We recently redesigned our pheasant pens and here’s some information about the change.
The old pen design was originally done to make more compartments. The idea behind this was it would be good for sorting birds and allowed for smaller crews to move the birds around. Each compartment had dimensions of 50’ X 150’ connected in series of 10 to 12 on one side; if 10 were connected this would be 500’ X 150’ total.
The new design takes out the dividing fences that made the smaller compartments. It is two compartments side-by-side measuring 400’ X 180’ each or 400’ X 360’ total.
The biggest advantage of this new style of pens is it takes less time to build. Brian Check was able to build with 3 workers in just over two weeks, as opposed to the old design which had taken about 5 weeks to build. The old design also required 10 gates on each side and the new only has 2 on each.
The new design is also has a better distribution of feeders and waters. They run along the 400’ side in the new design while they had been on the 50’ side in the old. This means the birds don’t have to compete as much for food and water.
The biggest potential drawback will be how much labor it takes to clear the new pens of birds as it is a lot of square footage to cover. This is yet untested, however, as the pens were just built this summer.