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Driving on Highway 2921 a few miles
northwest of DeLeon, one might not pay much attention to the long
closed pheasant farm on the south side of the road. Indeed, it looks
pretty much abandoned and neglected now as it has for the past few
years.
However, appearances can be deceiving.
Most of the nets covering the flight pens have been patched up, and
the damage from past wind and ice storms repaired. But the pens are
still full of tall weeds.
The tall weeds have been left growing,
but now serve a new purpose. They provide natural shade and habitat
for thousands upon thousands of game birds.
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CLEAR
CREEK RANCH BIRD FARM. This is only a partial view as seen
from Highway 2921 northwest of DeLeon where Richard Chetney is
raising around 45,000 pheasants, chukars and quail. Look closely
on the left side and you can see an escaped pheasant in the
hayfield. |
Richard Chetney, originally from upstate
New York, is a self described jack of all trades and master of none.
He started out as a pipeline welder, and has also worked as a plumber
and an electrician. He worked many years for the federal government as
a firefighter in Alaska. More recently, he owned a company that
installed and maintained large boiler heating systems up there for
businesses and homes.
So, how did he end up running a game bird
farm in central Texas?
Chetney's first love is raising and
training high performance hunting dogs. While involved in the dog
business, he became aware of the need for a steady supply of game
birds, both for hunting preserves and for retriever competition clubs.
Never one to miss a business opportunity, Chetney started a game bird
farm in Clear, Alaska.
While in the game bird business there, he
read about the game bird farm that was for sale northwest of DeLeon.
He came down here and looked at it, liked what he saw, sold his Alaska
farm and in July 2005 purchased the 141 acre property. There he
founded Clear Creek Ranch and Yukon Gold Kennels.
Basically a one man operation, it took
Chetney the better part of a year before the old pheasant farm was
brought into condition to again serve as a home for game birds. He had
to repair much of the flight pens netting and to repair and maintain
the feeding and watering equipment.
He started raising his first chicks in
May 2006.
This year's flock, started in April and
many now nearing the age where they will be shipped out to purchasers,
numbers a staggering 45,000 birds.
Of that total, roughly 25,000 are quail,
14,000 are chukars and 6,000 are pheasant.
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QUAIL
FLIGHT PEN. Thousands of quail are raised in many flight pens
similar to this one where they have plenty of natural grass and
weed cover, and can practice their flying when a photographer
comes up to the edge of their pen. |
The birds live under 12 acres of netting
in a large number of separately partitioned enclosures.
Chetney describes his work as a 24/8 job,
making sure that one does not miss the eight-days-a-week aspect.
"You've got to be here!" he says. He describes game bird farming as a
tough business, with problems, even disaster, always lurking right
around the corner.
When large numbers of birds are kept in
relatively close quarters, the threat of disease is always present.
Although the U.S. has pretty good biosecurity, Chetney strives to keep
starlings and pigeons away from his penned birds to minimize the
potential for diseases being transmitted into the pens.
Other birds can be problems, too, but of
a different kind. Hawks and owls are also fond of game birds, and
particularly quail. Amazingly, they have been able to occasionally
capture and kill penned birds by striking while the quail are flying
close to the top of the netting, and seizing the birds with their
long, sharp talons through the net. Although the raptors are not able
to fly away with their catch, they do manage to kill the poor quail
and to consume a portion of the bird, again reaching through the
netting with their hooked beaks.
Other predators have also been a problem.
During his first year of operation, Chetney kept finding dead birds
that unknown predators had killed and consumed. However, he could not
locate where the nighttime hunters were getting through the netting
and into his pens.
It took some persistence, but Chetney
finally found three raccoons, living the life of Riley, with the
birds, inside his flight pens! That problem was soon removed.
Chetney says his worst predator problem,
however, is feral cats -- house cats living and hunting in the wild.
The flight pen netting, double layered in
some areas, is largely effective, but not completely so.
While touring the bird farm we observed several quail and pheasant
that had somehow escaped their enclosure. As Chetney put it, "We are
restocking the area with game."
Game chicks are purchased from various
sources. Many of the birds were hatched in Santa Anna in Coleman
County at a game bird hatchery operated by the people who originally
built the game bird farm here. Other chicks have been purchased from
as far away as California and Illinois.
All those birds eat a lot of food and
drink a lot of water. A well on the farm provides the water. Chetney
buys his bird feed from local area sources, and buys a lot of it. He
said he has purchased 75 tons of feed thus far in 2007.
Besides allowing tall weeds to grow
inside the flight pens for shade and habitat, Chetney also has
sprinklers set up inside the pens. Rainfall, whether natural or
manmade, helps keep the birds feathers in good condition.
Chetney takes care to avoid human
exposure to the quail. The weeds in the flight pens aid in that regard
as well. He notes that quail will imprint on humans and will, if
accustomed to humans while young, follow one around hoping to be fed.
Pheasants and chukars, however, do not
have that problem, and retain their fear of humans regardless of
exposure.
The fear of humans is what makes
pen-raised game birds good for hunting and retriever competition.
Chetney says that his birds are all sold
within the state, and primarily to game reserves. While reluctant to
discuss pricing specifics, pheasants command roughly double the price
of quail, and chukars are mid-point between the two.
Clear Creek Ranch joins Fly-Bye-Birdie,
operated by Kent Matherne, as the second active game bird raising
operation in this area. Matherne's operation produces quail
exclusively, raising around 25,000 birds annually.
Chetney has plans for expansion. He plans
to construct additional flight pens, as well as continue renovating
currently unused existing pens. The pens and netting are not cheap.
Two nets needed to repair an existing pen will cost $2,500.
Chetney believes his farm has the
potential to raise 75,000 birds a year. And he hopes to be able to
hire two or more employees to run the bird farm, thus allowing him to
spend more time with his first love, dogs.
Breeding and training high dollar
pointing Labradors and English Springer Spaniels is what got Chetney
involved in the game bird business and living in Texas in the first
place. And he has ample room left on his farm for kennels and hunting
dog training facilities.
The large stock pond and creek in the
rear of the property, with woods brimming with escaped game birds,
sounds like hunting dog heaven! |
