The Basics of Raising Game Birds

For a bird dog, there is no better training than training with live birds; however, live birds can be hard to come by, especially during certain times of the year when they are in very high demand. The best way to ensure you have a source of training birds is to house full grown birds or raise them yourself. In the following article, we are going to touch on the basics of what you need to know to get started raising game birds.

 

Place to House the Birds

Your game birds are going to need a space of shelter and safe place to sleep. For this, we recommend using a bird loft. Bird lofts house the birds up off the ground. This provides several benefits, like protection from predators, as well as great ventilation to keep the moisture under control. If you choose to build a bird loft, we have two products that can help you with construction design: the Pigeon Loft Plans Digital Download and the Pigeon Loft Plans Printed. These two building plans take a tried-and-tested design that our staff have been using for years to house our game birds. The building instructions are easy to follow with diagrams to make the construction process smooth as possible.

Proper Bird Feed

As with any animal, proper feed is necessary for optimum growth and maintaining the best health. Each game bird is going to have a specific diet they will need to achieve these goals. It is best to research the dietary needs of the specific game bird(s) before selecting a feed. Also, it is important to keep in mind that during different life stages, a bird’s nutritional needs change. For example, a game bird might need a starter diet that is higher in protein from ages 0 to 6 weeks, then switched to a growth diet from ages 7 to 12 weeks. When feeding your game birds, we recommend using a feeder that keeps the feed free of bird droppings, as contaminated feed can lead to diseases. We recommend feeders like the Wooden Dowel Feeder that comes in a 1 foot and 2 feet long versions.

Access to Clean Water

Game birds are unable to travel for water when they are confined to the bird loft, so it is crucial that they have access to a steady supply of clean drinking water. Depending on how often you want to get in the loft to add water, there are several different watering methods available. One of the simplest methods is using a standard Mason jar with a dispenser base, like the Plastic Mason Jar Base or the Galvanized Bird Watering Mason Jar Base. Simply fill a Mason jar with water, flip it upside down on the base, and let gravity do the rest. This solution is great if you only have a few birds or are willing to refill the Mason jar frequently. For larger watering capacities, check out the Five Gallon Water Fountain or the European Drinker. For those colder months, the European Drinker has the option of adding a Heavy Duty Plastic Bullet Heater that fits into the base of the drinker, ensuring that the water doesn’t freeze.

 

Temperature Control

Temperature control is important for raising game birds. This is especially true when the birds are young and have not developed their full growth of feathers yet. The temperature inside your bird loft should stay between 65 and 80 degrees, according to State Department of Fish and Game. In colder months, most game bird raisers will add a light or heat lamp to the lofts to provide heat, and then provide shade and the ability for wind to pass through the loft to keep temperatures from rising too much in the summer months.

 

Disease Control

Keeping your birds healthy is vital for success, as there are various types of illnesses that can affect game birds. With larger number of birds in a smaller loft or coop, you increase the risk of diseases spreading, so it is important to keep an eye on the bird’s health. To help ensure the birds’ overall health, it is important to keep the coop or loft as free of bird waste as possible. This can be a challenging task, but with the help of products such as the Metal Pigeon Pen Scraper with its 11 inch handle, you can get in all the hard to reach places.

If you do have birds that are showing signs of illness, there are different options for medicating your game birds; one being the All In One Pigeon Medicine, which treats common health issues. There are also medicated bird feeds and prescription medications from veterinarians.

Conclusion

Raising your own game birds can guarantee that you always have access to training birds when needed without the hassle and headache of trying to secure game birds. Gone are the days of having to call around to all the local hatcheries and potentially having to drive long distances to pick the birds up. By raising your own birds, you can also ensure their optimum health and performance when using them to train with. If you are training with a bird that has the ability to “home,” they will even return back to the loft after flushing!

We hope you have enjoyed our basics of game bird raising. Check back in the future for more in-depth game bird topics. If you have any topic requests or questions, please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Michael Cassatt – LCS Director of Marketing