Understanding Game Bird Rearing in the UK

The business of pheasant rearing in the United Kingdom achieves two fold objectives. One is that of sustainability and secondly it is a question of integrating rearing game bird and releasing into the wild so that some level of natural co-existence is attained. The debate whether the practice of reared game birds released into the wild can be sustained. Wild game birds are survivors. It is known that pheasants are not native to Britain. They have been around since the 15th century. What cannot be disputed is the fact the pheasants are a symbol of traditional British countryside and thus the conservation of the pheasant assumes significant importance as well as interest.

Pheasant statistics in UKGame bags in Britain have been recorded with meticulous detailing since 1900. Then, the average game bag constituted 25 pheasants per 100 hectares. Around 1980 this number had risen to 150 pheasants per 250 acres. Due to this increase Shoot provider's reliance on released game birds has reached about 35 million pheasants of which game bag pheasants account for 40% of the released birds. Estimates of the population of wild pheasants and game bags have remained constant in the 21st century. (Research and survey figures courtesy of Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust at gwct.org.uk).

Heating requirements of chicksGame bird-producers such as pheasant rearing businesses have introduced modern brooding techniques that have been refined from developments in the poultry rearing business. The basic methodology of brooding chicks are the same such as Spot brooding which have local heat source as well as unheated areas that are cooler. Chicks regulate their heating requirements themselves. The second method adopted is whole house brooding in which large areas around the brooders is kept at elevated temperatures leaving the chicks zero choice. The third method is the partial house brooding which is identical to whole house brooding except that the brooding area is directly proportional to the growth of the chicks. As the chicks grow large, the brooding area is also large.

Gas brooders are employed for heating and elevating temperatures in the brooding pens. The plethora of equipment range from gas heaters, hoses, fittings, regulators equipped with automatic shut off valves that control the temperature. The equipment needs to work flawlessly particularly in the cold winter nights. A malfunctioning gas heater can prove fatal for the chicks as the outside temperature can fall to very low levels. Gas Equipment Direct in London are one of the premier suppliers of gas brooding equipment and reputed pheasant rearing supplier in the UK. They can supply to all corners of United Kingdom with an efficient transportation network backed by proprietary tracking technology.