new to gamebirds,,, doin it sloppy but fixing things as i go

[madwire3]

yeah so got 4 chukar, 4 ringneck pheasant, and 5 bobwhite chicks... got em a grow out pen made "more for future young, but very handy right now", caught a tiny quail picking at a chukar the night before last "planned on building the quail pen the fallowing day" but decided to do the chukars instead just incase the pheasants decide to join the abuse "they ignore the quail but both quail and pheasant chase and pick the poor chuks... anyways i know bad move housing together but got held back from a horrible flu and 2 weeks later here i was... still sick i spent yesterday building this



its 8 wide, 7 deep, and 4 tall... still need to build them a box/hide and add a bunch of branches and such... also i moved it over more so its against that honey suckle that hopefully will grow in and on the side/top...

tossed em in today and wow are they happy

and heres a shot of the grow out



up against the wall to avoid blow overs plus wired to the fence...

plan to work on the pheasants pen next, 6ft tall maybe unless 4 would work,, what you all think? these are just for breeder groups there will be larger pens for food birds... and soon to have all breeds separated... amazed how well the pheasant and quail get along.. well more of a ignoring coexisting relationship but they will be separated ... sorry if anything ive done rubs anyone the wrong way i did do my research but got worried id miss this years hatch season and locally i have very few options this time of year,,, got lucky with the guy who sold me the chukars and pheasant he had a few quail left so i had to get a few... just hope my male to female numbers are to par,, gonna be a pain if 3-4 of my pheasant are males, 3 will be dinner and ill have to buy adult females... regaurdless im excited of this whole retouch on an old fun hobby of mine "first with gamebirds", if anyone sees an issue with the chuk pen please share,, also im thinking about building the pheasant pen right against the side of the chuk pen to save material, but do it taller all 6 foot of me crawling around that 4 footer is not so fun... any input is greatly appriciated.. i lack experience with these breeds that you all have and am more than happy with the info ive gathered from you all before joining this group and getting my birds.. btw got the birds at around 2 weeks old,, have had em 3 weeks... starting to change dramatically towards the uglyish phase,, again sorry for the ramble im just excited .. very excited...
ok ill stop now haha thanks for fallowing along

 

[madwire3]

also i opted for a non attached box because at this point i dont know what ill be wanting to work with bird wise is a year, i may not want to keep the chukars or even the pheasants so id rather build boxes suitable for each specific breed and swap em out as i move things around or change my plans... not a huge issue but also i can easily build and replace a old poop soaked box very easily...

was hoping for some feedback on the adding on thought,,, building the pheasant pen on the side of the chukars but nothing yet so unless i get a bunch of good reasons why i shouldnt im gonna start tomorrow.., most likely finish tomorrow as well unless i destroy my back or something, ive read so much about space and seen so many different size pens for pheasants i have no clue whats accurate,,

does 7x8 by 6 tall sound right for maybe 1.2 or 1.3 ringnecks?

i pulled a bunch of the long low hanging honey suckle up and laid it out across the top of the chukar pen thats screened for a lil more shade "filtered" and wind break, would be great if it grows into the pen a lot on that end giving them a nice thick bush to hide in

oh and cost for the grow out ran me around 45 bucks,, was around 70 for the chukar pen... didnt have to pay for the wire for the chuk pen so lots of saving there

 

[EriRojas]

Build a Flying Pen. Use netting instead of chicken wire. Pheasants tend to fly up and hit themselves in the head and die on wire/wood. I raise up to 500 ringnecks per season and 500-1000 chukar and 500 bobwhites too. The chukar have to be set on wire, and by that I mean they need to be in an elevated pen that has wire on the bottom so they are not touching the dirt. They are suseptible to blackhead and you will have high mortality rates from it. Bobwhites do fine wherever they are hardy.

 

[madwire3]

even for the breeder group i should do theirs with netting?

i dont plan on doing high volume like you are doing, just isnt practical for the space i have, i only plan to have a trio of adults and only raise a couple dozen of chuks and pheasant first season "if i can hatch em" those i plan to keep in a big flight pen around 15x25x by around 9-10 foot tall, most likely split for whoever i have more of having more space...

are the sides critical for the netting as well? or could i still do wire and netting, we have intense summers and wanted to give them shade, also have a lot of cats around and a very intense coopers hawk in the neighborhood "joy to watch but scares me for my birds"

oh and one more question, would it be that big of an issue having 4-6 chukars on the ground? i read a few posts and sites saying the on dirt issues are usually rampant in heavily populated pens, the guy i got my birds from has all his on the ground except chicks and grow out birds, i asked if he ever had issues with them being on the ground he said years ago when he started he did with the chuks, after refining his cleaning schedule all problems failed to come up again...not doubting what you are saying just asking a question with a few things ive heard "might be bull" but you gotta have a lot of experience with that many birds coming out each season so im taking advantage of this opportunity and greatly appriciate your tips and help,, thankyou

 

[EriRojas]

Ill give you a good tip. That will come in handy. The picture if the grow out you showed me is great for chukar. If you can make a bigger one like that it would be perfect.... My professor tried to raise chukar on the ground 5 times and they all died from blackhead... You can just do netting on the top.., we use it on alllll the flying pens. We make them out our flying pens out of PVC, chicken wire for underground wire so they don't dig out and for protection from predictors... We also have intense summers 115 degrees sometimes... You can make them shelters or put shrubs and bushes in there... Shoot the hawk haha so for the chukar use the grow out, and install a fluorescent light in there. 14 hours on during the day. With a timer and you will produce fertile eggs all the time! Put flying pens are only 8-10 feet tall. Don't really need too much space in there height wise.

 

[madwire3]

that grow out is smallll. 2x5 floor space .. im just gonna let them stay on the ground with a layer of clippings, hay, or whatever i have available at the time and clean it often,, everyone in my area who keeps them does it that way and do fine..if a problem arises ill reconsider a wired bottom. if they dont make it i wont be doing chukars, that simple hah, ill stick to pheasant and quail,, wouldnt mind getting a few buttons and coutornix"sp?" and definately some valley quail...

 

[EriRojas]

Sounds good haha for the bottom I recommend rice hulls! They are way better than anything. They are cheap and honestly the best we use them in my college and we use them here for my pheasants and all the other game birds when they are chicks on the ground under the brooder. Other stuff tend to cause a lot of issues. For example dust and respiratory issues. And fungal spores.

 

[EriRojas]

Quail are awesome, you can get button and Coturnix quail eggs very cheap online.

 

[madwire3]

yeah i looked around,, would be great if i could get cots, valleys and buttons all same time... but hard to find someone who has all ,, ten again didnt look much i still need to build a incubator

 

[EriRojas]

Valley Quail are expensive on the other hand but you can get them cheap when they are chicks! Here in California we can get them for $8 each for juvenile Valley Quail. And at that age they mature in 3 months. So get them at that age they are cheap!