When I repay to my family ’s 100 - acre Wisconsin farm after more than a decade of live in the Los Angeles suburb , I had a few plans . One involved finally planting anapple orchardto come through the aging and cash in one’s chips tree we ’d glean when I was a teenager . The other was to finally resurrect a real crop ofpheasants , beautiful birds that theWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesallowed resident to arouse without a peculiar licence .
Each year endure in Southern California , when late wintertime drift around , I ’d get spring febricity right on pool cue : that irresistible impulse to bump photos ofbaby farm animals , buy a few starter plants at a nursery , and take the air barefooted in the grass . I had come and hatchery catalogs deliver to my flat letter box . The job ? In Los Angeles , those months were frequently 80 to 100 degree , there was hardly grass to be found , and the balcony of my condo could care only one or two spate of flowers . This was definitely not a place to raise pheasant or plant an Malus pumila orchard . When it come time for the 2,000 - mile , cross - country road trip back to Wisconsin , I wondered what it would be like to give back to the farm . I was about to find out .
Pulling into the almost - empty homestead was at once familiar and not - so - familiar . Instead of attend the old dairy Capricorn ruck , fowl and horses that were once present , I found the farm empty , with the exception of an quondam blend - strain , three - legged farm dog wagging his bushy tail . get word those old pasturage in various state of disrepair brought back so many memory , but there would be time for those later .
The next daylight , I toured theempty barnsto see what wrong 10 long time of neglect had occasioned . The prominent , gray fauna barn looked reasonably near — a embarrassment of cobwebs , but still whole . The chicken pen was in good order , as was the tack room . I walked by what we holler the “ little pasture , ” which was now riddle with noxious thistles , the conducting wire fence sagging and C. W. Post splintered in ghastly stages of decay .
I sadly shake my head as I hand it , heading toward the giant red b . As I swung reach the creaking alloy door , a shiner jumped in surprise and scamper away . “ No ! ” I said out loudly in disbelief . Well , I eff where to begin . There might not be a single fence in workings order , but black eye ? No . It was prison term to get to piece of work .
Apple Trees
At first flush , planting an total apple plantation sounded like an expensive endeavor . To visit a nursery and purchase 36 potted fruit trees , which could well consort $ 25 to $ 30 each , would mean spending more than $ 1,000 on tree diagram alone . That ’s enough to stop over a small wannabe orchardist in her tracks . So I first found a way to cut the nursery stock monetary value .
I had locatedVan Well Nurseryin Washington state , a large - scale , kinfolk - run yield inventory manufacturer . Purchasing a wholesale wad of 50 Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree greatly reduced the price per tree . So , suppose what ? I ordered a sweeping lot of 50 premium apple trees , to be delivered to the farm at planting sentence and at a total monetary value of less than $ 600 . I then advertize on Craigslist premium apple trees uncommitted for spring planting and took order by look for nonrefundable deposits by mail . To my surprisal , orders came in ! I sell 14 of the 50 trees at double what I paid for them but still a bargain cost to buyers . Now my cost for the remaining 36 trees was down to about $ 250 .
Please remark : Planting bare - root stock requires an understanding of radical construction and a large amount of labor supporter . It saves cash expenditure but increases the travail load . pick out your savings according to your farm ’s strengths .
by Jacey Dean
Pheasants
Pheasants are beautiful birds with delicious meat . They are allowed in many locales without a permit , and the colorful plume make them a joy for the backyard James Leonard Farmer . They can also be very expensive . While I was unforced to pay for a good set of doll from a standard hatchery , I did a piddling inquiry first .
As with the apple trees , I located a perfect source for pheasant chicks : Oakwood Game Farmin Princeton , Minnesota . Like the tree nursery , it is a family - draw business that produces on a large exfoliation and ship nationally . This one , however , is only about thee and a half hour from our farm . This stir me , because I had always wanted to beak up wench directly on hatch day to avoid the transport tenseness .
Also exciting was the bargain bundle price on hen chicks . For a minimal order of 250 pheasant , you could get biddy chicks for about one - third the cost of full-strength run , and the game farm damage was already lower than that of a stock hatchery . Instead of pay $ 4 to $ 5 per pheasant chick ( which would have extend $ 1,000 to $ 1,250 for the lot ) , I purchased 250 beautiful birds for less than $ 200 . And that included my fuel costs to pluck them up .
by Jacey Dean
Combining the Crops
As with the apple trees , I did n’t ask all the biddy , so I also publicize them online . I sold about 50 as day - old chicks after pick them up . After the Tree were embed and the remaining chicks were growing in their modest incubator area , it was clock time for the part of the plan that would land these two crop together : the fencing system .
Fencing
Fencing was the one panorama for which I could n’t find a bargain slant . “ Bulk fence ” means chiliad of landed estate , and no matter the discount rate , I did n’t have or need ( and could n’t give ) that much fencing . But I did involve adequate fencing to keep the cervid away from the immature , delicate apple Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as well as hold back the pheasants and protect them from vulture . I also need netting to cover the pheasant test , to meet state necessary and to prevent the birds from aviate off and die in the woods . ( Interesting note : The survival rate of domestically raised pheasants released into the wild averages about 10 percent.)by Jacey Dean
My learning ability wheels start turn again ; the apple tree would be 4 to 5 feet grandiloquent at the time of planting . To keep deer out , I ’d need fence 6 or , ideally , 8 animal foot high , as cervid are excellent jumper . For the pheasant penitentiary , the only acme involve was for convenience when go inside to feed , water or catch the birds , and to give them elbow room to pilot . A 4 - foot - tall fencing would be fair to middling , with the netting hold gamy overhead by support poles . Then I realized : If netting was overhead , cervid could n’t overleap over a 4 - foot fencing . Could I implant the orchard and build the pheasant go around it ? Bingo ! There was the bargain angle , and my fencing costs were cut back in half .
Putting It All Together
We opted for 6 - human foot , untreated wooden posts with the bases dipped in a slight layer of concrete , and 2 - by-4 - inch weld - conducting wire fencing . wimp telegram would have been ab initio chintzy and ample to keep the pheasants inside the run , but Iwas concerned about coyote tearing through the fence . Also , given that the overhead netting would be transfer in two or three yr , I wanted the orchard fence to be stout enough to put up other little farm animal , such as sheep , after the tree diagram grow larger . I then opted for 1 - inch mesh veiling , and I used a “ first purchase ” discount at a internet site to get about 30 per centum off my full price . Another steal scored , and the netting could be recycle for age .
Problems
In spite of all of the bargain , not everything was idealistic . The project did run into a few problems .
Time
In malice of our good efforts , it took much longer to set up the fencing around the grove than I ’d predicted . It also direct much longer for the pheasants to reach a size where a 2 - by-4 - inch meshing could contain them . poulet develop much faster than pheasants , and I had n’t made allowance for the huge size of it dispute . Also , we discovered that pheasant begin to fly between 10 to 14 24-hour interval old , and at that size they could force right through the chicken telegram insure the window of their brooding penitentiary . We miss a few twelve birdie to escape before the job was solved .
Crowding
Because of the holdup in redact the pheasants into their netted flight penitentiary , our first batch of biddy suffer overcrowding , and we begin to lose bird to cannibalism . ( Pheasants are way more highly strung than chickens or wop fowl , and at the forged point I was lose several birds day by day to them eating each other . ) I tried move them into temporary outside pens to offer a change from their shaded barn surround , thinking the newfangled digs would help oneself curb the perpetual pecking . To my dismay , the bright sunshine only increased their activity , and the cannibalism exploded until we move them into their permanent tally .
Feed
I buy “ biz bird ” provender from a feed computer memory , where a retail merchant assured me it was the high - protein message needed for pheasants ( 28 percent ) . I subsequently memorise by accident she had sell me a stock chick starter , with a few added ingredients at about 16 per centum protein . I ’ve always wonder whether having the right protein ration ( crucial for pheasant ) would have curbed the cannibalism .
Once the fence was everlasting , the gauze was installed overhead , and the pheasants were enjoying their best life under the apple tree , the project was hold a success . In spite of heavy loss ( about 60 birds ) from cub mistakes , we were able to trade enough birds to treat our base cost . We also put 40 yummy game birds in the freezer and delight the roasted meat all winter .
So , judge what ? I ’m already planning my next combo crops .
This story originally appear in the November / December 2018 issue ofChickensmagazine .
