My Hunting Dog Training Blog

We ended up with 52 chicks hatched out of 80 eggs set in the incubator. On day 29 we cracked the remaining eggs and here is what we found. 3 eggs began to hatch but were too weak to finish, they died in the shell from general weakness. 14 eggs had somewhat developed embryos that did not grow to full term for one reason or another. 11 of the pheasant eggs had yolks and were infertile. I felt pretty good about the results of our first try hatching pheasant eggs with an incubator.

The birds are one week old now and are settling into a routine. We lost 4 chicks on day 2 but haven't lost any since. They are eating well and staying nice and toasty in my insulated shop. I like to use paper plates for feeders for the first week or two so they have plenty of eating opportunities. After that we switch to the small trough-style feeders. For water I am just using the simple quart jar waterers. With such a small batch I didn't want to set up the big brooder rooms with nipple waterers and the whole nine yards. There are 63 more eggs in the incubator but I doubt we will have great numbers since we are so late in the season. The roosters seemed to lose interest towards the middle of July.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today when I was checking the birds in the flight pens I noticed this old Mutant Hen sitting pretty tight in the weeds. I thought it was odd that she was holding so tight while the other younger birds scattered as I approached. This hen is a hold-over from last years hunting stock. I gathered most of them up and put them in a breeder pen, but opted to leave the mutants out of the mix.

Upon further inspection I found the reason why she was holding so tight. She was sitting on a nest full of her own eggs. I got in for a closer look and felt that the eggs were quite warm to the touch. The nest site was in some heavy weeds that were over 3 feet tall. You can see the stalks are bare where the pheasants have been grazing as high as they could reach.

I was thrilled to hear a little peep while I was down on my hands and knees inspecting the nesting site. I had heard that sometimes hens will actually set on their nest with enough commitment to get a hatch. Most of the time though, these captive birds just lay their eggs and never come back to them. This mutant hen obviously was doing a great job. I found this little chick a few feet from the nest, and then the mutant chick about 20 feet further in the weeds.

My daughter Hannah helped me gather them up and take them back home to the brooder where we are caring for some pheasant chicks that are about the same age. Before throwing them in with the rest of the chicks I marked their legs so I could keep track of their progress. I always wondered if mother nature did it better. We'll see if they turn out to be stronger or healthier than the chicks that I hatched out.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today marks day 23 on my incubator calendar. I went out this morning to check on the eggs and noticed a few with small crack forming on the tops of the shells. Out of about 80 eggs I only noticed about 25 that were starting to crack. I went about my chores and did some weeding around the garden.

I came back two hours later and couldn't see any change. I was getting ready to go to work when I heard a bird cheaping. I opened my GQF 1202 incubator and way in the very back row there was this guys busting out early. He is the guy in the video, my early bird pheasant chick.

I came home a few hours later during lunch and there was a second bird out of his shell. I moved them both into the hatcher where they could dry off and get some fresh food and mostly rest. When I went to bed there was some progress but no more hatches.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When we moved the pheasant chicks out to the big flight pens last week I decided to gather the remaining hens from last years batch and a couple of big healthy roosters and bring them back to the barn. After a few hours of settling in they were laying eggs all over the place. I tried to create some better nesting spots in the barn to encourage laying in the same spot. The first day I gathered eggs I got 23 from thirty something hens. I'm gathering them twice daily and getting them ready to incubate. I ordered some trays today from Cutlers Supply that will double the capacity of my GQF 1202 Sportsman incubator.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got this old wheat grinder for making my own quail feed. I have a custom feed producer close by that mixes great feed but he can't chop it fine enough for the baby quail chicks. So I take the feed and run it throug the grinder to make a finer feed for the first few weeks. After 3-4 weeks the quail can transition to the heavier feed that I am feeding to the pheasant chicks. It's hard to grasp how much smaller the quail chicks are compared to the pheasant chicks. I am looking for recipes on grinding my own feed from scratch.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After looking at several designs on the web and talking to Dave Walker about quail recall pens, we decided on this design. This is my friend Chris Colt of Cove Mountain Kennels helping me build the recall pen. The frame is out of 2x2 lumber and we screwed the joints together with 3" exterior grade screws. The overall dimensions are about 36" X 18" X 72". I had some 36" tall 1/2" X 1/2" wire on hand or we would have built it 96 inches long.

We glued the joints and used 1" screws and finish nails to apply the 1/2" plywood back, top and sides. With the frame finished and the plywood on we wrapped the wire around the front half of the pen and stapled it with 1" staples. We have a trap door on top for inserting food and water and the whole front end is a giant door for releasing the quail. We hope to attach a string-pull mechanism for lifting the release door.

We were pleased that the finished product was fairly light and easily lifted by two guys. It should be easy to move around with my Polaris Ranger or by tossing it in the back of the truck. We hope to build another pen just like and set them both in the training fields nearby. We added a perch inside the pen but the quail don't seem to have any interest in using it. The cost for all the materials was less than $75 and it took us about 6 hours to build it. We will apply some paint or wood sealer before moving it outside to the training grounds.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At approximately 5 1/2 weeks we put blinders on all of the pheasant chicks to help with pecking problems. Pheasants are very canabalistic and will peck each other to death every chance they get. These blinders are a simple way of solving the problem with minimal impact on the health of the pheasants. It took us about 4 hours to put these blinders on about 4,000 pheasant chicks. We had 8 guys to do the job, two were catching chicks with nets while the other 6 guys applied the blinders.

The first 24 hours after the birds have their new blinders installed they are a little clumsy. We try to help them out by placing more feed and water pans out where they basically trip over them. After a week of transition time I remove a few of the additional pans as they learn where the main feed and water troughs are located.

With daytime temps reaching close to one hundred degrees the birds were in desperate need of shade. Usually the weeds and grass in the flight pens are grown up high enough to do the trick. Because of a late spring we had to provide some additional shade and shelter via a tarp and several peices of plywood set up as lean-to shelters. After a week or two of transition time the care and feeding gets a lot easier. The water troughs have a float and auto-fill system providing plenty of fresh clean water.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After attending the Dave Walker dog training seminar, I decided I wanted to buy some quail for dog training. Quail are a great bird for training a dog to be steady to wind and shot as they hold as a covey. If your dog creeps in on a point the birds usually flush all together and hopefully your dog learns to be ready for more birds after the flush. I bought these little guys at 3 weeks old from a local Utah breeder named Travis Proctor. For now they are surviving in my small brooder table. Hope to get a bigger pen built for them in the next week or so.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The pheasant and chukar chicks are 15 days old now and are starting to feather out nicely. Yesterday, I removed one of my circles in the brooder room since some are able to fly over it now. I will leave the remaining circle for a couple more days to give the smaller birds a chance to catch up. Also, we had a cold snap last night and we awoke to snow on the mountain. It is supposed to be Summer right now but at least it didn't freeze last night. I did light up the propane heater during the night. I haven't used it in nearly a week since the weather has been warmer.

I have had to raise the nipple waterers up a bit each week as the birds grow. I think it is important to make sure they have to reach a bit to get the water. I think it helps them build up their leg strength and muscles which should all make for better flying birds in a few months. This theory is not very scientific but I do think it helps to keep the birds strong. It is still very difficult to tell the difference between the chukar chicks and the pheasant chicks. As the feathers grow in the distinction will become obvious.

Here you can see the feather coming in nicely. Most of the birds are starting to try flapping their wings a bit and practicing 2-3 foot test flights. It is pretty funny to watch as they are a bit clumsy at this age. As I remove the next circle and give the chicks full access to the brooder room they will start to fly a little more each day. At 5 1/2 weeks exactly we will put the blinders on them and release them into the large outside flight pens.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Birds are doing quite well. We are starting to lose a few chicks each day. Seems like the weak ones are gonna die no matter what you do. I tried running a quarantine for a few days and could save about 50%. However, when I released them back into the group they ended up dead a few hours/days later. As far as I can tell, the rehab is more trouble than it's worth. I will try it again when the birds are a little older and starting to feather out.

As a whole the birds are doing well. I am careful to keep the feeders full of feed so they don't peck at each other. I have to increase the temperature at night using the propane heater. The weather was cold for a few days and I had to use the propane all day. One propane bottle will last me about 36 hours on high heat. The weather has been warmer laely and I can turn the propane off during the daytime. So far, we have only lost about 20 chicks. I am keeping a journal and logging temps, feedings and mortality several times daily.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Started with a two hour drive to Green River, UT to pick up the chicks from Hatt's Ranch game bird hatchery. Seemed like a large operation as one of their employees told me this week they hatched 40,000 chicks. There were 29 boxes in all totaling somewhere around 4,000 chicks. We didn't chat much at the hatchery, just got loaded and headed for home to get the birds settled.

When we got home I unboxed the birds and removed them all by hand and placed them in the brooder circles. Russ took the bulk of the chicks (21 boxes) to his house for brooding in the big brooder barn. I took home 8 boxes and ended up with two boxes of chukar chicks, one of mutant pheasants, and the rest ringnecks.

We have a custom chick starter chopped for us locally, about a 32% protein medicated feed. I like to use a few of the pads out of the shipping boxes to double the feed availability during the first week or so. The chicks seem to eat this food before they figure out the trough feeders have feed in them too.

The temp around the inside of the brooder hood is around 100 degrees, and initially they held pretty tight under the hood for warmth. Within minutes they were circulating and finding the feeders and shipping pads with food on them. I was amazed that there was not one dead bird out of the 8 boxes I opened (about 1000 chicks).

I use the nipple waterers from the folks at Nature's Way. It is fascinating how the day-old chicks seem to know exactly what to do to get the water. One of the nipples had a bit of a leak, but I left it alone as a lot of the birds were drinking from it.

The temperature is absolutely crucial during the first few weeks of life. I keep a couple thermometers laying around and take frequent readings to make sure things stay consistent. If the chicks get too cold they start to bunch up and pile on each other suffocating those on the bottom. If they are too hot they will hold their wings and appear to be panting. If they are cheaping and moving around then all is well.

I brought my propane radiant heater in to help keep the temps up during the night as it is supposed to be a bit cold for a few days. Last year I used a camp chef propane cooking stove as that's all I had available. I also have a spare bottle of propane standing by in case I run out.

After I got the birds settled in and felt like all was well for a minute, I headed over to Russ's pheasant farm to see how his chicks were doing. He has four big circles (10-12 feet across) with natural gas powered brooder hoods. He has taught me that sitting and watching the birds is the best way to keep track of their health and wellness. I'll check the birds every couple hours for the first 24 hours or so. Things can go downhill fast.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heading to Green River tomorrow to pick up 1000 day-old ringneck pheasant chicks. Had a blast last year raising 500 chukar chicks. I will be working more closely this year with my friend and mentor Russ Peterson at Rooster Valley Pheasants. I will be selling most of the birds directly to him for use on his hunting preserve. I will keep a few pheasant for myself for dog training purposes and perhaps as breeders for next year. Russ usually raises two batches of pheasant chicks each year. We are hoping with the addition of my brooder rooms and grow-out pens we will be able to avoid raising a second batch in July when the weather is hotter. Mortality rates seem to be much better here in May and June before the Summer heat really turns on. It seems to be easier to warm the chicks up than to cool them down if too hot.

I spent all day yesterday getting the brooder rooms prepared for the chicks. I scrubbed down everything with a water/clorox mixture to disinfect and clean. Tonight I will turn on the heat lamps and get the brooder rooms warmed up 12-24 hours before the birds arrive. We use 1/4" welded wire for our circles and the nipple waterers from Nature's Way. The ground inside the circles is covered with pine shavings and great care is taken to keep temperatures warm enough. I will have to supplement my heat lamps with a propane radiant heater as freezing temps are common here in late May and early June. The first few days are always a little stressful, but hopefully things will go smoothly. I'll post some pics when the birds arrive tomorrow.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that the hunting season is actually over I have spent some time in the woodshop working on upgrading the pigeon coops. I have two seperate coops for raising pigeons for the purpose of dog training. Today I found an abandoned shelf project that was collecting dust in the corner of my shop. With a little work I was able to convert it into some overflow nesting boxes for my white pigeons. The perches on the front are made with 2x2 lumber scraps. I also had to glue in blocker peices to keep any nesting materials or eggs from falling out of the nest. The pigeons seem to like the extra space. This week I hope to explore my options of raising some chukar and pheasant chicks from eggs. When researching such topics about gamebirds I usually consult the folks at That Quail Place Forums.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We went to visit my parents this past weekend in Southern Utah. They live on the edge of the desert and have taken to feeding the local covey of quail. We enjoyed breakfast on the patio and watched as the Quail would come into feed on the free buffet. It was fun to hear them call and I couldn't help but think of grabbing my shotgun and taking the dogs out for a romp. The neighbors would call the cops in a minute, and my parents would banish me forever. But, still the thought did cross my mind. I would guess that some of the best Quail coveys in the southwest are considered pets for the homeowners that choose to live on the edge of suburbia. They bathe in the water features and dine daily on the mountains of wild bird seed tossed into the brush. There is nothing cuter than a Momma quail leading her brood out for a morning jaunt. When your into gamebirds you start seeing them in the darndest places.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As most hunting seasons are coming to a close, I am getting my pigeons ready for their training season. During the Spring and Summer I often use pigeons in my bird dog training drills. Pigeons are cheap to aquire, easy to feed and house, and they breed like rabbits. My small flock of pigeons doubled last year with all the new squabs that were born. If you can provide ample nesting space and good nesting materials, they will keep you stocked with fresh pigeons for dog training year round. I like to use homing pigeons so that I can release them for training and re-use them the next time. They simply fly back to the coop and usually beat me home from the training grounds.

When you are working with a dog on gun-fire and holding steady to shot it sometimes becomes necessary to shoot one or two pigeons. I usually pick the old birds that are on their way out the door anyway. Seems a little harsh but you can only do so much training without shooting a bird. Plus, most dogs view the shot and retrieve as their reward for a good point and hold. They love to get their mouth around those feathered friends. I have a neighbor who raises roller pigeons and he sells me his worst rollers for cheap. I don't mind if they don't happen to roll very well, they still fly and home nicely.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This week I released the chukars into the bigger grow-out pen where they will spend the next few weeks. They are learning to use the big waterers and are starting to fly in earnest. The heaters are only used at night now and will be turned off completely by the weekend. At 6 weeks we will put blinders on them and move 400 of them to the big outdoor flight pens at Rooster Valley Pheasants.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The chukar chicks arrived around noon on Wednesday of last week. I had some great help in preparing for their arrival from my friend Russ Peterson at Rooster Valley Pheasants gamebird farm. I was not prepared for how small the day-old chukar chicks were. The first night or two were a little tricky as there was a bit of a cold spell in our valley. I had to use a propane camp stove to keep the temperatures up in my brooder rooms.

The 250 watt heat lamps were providing great heat in the center of the brooder but the edge temps were a little low. I added a fourth heat lamp on the edge of each circle to help with the problem. The pine shavings seem to work well for a ground covering and an insulator. I used some paper plates for feeders to double my feeding space for the first few days.

I was very impressed with my low pressure nipple waterers that I purchased from Natures Way. It took a little bit of adjusting to get them leveled and working properly. The chicks didn't take long to figure out how to get water from the nipples.

So far I have only lost about 8 chicks since they arrived 5 days ago. The ones that seem to die are either weak or runts. I wonder if I could set-up a quarantine area and try to save some of the birds that look like they are struggling. They are starting to consume huge amounts of feed now. Luckily I have a neighbor who mixes high protien feeds and he delivers it right to my barn.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Through all of my reading and learning about dog training I have found it impossible to train a bird dog without access to plenty of birds. This week I finished construction on a small pigeon coop in the corner of my existing chicken coop. I framed in a 4x8 area with a raised wire floor next to a window. It should work well for 6-8 breeding pairs of pigeons.

In the rear of the pigeon coop is a small window that opens to an outside aviary where they can perch and get some fresh air. When my little flock of pigeons gets larger I will fly my younger birds and train them to home back to the aviary. The two pigeons in the pictures are common barn pigeons that I trapped.

The nesting boxes were built above the window to the aviary. There is room for 6 breeding pairs of pigeons with the current setup. I placed some grit on the floor with clean water, food and straw for nesting materials. Next week I will purchase a few breeding pairs of roller pigeons from a neighbor. These are basically his culls that don't fly/roll as well as he would like. Should be perfect for bird dog training.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My little barn pigeon chick died on the 5th day of life. It appears that the mother pigeon was killed because I haven't seen her around since. I was sad to see the chick died but learned that there were other pigeon folk around. I went to visit my neighbor Mike who raises Birmingham Roller Pigeons to see about buying some pigeons to use for dog training. He was kind enough to show me his coops and gave me some good pointers for building my pigeon coop.

He had several roller pigeon chicks and eggs to be hatched. He seems to know his stuff and says there are a few other folks in town who belong to a pigeon club. He agreed to sell me a couple of breeder pairs when they get done raising their young chicks. He said another month or so and I could come back and pick some up. He feeds his a mix of milo and sunflower seeds and uses the commercial pigeon feed as a special treat once a week. It was fun to see his kit of pigeons flying around doing their silly backflips.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

The pigeon chick seems to be doing well and is getting less ugly each day. The mother is very attentive and I have to be really sneaky to get a picture of the nest. I am concerned that the temperatures are going to get below freezing tonight. I hope momma will keep her baby pigeon warm enough. Still no action on the second egg, not sure if I should remove it from the nest or just let it be. On the positive side, the one chick is getting all the crop and attention from the mother. Which means it should grow and develop faster than if there were two chicks in the nest.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The lone pigeon that hatched seems to be doing just fine. He is one ugly little chick. The second egg still has yet to hatch. I am afraid that perhaps this other egg was not fertile to begin with. One chick may be all we get this time around. On the brighter side, more members of the flock are roosting in my barn each night. They are eating the food that I put out, but it drives my dogs crazy to see them walking around barely 20 feet from their kennel. I wonder how Abby and Jake will react to having 500 Chukar Partridge living next to them in the barn. Perhaps it will help to increase their prey drive for game birds.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While checking the pigeon nest in my barn this afternoon I discovered that one of the eggs had hatched. It was an awkward looking pile of skin wriggling around in the nest. I would dare say the second egg will hatch later today sometime. The other pigeons in the flock are starting to come a little further into the barn for the feed I put out for them. Today I picked up the lumber to build a pigeon coop in my barn next to the chicken coop. The spot already has an existing aviary and will work quite nicely for raising pigeons.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've decided to go ahead and raise 500 chukar partridge chicks this Summer. This will be a partnership with my friend Russ Peterson who runs a Utah Pheasant Hunting Club. He usually raises around 5000 ringneck pheasants each year for use on his pheasant preserve. He says a lot of his clients have requested the chance to hunt both pheasant and chukar. In May I will go with Russ to the hatchery to pick up the day old pheasant and chukar chicks. I have a bit of work to do to get the barn ready for the chukars. I am going to sectioin off one end of my bird barn for the chukars. I can use the existing insulated brooder rooms to get them through the first few weeks of life. After their feathers grow in good I will move them to the big flight pen. I am researching the possibilites of raising some quail also.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Throughout the winter we have been feeding a few barn pigeons and getting them to hang out in our barn. A few weeks ago we noticed a couple of pigeons started roosting in the rafters of the barn. The other day I noticed there is only one pigeon roosting in our barn now. She seemed to stay close by, only leaving for a few minutes when we go in to feed the chickens and collect eggs. Today, I decided to climb a ladder and see if there were any pigeon eggs in the nest. Sure enough, the pigeon is setting on two cute little pigeon eggs. We will keep an eye on them until they hatch and then we will capture the babies to start our little pigeon flock. They should come in handy for training our pointing gun dogs.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)