Gamekeeping advice

[martinc 0]

hello all, im new to this site so bear with me please.

im after some advice. i have taken on the gamekeeping of a small shoot and im an absolute novice, well ive had a few "lessons", however im not quite sure about the releasing of the pheseants,and the changing of food from pellets to wheat and whats the score with "bird puller". they are kept i a release pen at the moment, do i just leave the gate open one day? please help. thanks

[waz77 15]

The birds will find their own way out when they are ready,they will be roosting in the trees in and around the pen,as they find their legs they will start coming down from roost and landing outside pen and gradually exploring further away as time goes on,so you need to have your hoppers filled and ready so when they go wandering they will find them and you can get them to go roughly where you want them.

As for changing over some say you should feed pellets till they're around 14-16wks but most these days with high cost of food change them over around 12wks or so.When the time comes i just fill the hoppers with wheat as the pellets run out so its not an instant change but not too drawn out either cos then they just waste what they dont want.

As for bird pullers,i never use it and dont have any probs but some swear by it,try a season without then a season with it and see for yourself if it works for you?

[comanche 2,990]

Good advice from Waz ..Just to add a word about pop-holes.Don't forget to make sure they are open and have decent lead- in wings to guide birds back to the safety of the pen until they are at home in the big wide world and decent anti fox grills. Don't do this and your poults will wander round and round the wire ,especially during the evening as they try to get back to their familiar pen roosts. If they can't get back they'll jug outside and be picked up by foxes either overnight or at first light. And keep those electric fences working for a while longer so the birds have a safe haven .Good luck

[alimac 882]

the two previous posts saved me alot of typing, only got to worry about stoppin them wondering were you dont want them now..

[martinc 0]

thanks for the replies much appreciated. one more thing do i need to keep on filling the hoppers in the release pen or just the ones around to shoot. thanks

[waz77 15]

Depends on wether your pen is part of one of your drives? As the birds disperse they'll be eating more out of the pen and less in it but they will still come back in the evening so keep a few filled up but once all the birds have gone from the pens you dont need to feed them there unless you will be using it as part of a drive.