ringneck pheasants ratio & space

[RunningS Homestead]

Hi all. Forgive me if this has already been asked. I looked through posts and didnt really find the answer but may have missed it. I have a friend that wants to get out of pheasants. I know they need up to 25 sq ft per bird. I'm going to be building them flight pens 250 sq ft. I'm just wanting to figure out what the ratio of hens to cockbirds is. when I try and google it it tells me any where from 1:4 to 1:10.

 

[muddy75]

1:4 is a good ratio 1:5 would be fine. I probably wouldn’t go 1:10 unless fertile eggs was not the goal.

 

[007Sean]

A ratio of 1:4 is ok, 1:6 would be the limit....1 cockbird could handle 10 hens but your fertility rate would drop off drastically, because of his preference for one or two of the hens. Even 250sq.ft. is pushing it as far as space is concerned, my pens on average are 350 to 400 sq.ft. and I run a 1:5 ratio in most of the pens.

 

[RunningS Homestead]

A ratio of 1:4 is ok, 1:6 would be the limit....1 cockbird could handle 10 hens but your fertility rate would drop off drastically, because of his preference for one or two of the hens. Even 250sq.ft. is pushing it as far as space is concerned, my pens on average are 350 to 400 sq.ft. and I run a 1:5 ratio in most of the pens.

Thank you for answering. I want to try and learn, research all I can before I get them to make sure I'm doing the right things. I will make the pens bigger. I have pallets that are 7.5 ft long by 5ft wide that I will be using to make the pens. I plan on putting wire around the pallets to fill the gaps the use pvc to do a hoop style roof with netting across the top. I did read that longer was better than wider to give them more flight room, so I was going to make them long.

 

[007Sean]

Thank you for answering. I want to try and learn, research all I can before I get them to make sure I'm doing the right things. I will make the pens bigger. I have pallets that are 7.5 ft long by 5ft wide that I will be using to make the pens. I plan on putting wire around the pallets to fill the gaps the use pvc to do a hoop style roof with netting across the top. I did read that longer was better than wider to give them more flight room, so I was going to make them long.

I like making pens longer, gives more room to break up 'line of sight'.