Rearing is a stressful job, but sticking to a few rules can mean the difference between happy birds and a recipe for disaster. Gaynor Roberts asks three keepers for their tips for a healthy start.

Robert Crofts, Northern Ireland

I try to keep as high a standard of bio-security as possible and to give my birds the best. This means sticking to a few important rules:

• Give your birds as much room as possible. This cuts stress levels and makes them happier which helps them thrive.
• Feed a top ration and don’t scrimp on price.
• Don’t push the birds into doing something they don’t want to do - only go through the system once.
• Use fresh ground when possible.
• Use Quill drinkers from the laying birds to the rearing field through to release.
• Site the laying pens away from the rearing field and net them to stop wild birds flying in.
• Use a rearing system that is taken down, cleaned and stored away under cover at the end of the season.
• Don’t let visitors into key areas, rearing sheds, laying pens or incubating houses.
• Ensure feet are dipped when going from one operation to another.
• Give the birds a stress free start – it’s as good as anything you can buy in a bottle.

Feet should be dipped when going from one operation to another.

Walter Cole, Oxfordshire

Throughout many years of rearing pheasants and partridges, I have come to the conclusion that there are a few simple points that are worth making part of your routine:

• Don't rush around your brooder sheds when checking your chicks and the drinkers and feeders. Take your time and observe your birds. Some of the biggest disasters I have encountered have been caused by too much haste - you can guarantee that the day you are in a hurry to get finished quickly is the day when a drinker floods in the furthest corner or a heater goes out and you just don't notice until it is too late.
• You should always trust your gut instinct. If you get that niggling feeling that there is something wrong, even if all appears to be well, then go the trouble of double checking because nine times out of ten you will find something that needs sorting.
• Keep precise records of your losses for each brooder shed. A record chart (in a waterproof cover) should be kept with each shed and filled in immediately. It is always easy to say that you will remember and write it down when you get back to the house or the office but it soon gets forgotten when you are distracted and then any early signs of a problem are not spotted quickly enough.

Keep precise records of your losses for each brooder shed.

Don Ford, Dorset

During 65 years of gamekeeping experience, I have tried to follow ten golden rules to produce good strong healthy game birds:

• Start off with good clean ground for laying pens, rearing units or release pens.
• Pick good healthy stock when catching/buying in or changing cock birds.
• Make sure all equipment is cleaned and disinfected before and after use.
• Always clean feeders/drinkers when in use in sheds, pens or woods.
• Select good quality food – not necessarily the cheapest.
• Always keep stress under control by careful handling when moving birds.
• Do not overcrowd. Keep well within limits.
• Supply good quality flint grit and dusting material such as wood, ashes or sand.
• At the first sign of any kind of disease act swiftly with drugs or call in a vet.
• Keep predators in check at all times.