IN the old, some would say golden days of game rearing, the location of the rearing field was a major consideration involving some careful planning at this time of year.

At the turn of the 20th-Century, the time when the trend for hand-rearing pheasants began, a well drained and sheltered field needed to be found on which sitting boxes could be placed and the subsequent newly hatched chicks reared. All under the watchful eye of the gamekeeper who would, in most instances, live on site in an old shepherd’s hut during this critical time.

Keepers of that time often considered the rearing of pheasants to be the drudgery of their work. They disliked the time they spent in the rearing field, watching out for predators and mixing various concoctions of food, because they were not able to attend to woodcraft which they believed was the most important aspect of their employment.

However, despite being tied to his rearing field from early morning until last thing at night there were, if accounts of the time are to be believed, no keeper who was not as pleased with the first new brood of chicks as a mother with her latest baby, even though he may have reared hundreds over the years.

When I started my career as a gamekeeper’s boy in 1972 my Headkeeper, who was as old as the century and had himself been taught by his father, was still basically rearing with the old methods. Although by then he had also progressed to hatching the chicks, with Glevum paraffin incubators, which he then introduced to broody hens gathered from any nearby farm and smallholding.

The rearing field was located next to his cottage but every year at this time the precise positioning of the current season’s sitting boxes was a cause for much wondering, thinking, head-shaking and pipe-sucking before the final decision was made.

Problems of a permanent field

Moving on from Yorkshire to Surrey my first singlehanded job involved rearing in a large, permanent and certainly immovable converted building. I therefore had no option but to run poults out onto the same piece of grass year after year, a practice that almost inevitably increased the risk of disease.

Periodically I would dig it over, lime it and spray it with Jeyes Fluid but I was lucky because in all the time I reared poults on that piece of land they suffered little more than the occasional outbreak of gapes.

Of course, the more birds the estate rears the more the problems associated with a permanent rearing field are likely to occur. At least with movable rearing sheds heated by calor gas and containing up to 300 poults it should be possible to move houses, night shelters and runs onto some fresh ground from year to year – even if the rearing field remains in the same place.

When rearing several thousand birds in West Sussex I found myself emulating my old Headkeeper. I spent several worried hours at this time of year trying to decide exactly where I should erect my houses and runs whilst at the same time working my way through several packets of hand rolling tobacco!

Wherever you eventually choose it is obviously important that the field is not liable to flooding and also that the grass mixture it contains is of good quality and a short stemmed variety.

Long straggly grass that folds over on itself, leaving the base to remain damp and matted, will encourage mould which will is most likely to create respiratory problems in the poults.

Geese as mowers and watchdogs

On my last rearing field I kept a small flock of geese all year round which had a variety of uses.

Brilliant grazers, they kept the whole of the rearing field close-cropped on a daily basis and their serrated beaks would pull out moss and weeds, leaving a beautiful sward on which the rearing pens could be erected at the appropriate time.

Their copious amounts of droppings were nutritionally beneficial to the grass and unlike other poultry I knew they were unlikely to spread disease and parasites, thus negating any risk of infection to my carefully and expensively reared game bird chicks.

The geese had other incidental benefits too as the rearing field was well within hearing distance of our bedroom and their noise might have indicated a fox prowling around the units at night.

In fact it was a common sight for me, dressed only in wellington boots and armed with a gun, checking that all was OK after being woken by their alarm!

They also made good watchdogs during daylight hours and made casual visitors reluctant to enter the rearing field uninvited.

My two children, Simon and Francesca, still vividly remember one particular occasion when as youngsters they were chased by the geese into the safety of an empty night shelter and were kept prisoner until I heard their cries and rescued them!

Another advantage of having geese on the field was that, although they are basically grazers, they readily shovel up any spilt game food so reducing the risk of attracting rats.

If you’ve been encouraged by my geese keeping experiences on or around the rearing field, what type of bird should you try?

All types are equally good as grazers and all give a warning when disturbed but if the latter is your main objective you cannot do better than the Chinese variety. They will call out loudly, even if they have only heard a leaf fall from a nearby tree!