It's building time---- AGAIN ! Suggestions please?

[frenchblackcopper]

We have been hatching every ornamental egg that happens to come out of every hen here this spring. I collect all eggs each Sunday eve,and throw them all in,resulting in a fresh hatch of ornamentals every Tuesday. We have Red Goldens,Yellow Goldens,Lady Amherst,and Dark Red Throats. All of the adult breeding quads are in above ground pens with hardware cloth as floors.None of these adult birds has ever seen or touched dirt or grass.
Now the time has come where the first hatched pheasants from 4 weeks ago,will soon be outgrowing the brooder they are in now.We have had drastic swings each week as to the number of hatched chicks,this week was 13,next week looks like possibly 18 will hatch. The way it looks so far this week with the heat,they are finally slowing down,and my red golden hens seems to be interested in sitting,so this may be my last collecting of eggs.
So now the question,,what type of pen would be best to raise these young in? Should I continue with an above ground,hardware cloth lined floor,as with the adult breeding birds? Or would a hoop house allowing the young to be on the ground work? I'm looking at possibly 60-75 young birds hatched out when this season is over. I have plenty of yard space,and predators will not be an issue with 10 adult german shepherds in a kennel in the back yard here,,hoop houses looks relatively easy and low cost to build. But I have heard of dirt borne diseases and would hate to start losing young pheasants after they have been on the ground a few days. My oldest young pheasants are now a month old. Suggestions welcomed please?

 

[Tony K T]

By the time they are ready to move outside,all worries should be over.I raise mine on wire until about half grown then release them into ground pens.
Why do you raise the adults on wire?If you are worming and doing precautionary medicateing(worming 2x's a year and terrimycin or durimycin 2-3 x's a year,they should do fine on the ground.They love to dust bathe so the ground is where they should be.If you had chcikens,ducks or turkeys in the ground pens,give them a good liming,turn it into the soil and let it dry out for a few days before putting them in the ground pen.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

It was easy to build a pen above ground,,no bending over to collect eggs,,fill feeders or waterers.Someplace on here I had read of some chicken diseases that can affect peacocks and pheasants,if they eat earthworms? My grandparents had several hundred free range laying chickens here decades ago,now I have about 100 chickens free ranging on the place,,but all my pheasants and peacocks either are above ground,or penned on ground where the chickens have not been on before.