Thread: Pheasants/Quail breeding season

The previous pictures I posted were taken on my 30 acre rural block where I have carried out extensive predator control – birds numbers (native, pheasant and quail) are booming
I see this pair round our garden on the outskirts of Tauranga – but I don’t like their chances of breeding – too many cats, rats and hedgehogs
My neighbour tells me they have ten pet hedgehogs – b….ds of animals that take eggs from ground nesting birds – we are close to an estuary so rats will also be a real problem
I believe that city folk could improve bird habitat by controlling predators – just think how nice it would be to have cali quail round the garden
The simple way to deal to rats is with a Goodnature A24 gas operated trap – very satisfying to find a few rats round the trap with their heads smashed in

startig to see lot of chicks now god quail young are tiny.dogs havin a ball with all the points dont think he quite gets why i wont shoot or release him to flush

Originally Posted by gsp follower

startig to see lot of chicks now god quail young are tiny.dogs havin a ball with all the points dont think he quite gets why i wont shoot or release him to flush

WTF, fucks me off reading shit like this, leave them alone to breed and rear their young.

I haven’t seen any pheasant or quail chicks yet – but I heard a couple of hens calling yesterday so I guess they have chicks on the ground
The quail family groups are gone – just seeing pairs marching round together – so not sure when they will be nesting
I went through our bush yesterday and checked 20 rat bait stations and 5 possum bait stations – a month since I last loaded them – I didn’t use a single replacement bait block and no new possum bait – either the bastards have gone off Pestoff bait – or they are dead
Nothing in a couple of Timms traps or in the cat cage – the GN A24 trap hasn’t smashed anything for ages
During my walk – I flushed lots of roosters and a couple of hens
So after feeding the rats for nearly two years – I reckon that I have got them beat for this breeding season at least - perfect timing this year
My worst predators round the property is a couple of hawks that are flying real low at present – but I have a couple of magpies that chase the shit out of the hawks when they come round
Cutting the hay paddocks next week – unfortunately a few pheasants will perish and if the silly hens have nested out there – they will have to start again

Great pest control Time Out good work

Originally Posted by upnorth uplander

WTF, fucks me off reading shit like this, leave them alone to breed and rear their young.

cant help it when the silly sods run out in front of the dog on every river track i run him on
keep you pants on anyway, i call him off and put him in the truck till we pass them or they turkey off on thier own

Is it late for hens to be sitting on eggs? There's a nest in the paddock with 10 eggs still. Hen was still on it this morning

Just a short addendum to my original story on Page 1 of this thread
We have tried to create a bird haven on a 30 acre rural BOP property about half bush and surrounded by a lot of bush
Killed all the possums over many years of poisoning – bait stations are now rarely touched
Killed all the rats on the property with intensive trapping and poisoning over the last year or two – 20 bait stations and nothing being touched now
Got a mate to clean up all the rabbits because they were becoming a pest
So what is there for the stoats to eat – pheasants and other birds
Still seeing a few big roosters but most of the hens have gone – only a few juvenile birds – I suspect that the stoats took out the hens while they were nesting
I have recently seen weasels and stoats in broad daylight
I am now on a steep learning curve on how to kill these loopy b@st@rds before they clean up the rest of the pheasants – building my own box traps and will start with twelve
If you are into predator control – don’t make my mistake – focus on mustelids early on – they are wicked bird killers
http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/wp-conte...aigGillies.pdf

Originally Posted by time out

Just a short addendum to my original story on Page 1 of this thread
We have tried to create a bird haven on a 30 acre rural BOP property about half bush and surrounded by a lot of bush
Killed all the possums over many years of poisoning – bait stations are now rarely touched
Killed all the rats on the property with intensive trapping and poisoning over the last year or two – 20 bait stations and nothing being touched now
Got a mate to clean up all the rabbits because they were becoming a pest
So what is there for the stoats to eat – pheasants and other birds
Still seeing a few big roosters but most of the hens have gone – only a few juvenile birds – I suspect that the stoats took out the hens while they were nesting
I have recently seen weasels and stoats in broad daylight
I am now on a steep learning curve on how to kill these loopy b@st@rds before they clean up the rest of the pheasants – building my own box traps and will start with twelve
If you are into predator control – don’t make my mistake – focus on mustelids early on – they are wicked bird killers
http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/wp-conte...aigGillies.pdf

Interesting read,cheers.

Yes was a good read . Was in back blocks of Fiordland and herd a racket going down , birds stretching and performing , then we seen it a stoat running through the bush . Really gutted me to see that , was too small a target to have a crack at the little barstard , but kind of wished I had tryed

Originally Posted by Petros_mk

Speaking of the devils just drove home from work. Akoranga Drive SH1 off-ramp in Takapuna-Auckland I found this...
Attachment 15886Attachment 15887

Suprised to see birds in such a populated area in almost central Auckland, and when I do see them they are usually run over...

see plenty of cock pheasants driving down shore road in central Auckland. I was up in kerikeri in the weekend plenty of baby quail running about

In response to your addendum Time Out, I wouldn't lose heart just yet. All the birds around my place and the spots I usually go to have gone to ground, it is normal for this time of year. Enjoyed your posts, cheers

Hope you are right Pointer – but sadly it is much different to this time last year

I was driving down our access road a week or so back and these guys were in the way – I stopped about 8m from them, I got out and leaned over the front door and took a few pics, I was a bit slow cause while I was snapping, a bl@@dy stoat ran from just in front of me, right through the middle of them – they didn’t even move – he must have been scared of me and the car – I just missed snapping him –


I did a bit of work on shelter belts at the lower end of the property yesterday – lots of lovely dry dirt under the trees – quail numbers were great – lots of family groups of 10 to 20 – saw some young ones about the size of bumble bees – must have seen more than a hundred birds during the day – stoats haven’t got those birds – maybe they are not on the stoat menu
I have set up six traps in that area but may have to refine my bait a bit – two days old and it is moving round – I will clean them out tomorrow and revert to just eggs – Maurie from - Traps NZ Cage Leghold Victor Possum Cat Stoat Rat Mouse tells me they don’t like smelly bait
Also saw a group of about ten juvenile pheasants down there so there is some hope

If you catch a stoat, nail it above the trap you caught it in, will bring other stoats in. Those doc traps that hold an egg in it are excellent on them too. Keep up the good work Time Out

Originally Posted by Toby

When I was at the mankau super clinic I heard 3 different cocks crowing in the land next to the car park. Maybe you could run your dogs in there for practise?

Nah that was just the natives in manurewa you heard