We started raising Hungarian partridges around 1990. Hungarians are called Huns in the U.S. and are called grey-legged partridges in the U.K. and France. We purchased the eggs from Papsoes Wiltfarm in Denmark. We hatched the Hun chicks in our hatchery, and then raised the chicks on tables for 10 days and then brooded them [...]
Category Archives: Mature Pheasants
Regrowth Tails
October 25, 2012 – 1:05 pm
We know what management protocols generally work for the top quality of raising pheasants. We know the density (sq. ft. per bird), the feeder space and waterer space per bird. We know what constitutes good vegetative cover. We know what type of peeper we think works best, etc. etc. We know what energy level and [...]
Will there be a glut of pheasants on the market this fall?
May 12, 2012 – 1:46 pm
Everyone even remotely associated with the pheasant business knows that there was a severe shortage of adult pheasants on the market this past season (the fall of 2011 and spring of 2012). I hear a lot of speculation regarding bird supply for this upcoming season (the fall of 2012 into the spring of 2013). One [...]
Pheasant Shortage
January 9, 2012 – 12:54 pm
There is a shortage of adult pheasants unlike any shortage I’ve experienced in my 30 years of running our farm. Regardless of the weather from here til spring, there will be a shortage. In my opinion the shortage has occurred because of a number factors, some obvious and some not so obvious. First of all, [...]
Busiest Week Ever
October 20, 2011 – 12:35 pm
Everything here is a full speed, this week we’ve shipped more birds than any other week in our history. The weather has been ideal for pheasant hunting across the U.S. and evidently wild bird populations really have taken a hit as demand for pheasants is currently crazy. My belief is that in past years many [...]
Efficiency and Flow
September 29, 2011 – 10:09 am
With margins becoming tighter, we must become increasingly efficient in the utilization of our resources here. This week the managers have been a bit agitated about not having enough trucks, trailers and crates. In some ways I am enjoying hearing that our equipment is being used to the max. I often look at competing farms [...]
Feed Vacuum Machine
May 5, 2011 – 9:38 am
FEED VAC3Every year our pen crew tries their best to time the last deliveries of feed so that when all the mature birds are shipped the feeders are empty. There are so many variables though (e.g. if there is bad weather, the preserves back off on their delivery schedule and we keep the birds for [...]
The Last Bird
April 28, 2011 – 2:56 pm
Our mature bird shipping season finally has come to an end. The last shipment went out last Friday and the guys were good enough to snap a picture of the last bird that was shipped for the season. For the season, we shipped 301,344 live pheasants (i.e. this isn’t counting pheasants that go to the [...]
Big Saturday For Our Pen Crew
April 13, 2011 – 12:26 pm
Last week our pen manager, Brian Klein was lamenting to me about the amount of work he saw on the nearby horizon for his crew. Brian is still overseeing 2,500 pheasants that need to be delivered in the next few weeks and he has multiple flocks of 6+ week old birds ready to go into [...]
Starting To Till Our Pens
March 30, 2011 – 1:03 pm
Its been really cold recently, but it still has been warm enough for the crew to start tilling the pens. We have two Howard Rotovators – the biggest garden tillers you can imagine. The tillers require a 45+ HP tractor to power them and they dig down about 10″ and literally pulverize the soil. Any [...]
