Chukars: I know they will eat game bird or turkey feed (or any unmedicated grain feed), but will they eat bugs or fruits & vegies (or greens)? If put in a portable pen (with a top), could chukars be used to debug the garden or would they cause too much damage to the vegies & fruit? (In my currant location, no livestock are allowed, but I think I can get away with some chukars (as they are very quiet) if I put a privacy fence around them.)

Fence: How can a small privacy fence (put around a coop) be made without putting posts into the ground? The fence can hold itself up, (think small square) I just need a way to ancore it temporarly to keep it from being blown away by the wind. Besides, I would like to move the coop 2-4 times a year to give the ground under it a rest, so would need to move the fence with it.

Thanks

animalfarms (IN)

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), July 18, 2001

Answers

Chukars are a game bird and will fly. I hatched out half a dozen last year and keep them in a portable pen. All the sides were wired as well as the top. I moved it around each day. They will eat bugs and greens. I did not have them in the garden though. Last year I gave them to my neighbor because I did not want to feed them through the winter.

My brother-in-law has a few hundred. He uses them for game hunting. The pen he has his in is quite large and is stationary. They will eat the ground bare.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), July 18, 2001.