground needs to be more attractive to the birds than everything that surrounds it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 Birds will wander no matter how much food or how its delivered, dogging in is the key to keeping birds where you want them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 4 hours ago, Shotkam said: Thankyou. A Keeper is sure to see this post and provide us all with all we need to know about trail feeding. We all know you only get out what you put in to a Shoot and the Shoot ground needs to be more attractive to the birds than everything that surrounds it. Trail feeding is brilliant - i do it 3/4 times a week I think the key is to use mixed seed as a supplementary source to the hoppers I feed in the covers - where the birds obviously want to be - and on hard tracks on the edge of them We "hand feed " trail feed - circa 4 - 5 t over the year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 23 hours ago, jall25 said: Trail feeding is brilliant - i do it 3/4 times a week I think the key is to use mixed seed as a supplementary source to the hoppers I feed in the covers - where the birds obviously want to be - and on hard tracks on the edge of them We "hand feed " trail feed - circa 4 - 5 t over the year So every other day works for you and probably just enough to have it cleared up within 24 hours. What seed mix do you use ? That is a valuable point, as birds like a varied diet the same as a lot of birds. Thankyou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 34 minutes ago, Shotkam said: So every other day works for you and probably just enough to have it cleared up within 24 hours. What seed mix do you use ? That is a valuable point, as birds like a varied diet the same as a lot of birds. Thankyou. Yes its really helped our results game wise - but i am also very very interested in the wider benefits to song and farmland birds I use a premium mix from Kings (Frontier) - sunflowers - millet - rape - canary seed - feed radish - and i mix it with wheat I use the mix neat in feeders for the song and farmland birds too and have circa 50 of those scattered on the hedges rows and rides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 2 minutes ago, jall25 said: Yes its really helped our results game wise - but i am also very very interested in the wider benefits to song and farmland birds I use a premium mix from Kings (Frontier) - sunflowers - millet - rape - canary seed - feed radish - and i mix it with wheat I use the mix neat in feeders for the song and farmland birds too and have circa 50 of those scattered on the hedges rows and rides What percentage is the mix in the Wheat ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 11 minutes ago, Shotkam said: What percentage is the mix in the Wheat ? Approx 50 percent - but in reality i just chuck it in a bag and mix it - I feed perhaps 6-10 bags - some days it will be majority wheat - other days majority seed I have a very high percentage of the land dedicated to wild bird covers - so the whole shoot is full of food really I grow chicory . phacelia / sunflowers / millet / kale / fodder radish / sorghum Biggest holder of birds that i have found is small fresh water ponds To improve the shoot - predator control - crows - foxes - magpies - rats And if you can plant and manage hedgerows - coppice your woods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 19 Author Report Share Posted January 19 11 hours ago, jall25 said: Approx 50 percent - but in reality i just chuck it in a bag and mix it - I feed perhaps 6-10 bags - some days it will be majority wheat - other days majority seed I have a very high percentage of the land dedicated to wild bird covers - so the whole shoot is full of food really I grow chicory . phacelia / sunflowers / millet / kale / fodder radish / sorghum Biggest holder of birds that i have found is small fresh water ponds To improve the shoot - predator control - crows - foxes - magpies - rats And if you can plant and manage hedgerows - coppice your woods Some great wisdom there thankyou. Yes I agree with the birds love clean water even if it just open drinkers. We are top of the vermin, but need to invest heavily in seed bearing cover crops. I hope you are having a great season - certainly sound good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 3 hours ago, Shotkam said: Some great wisdom there thankyou. Yes I agree with the birds love clean water even if it just open drinkers. We are top of the vermin, but need to invest heavily in seed bearing cover crops. I hope you are having a great season - certainly sound good. Yes not bad at all thank you We will perhaps garner a 45 percent return on birds to ground and being honest we have some incredible shooting - we dont have lots of ground but we do have the topography and lots and lots of help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 19 Author Report Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, jall25 said: Yes not bad at all thank you We will perhaps garner a 45 percent return on birds to ground and being honest we have some incredible shooting - we dont have lots of ground but we do have the topography and lots and lots of help Most do not get above 40 percent here. - keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rim Fire Posted January 21 Report Share Posted January 21 I got hoppers out but you will hold birds better by either trail feeding or hand feeding off the back of a quad birds will feed off hoppers if they get hungry but will come running when you feed by hand believe me you will benefit by it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 We did a drive on Saturday - a very modest day filler really - in times past it may yield half a dozen birds I have been feeding it - quite heavily with the mix - in the hollies - on the ride through it - for 2 weeks On Saturday circa 100 birds showed ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rim Fire Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 6 hours ago, jall25 said: We did a drive on Saturday - a very modest day filler really - in times past it may yield half a dozen birds I have been feeding it - quite heavily with the mix - in the hollies - on the ride through it - for 2 weeks On Saturday circa 100 birds showed ! its surprising how many birds will come to a whistle and be fed by hand than just leave to their own devices over hoppers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 Just now, Rim Fire said: its surprising how many birds will come to a whistle and be fed by hand than just leave to their own devices over hoppers Yes i have seen people do that too Our birds - because we shoot such a small area - probably too much - are wild as wild things ! I walk in one end and out they all go - but they know which side their bread is buttered so they do return Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotkam Posted January 30 Author Report Share Posted January 30 On 21/01/2024 at 15:46, Rim Fire said: I got hoppers out but you will hold birds better by either trail feeding or hand feeding off the back of a quad birds will feed off hoppers if they get hungry but will come running when you feed by hand believe me you will benefit by it Thanks for the info - that's great. On 22/01/2024 at 07:12, jall25 said: We did a drive on Saturday - a very modest day filler really - in times past it may yield half a dozen birds I have been feeding it - quite heavily with the mix - in the hollies - on the ride through it - for 2 weeks On Saturday circa 100 birds showed ! Just goes to show then - Thankyou. 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.