We've just about finished our new run

[mistercooper]

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I have just about finished building our new 10x20x8 Pheasant/Quail run and thought you might be interested in seeing some pictures. She made a little gallery showing how we built it here:

http://imgur.com/a/HJWr3#1

Hope this is the right place to post things like this. Neither of us have raised birds before, we're excited! We have 4x 3wk old Red Goldens and 4x 3wk old Bobwhites. Hopefully they will be able to share this pen without too many issues.

This week we will be planting it full of vine maples, sword ferns, and some other assorted logs and roosts and such.
I was thinking about Rhodedendron since we have so many of them, but have heard that some birds can be poisoned by it. I know the pheasants dont really eat it since it is found in their natural habitat, but this pen could be repurposed in the future for other kinds of birds so I guess I wont be messing with it.

Next after that is building a coop. Our breeder recommended growing them out in the coop with a little bit of heat for a few weeks before opening them up in to the pen, so they know where shelter is. Is this necessary? Right now they are in our shed in separate brooders for Quail and Pheasant.

Have a great day!
Cooper

 

[Jmiller429]

i would keep your birds in a brooder of some sort until at least 6 weeks of age. after they feather out they wont need heat any longer maybe another week or so. Make sure your birds have somewhere to hide in there until the vegitation grows in, a few cut christmas trees make great cover. The pen looks great though! I have a two compartment box in mine filled with straw and a covered roof the birds can get in to get out of inclimate weather. It is about 3'x3' split in two with two entrances. other than that, just get them lots of stuff to keep them occupied, plants, logs, stumps and whatnot. I put a small kiddie pool in mine( painted to look natural and buried flush with the ground) and put small rocks in around the edges inside the pool, in the event a small bird would fall in it can get footing and still get out. It makes the pen look nice and provides an additional source of water.

 

[mistercooper]

i would keep your birds in a brooder of some sort until at least 6 weeks of age. after they feather out they wont need heat any longer maybe another week or so. Make sure your birds have somewhere to hide in there until the vegitation grows in, a few cut christmas trees make great cover. The pen looks great though! I have a two compartment box in mine filled with straw and a covered roof the birds can get in to get out of inclimate weather. It is about 3'x3' split in two with two entrances. other than that, just get them lots of stuff to keep them occupied, plants, logs, stumps and whatnot. I put a small kiddie pool in mine( painted to look natural and buried flush with the ground) and put small rocks in around the edges inside the pool, in the event a small bird would fall in it can get footing and still get out. It makes the pen look nice and provides an additional source of water.

Thanks for the advice! I thought a little pool or stream made with a fountain pump could be cool but had heard that they sometimes drown. Glad to hear it is an option provided there is enough traction! We have no shortages of evergreen trees where I live so thankfully there will be tons of limbs and stuff that I can throw in for cover in the mean time. I'm considering roofing a section of the pen with aluminum but there will eventually be a coop so maybe it is not necessary for now...

 

[Jmiller429]

ive had bobwhites tip into the pool before, however they can swim fairly well and usually make it to the rock bar in seconds and can hop back over the side. just make sure there are a few rocks that jut up higher than the lip of the pool

 

[deserthotwings]

The little pool sounds like a great idea and would be very attractive, but how do you keep it clean ?