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

[madwire3]

im in cali... just got into game birds so just starting hitting the feed stores, come spring im gonna see if i can request a few breeds be ordered through them since i really only need 4-5 of each... or call a couple farms and see what they can do for me, maybe order a mess more of one of em to grow out for meat

 

[EriRojas]

That's great what part of Cali? Northern cali? Central Valley, southern Cali?

 

[madwire3]

couple hours north of l.a.

 

[madwire3]

heard one of the feed stores orders cots and pheasants every summer so ill have to see whats up

 

[EriRojas]

Yeah most feed stores don't have pheasants. They need to have a class 1 or class 2 domesticated game bird license. And most feed stores think that's a hassle.

 

[madwire3]

sorry for the late response been busy busy... started this morning on adding onto the chukar cage for the pheasants but after maybe 10 minutes of building i quickly realized i was way low on lumber so took an extended break then grabbed some more from homedepot,,, just needed 7-8 more 2x3's so no biggy.. grabbed a few extras just in case my quick math wasnt up to par,,, i dont make plans for most stuff a few sketches for a better mental image and figuring out how im gonna construct this and that,,, and i ran into the guy i got these birds from,, told him what i was doing and was gonna get some netting for the roof... he went off for a good 20 minutes about how everyone was pushing him to use netting and they had so much loss from banging heads... told me to think back how all his pens are built.. so i did,, chain link fencing for the sides "for all the adult birds" and metal patio style sheeting for the roofs some with wood under that... and im 6 foot even and most of those cages topped out at my forehead... he said the only time he ever had any banged heads losses where when he had dozens of adults in larger pens "his are roughly 6x8 by lil under 6 tall... and has a ton of them." so with his long rant and a promise to replace birds if i have bump losses "not to mention my budget is wayyyyy down currently" i went with 4x8 osb on the roof and ill finish the 3x8 that not covered with the 1.5 inch chicken wire... the larger one ill be building come spring will be mostly netting because i will be housing many more birds in there til needed and im sure ill have more issues with more numbers... anyways this is what i got done today took maybe an hour and a half to get this much done



8 wide 7 deep 6 tall
just gotta frame the door and screen everything.. then buiding boxes for them to hide from the weather in... screen bottom maybe but thinking solid wood would be better heat wise for winter... it'll be osb most likely since i have a mess of scraps so if it gets dirty i can toss em no prob budget wise... gonna probably use plastic to cut down all the open areas come winter,, its not horribly cold here but everything i can do to keep em comfy... with these two pens coming out not too bad and too costly i might just build on a 3rd section for the quail instead of the one i had planned 8long 3 deep and 3-4 tall,, ill just do another another same base as these 2 and maybe 5-6 foot,, swap the chukar to the taller one and let the quail have the 4 footer.... would be able to keep a bunch of breeder quail in that size pen

 

[madwire3]

scratch the chicken wire on the roof i have some softer plastic type poultry screening stuff im gonna use . at least it gives a lil and is closer to a 50% chance not to bust their heads