Release pens

Now is the time to think about new release pens and JAMIE STEWART offers some advice on how to go about it.

Before you reach for the hammer and nails, get out the pen and pencil. There’s a lot of work and money involved in building a pen, so time spent planning will save a lot of wasted effort – and a disappointing season.

Siting a pen initially depends on the geography of the shoot, and unless you’re a dab hand at plate tectonics there’s not much you can do about that. Likewise most of the woods and other features are not going to change much in the short term so from your existing experience you should have a good knowledge of how new drives could be added to the shoot or existing ones improved.

Unfortunately, although the logic of the situation may suggest an obvious site, there are other factors that creep in and may make it less than ideal.

A release pen needs:

• Warm sheltered wood
• South facing
• Easy access
• Convenient water supply

Lack of these requirements may make the pen unattractive to the birds and so the pen is much less effective than it might be if you took the trouble to improve the habitat around the selected site. So do take into consideration any other work which may be necessary beyond simply constructing the pen. If too much is involved it might be better to look for an alternative.

Ideally the wood where you site your pen will be towards the middle of your shoot. This, in theory, should minimise straying and as the shooting season draws closer pheasants can be encouraged away from the release pen to surrounding woodland or cover crops to feed. Over a period of time, the majority of pheasants will eventually become conditioned to feeding in these outlying areas, returning to the pen area to roost at night. Once this type of routine is established, the birds can be flushed and flown back ‘home’ over the line of guns.

If the wood chosen for your pen is too close to the boundary you will contribute to your neighbours shoot and not your own.

Where you place the pen within the wood will largely be dictated by the ground but remember that you do need constant access and that the birds need to be fed away to the areas where, in the season, you will want to flush them.

Once you have selected your site it will need to be cleared. How much standing timber and undergrowth should you leave?

Habitat

Where possible, habitat within the pen should consist of:

 

• One third open sunny areas (so that birds can dry off and feed);
• One third ground and intermediate cover (for protection against adverse weather and bird of prey predation);
• One-third gradual to tall overhead cover (to encourage roosting).

Make sure there are no sharp corners to the pen and that there are feed hoppers nearby.

There are other considerations when you are preparing the site.

The key factors in designing the pen are the number of birds that you want it to hold and the limits imposed by the size of the site. You should never stock birds at a density which compromises their welfare or damages the habitat or other wildlife. The Code of Good Shooting Practice and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust recommended that

"Where possible new pens should be sited in woodland of low conservation value, such as plantations. If a pen has to be placed in ancient semi-natural woodland, site it in an area without a sensitive ground flora.

Build large pens to support a stocking density of no more than 700 pheasants per hectare (300 birds per acre). A low pheasant stocking density limits damage to the ground flora in the pen and the wood as a whole, as well as minimising husbandry problems such as feather pecking and the build-up of disease.

In ancient semi-natural woodlands, pens should not extend into adjacent fields. Nor should they take up more than a third of the woodland area, so birds have room to spread after release.

To prevent pollution and silt run-off, wide buffer zones should be used between pens, watercourses and slopes prone to erosion. If a herbicide is used to keep vegetation away from the pen fence keep the sprayed zone to a minimum - better still, use a strimmer.

For heavily shaded pens, thin the canopy trees to let in more light (check first with FC before tree felling, as a licence may be required). Pheasants prefer an open, sunny pen and the ground and shrub vegetation will recover from any damage more quickly. If light falls on only a part of the release pen, birds tend to congregate there, increasing damage in that part of the pen. Leave some felled trees for cover. Fallen deadwood will quickly be broken up by foraging pheasants, but decaying wood is a valuable habitat for a host of insects and other animals and should be left".

The shape of the pen will reflect the contours and natural features of the wood but be careful to avoid corners. If a predator, or human intruder, panics the birds they can easily become trapped in the angle with fatal consequences. All corners should be rounded to prevent this.

Now to the actual construction. Firstly get the materials organised. You will need…

• Tanalised posts 2.1m – 2.4m long and 7.5cm in diameter.
• Two different size rolls of wire netting are required:
• 1.2m x 25mm roll for the bottom, to keep out small ground predators, and one 1.2m x 50mm for the top.
• Timber and hinges/latches for entry gates.
• Nails, staples, hammers etc
• Re-entry funnels or ‘pop holes’, complete with anti-fox grids and ‘wings’ ( see diagram 1).
• Two-strand electric fencing system is recommended for all open topped pens to deter foxes.
• 12-volt car battery.
• Water butts and piping ( If required).

Diagram 1

Step One

Once the siting of the pen has been decided, a track should be marked out and cleared prior to construction. The track should be wide enough to include pop-holes with ‘wings’ and allow the keeper to walk both inside and outside the perimeter fence for daily inspection once the poults arrive. All branches overhanging the track should also be removed to discourage poults from flying out of the pen before they have become acclimatised and to prevent easy access for mammalian predators.

 

There should be a track on both sides of the fence, wide enough for pop holes and for the keeper's daily inspection
 

Step Two

One main feed ride should be created through the centre of the pen running ideally from north to south to allow plenty of sunlight but should also be fairly twisting in its nature to lessen swooping attacks from birds of prey.

A main feed ride should be created, and have plenty of sunlight.

Water In many circumstances water can be as important in holding the birds as food. If the site is barren of water you may well find that the birds will leave in search of a drink and fail to return. Laying in water supplies can be both laborious and costly and I refer back to the start of the piece “choose your site well”.  Look around your locality in farmyards, fruit orchards etc and locate large barrels capable of holding water. These barrels must be cleaned and free from any contaminant’s before use.  The greater you storage capacity the less you have to fill the barrels. Alternatively, lay in water from the nearest connection, here is where you friendship with the local farmer is going to pay dividends.  Remember when costing out the pen, water is metered these days and will carry an annual charge. Electric fence A simple two-strand electric fencing system is recommended for all open topped pens to deter foxes. It should be set 15cm and 30cm high and approximately 30cm out from the pen wire. Systems powered by a 12-volt car battery are ideal and easy to maintain. It may be necessary to spray the ground where the electric fencer is used with a strong herbicide to prevent vegetation from short circuiting the system. It is advisable to test and run the fencer for a couple of days prior to poults being released in the pen, and routinely test thereafter. Pop holes Once poults begin to fly out of the pen, they very rarely learn to fly back in. It is therefore essential to provide some form of re-entry funnels or ‘pop holes’, complete with anti-fox grids and ‘wings’. Grids should measure approximately 30cm high with 9-cm gaps between the bars and constructed every 30m to 50m around the pen. The more the better will help poults back into the pen and away from predators. The wings will direct poults, which are travelling around the outside of the pen through the anti-fox grid and wire funnel back in to the pen. Use lengths of old hose pipe to run the electric fence wire through these ‘wings’ to avoid the earthing of the current (see diagram 1).

 

Step Three

Additional food and water stations should also be positioned away from this centre ride but still inside the perimeter fence to prevent poults starving when they spread out to explore their new environment on arrival.

Step Four

The minimum recommended height for a release pen is 1.8m (6ft). Tanalised posts 2.1m – 2.4m long and 7.5cm in diameter spaced approximately 3.6m – 4.5m apart, knocked firmly into the ground and capped to the required height make an ideal support for the straining wire.

The minimum recommended height is 6ft.

Step Five

Two strands of 3mm diameter straining wire, one near the top of the poles and another half way between the top strand and ground level, run around the pen and stapled in position will make a strong frame upon which to hang the wire netting. Two different size rolls of wire netting are required: a 1.2m x 25mm roll for the bottom, to keep out small ground predators, and one 1.2m x 50mm for the top. Both should be fixed securely to the straining wire (bottom one first) before being overlapped and fastened to each other.

Step Six

Access gates should be carefully sited. In large pens a drive-in gate for delivery of poults and large quantities of food, water and other materials is essential. Smaller gates should also be strategically placed to allow easy entry for maintenance and access for beaters and pickers-up on shoot days. 

Options

Many pens are now made with galvanised wire for the bottom two feet and Gamenet plastic netting above.

Many keepers now use a type of pen that is both cheaper and easier to put up than standard wire netting pens – the format is very similar to that mentioned above with straining wire positioned at the top of the posts, with the other strand 2 feet off the floor. 3ft 25mm galvanised wire netting should be placed on the lower section with the bottom 1ft being bent outwards from the pen and pegged firmly to the ground to avoid ground predators from digging their way in. A strand of barbed wire placed at ground level and secured to each post further secures this.

Above the wire netting 4ft ‘Gamenet’ plastic release pen netting should be used, securing it to both straining wires (the lower straining wire AND the wire netting) with pig rings. Securing it to the posts is simple – just use 3ft long battens nailed at the top and bottom of each post – this leaves the netting free to move in the wind while keeping it secure.