Pheasant hatches

[LovenLifeGuy]

When are we going to see the little ditch runners? The dry weather is good but are they going to be able to find enough insects to eat? What is everyone thinking? Good or bad spring for the population?

[muc33]

I am hoping we can hold off for another week or two, in SW Mn we are still battling some cool overnight temps. We are not long from more birds joining the world!!!

[carpshooterdeluxe]

my guess is it will be a week or two before i see anything around our land. hen teal was still sitting on eggs last saturday in our crp. didnt flush any hen pheasants, but i wasnt looking real hard either.

[BLACKJACK]

I think a dry spring is better for pheasant and duck production than a wet spring. I've already seen a couple of brood of ducks, some of my wood duck nests have already hatched, I expect to see pheasant chicks any day now.

[123fish]

Saw my first batch of young ones last evening. They were tiny to say the least. Hope this upcoming cool wet weather isn't too hard on them.

[muc33]

Ditto, saw my first clutch yesterday as well. Cool and wet, YIKES!!!!

[123fish]

Found six baby cottontails that were dead from exposure when I mowed the lawn this evening. I hope mama hen is keeping those chicks nice and close. Not good.

[WaveWacker]

Saw a large group of them yesterday between Dassel and Hutchinson. They actually flew (short distance) from the road edge as mommy ran to them from the other side of the road.

[Leaddog]

On the way to work a very young rooster tried crossing the road yesterday. It stopped it the middle then nearly flew into my truck. Barely had any white ring feathers but did have the long tail. I was a little surprised to see him that far developed so early. Shot a few like that in October. Maybe thats a good sign.

[123fish]

Are you sure it wasn't an adult rooster that is molting it's feathers? It would be pretty rare to have a bird from this year's hatch with a long tail on July 8.

[benbosh]

unless it was pen raised and released.. just a thought but i highly doubt it

[Leaddog]

I agree its way early, but it was near Rogers close to a lot of development. There is a lot of unused ground around there for undisturbed nesting. All the other roosters I've seen lately look as they do in the fall. This one was more mottled like a late hatch rooter you see in October. The ring neck looked like those feathers were just peeking out. It's not unreasonable to think a hatch could be two months old already. Weather has been rather good this spring nesting season. Also, it doesn't take much of a tail to look long on a small bird compared to a hen's. Chicks do grow fast, fly within days of hatching, not like chickens.

[mknolls]

I saw a hen with about five little babies yesterday. I was surprised to see that they were so small. I figured they would be a little bigger by now. Could this be a second try for here if she had problems with her first nest. Weather she was robbed of them or lost them. or is this normal?

MK

[123fish]

That's more than likely a second nesting attempt after something happened to the first nest or lost her first brood. We see that all the time down here in the southwest corner. Every year we see broods of young pheasants that are the size of sparrows in mid August or even a little later.

[Leaddog]

Another strange sight: Sunday AM I could see a rooster at the side of the road maybe 200 yds up. As I went by I could see chicks surrounding him. To be sure I turned around which of course meant I had to go by them a 3rd time to continue my original direction. All three passes I clearly saw the chicks on the mowed boarder. Figured their must be a hen in the taller grass unseen. But it was strange seeing that rooster looking as though standing sentry over the chicks. I've seen lots of hens do that.

MK, Very normal. So long as zero hatch from a clutch, a hen will keep trying. If even a single hatches, survives or not, she's done nesting for the year.

A couple years back our great season was largely due to a big August hatch.

...turkey with poults visiting my sisters bird feeders.

[123fish]

How many turkey poults in that brood?

[Leaddog]

Not sure, was in the middle of something when she called. They were in Carver Cty where I saw two toms when planting her food plot. While tending it, she saw a hen nesting in the indian grass. Thought that was strange since they prefer old woods with logs to protect their back. But, she was successful. Image she'll love the soybeans I planted.

[123fish]

How old would this rooster be?

[Leaddog]

Not sure how long that is but my guess would be about 3 weeks. That's certainly a rooter. Must have been a couple weeks younger than the one I mentioned earlier.

Even a dead chick is a good sign. For every brood you see there has to be many more not seen. Looks good for the Fall.

[tweedlap]

Looks to be about 7 or 8 weeks old.

tweed

[123fish]

That bird was shot the second weekend of the season last year. I guessed him at eight weeks but wasn't sure. That would put him at being hatched around Aug. 20. Last year I saw some young ones on Labor Day weekend that were less than a week old.

[gspman]

My dog caught one several years ago in MN on the opener that was about the size of a bobwhite quail. There were about 10 of them with their mama and they could barely fly. We hightailed it out of there but I'm guessing none of those little ones were going to make it through the winter.

[CaptainMusky]

Saw about 10 little ones get up out of the ditch at fly this morning as I was going in to work.

Cool to see that, they were about the size of a robin or so and could fly surprisingly well for about 30 feet. Sounds like me when I run. LOL

[harvey lee]

I have been seeing a fair amount of chicks. Some of them were the size of a grapefruit.

I also have seen some hens with no chicks tagging along.

[muc33]

I agree with tweedlap, that bird looks about 7 weeks old. At least that's what memory tells me from the high school FFA days of raising birds. I have been catching birds of all sizes dashing for the ditch in the last couple weeks, some pretty tiny to some like the one above.