Not sure what topic this goes in but thought I would post it here. I'm very happy with how my big mixed species aviary is working. The pen itself is about 35-40ft long and roughly 20 wide. I will get some pics up of the pen once I get the final touches done. I started by planting the whole pen in a food plot mixture that contains mostly wheat...rye...and clover. The mix took great and the pen remains green and full of cover to this day...and the pen has had the birds in it for about a month. The pen also has a dwarft apple tree and a grapevine. I got a 50 gallon stock tank I'm not in the process of turning into a pond for the mandarins, who are going to die when they get all this swimming space. Now they just have a small tub. I just go in the mail a SUPERBOWL chicken feeder which is essentially a 5 gallon bucket converted into a feeder which can hold 50lbs of feed. All the birds live together and get along soo well. This was my biggest worry with mixing species. Once completely up and running the Aviary will have....
3 Pairs of Mandarins.....2 White Drakes...1 Split Drake....1 White Hen....2 Reg. Hens.
8 Pheasant..all ringneck mutation.....Black and Buffs
6-10 Bobwhite....had a larger covey but the birds bust right up and out of the 2 inch flight netting which I knew was going to happen in the beginning but 2 inch is what I had and what I used. Luckily most like staying where they can covey and EAT.
My hope isn't to make money off this pen or anything like that. I got rid of chickens and needed something to fill the outside run space. This pen is very natural and I love watching the birds behaving like they would in the wild. I'm also hoping come spring with this pen setup, that I will be able to encourage the pheasant and bobwhite hens to brood their clutches. Which is my prime goal. I know the Mandarins will take to the boxes very easily. But the Pheasant and Bobwhite will be a interesting challenge.
3 Pairs of Mandarins.....2 White Drakes...1 Split Drake....1 White Hen....2 Reg. Hens.
8 Pheasant..all ringneck mutation.....Black and Buffs
6-10 Bobwhite....had a larger covey but the birds bust right up and out of the 2 inch flight netting which I knew was going to happen in the beginning but 2 inch is what I had and what I used. Luckily most like staying where they can covey and EAT.
My hope isn't to make money off this pen or anything like that. I got rid of chickens and needed something to fill the outside run space. This pen is very natural and I love watching the birds behaving like they would in the wild. I'm also hoping come spring with this pen setup, that I will be able to encourage the pheasant and bobwhite hens to brood their clutches. Which is my prime goal. I know the Mandarins will take to the boxes very easily. But the Pheasant and Bobwhite will be a interesting challenge.
