Anyone have an answer to this question?  Why is breeding an issue at altitude?

From what I understand pheasant eggs need a certin level of oxegen saturation in order to hatch properly.  I know that when pheasant eggs are hatched in a incubator at high altitued they add oxegen to the incubator.    This is just a guess, but I would think that it's not that pheasants can't live at high altitudes, it's just that the eggs don't get enough oxegen to hatch properly.  Just my two cents. 

Do a lot of guys raise their own birds and just releae them on to their property? 

I have never raised birds from eggs, but a few years ago I purchased 200 Chuckar chicks with a frend and we raised them in a small flight pen.  It was a great way to get my young dog on a ton of birds and in my state chuckar are not native species so I was able to get a dog training permit for around $20 and take the birds to a friends farm. 

Jeff B.

Is there any danger in releasing pen raised birds into native populations?  I thought I remember reading something about spreading diseases to these types of birds.  I don't raise birds for my land, but I do have relatives that do and (in a minimal way) I help them.

I forgot that I had photos of our first release and adding the second batch of chicks in the Surrogator enjoy
http://leonard.fotopic.net/c1540647_1.html
Len

I'm wowed by the fact that they are actually flying out of the Surrogator. I didn't think they would be able to fly so well for some reason.

Does it work for other birds like ducks etc?

Great stuff.  I've seen these things advertised on TV, but to see them working in real life is a great thing.

I have never heard that birds wouldn't breed at altitude.  what I have seen a pheasant rooster will breed anything that sits still long enough.  What more likely is the the issue is the eggs won't hatch at altitude.  Hatching eggs is very precise they eggs have to be turned regularly and humidity and temperature have to be correct.  But even with this it would reduce the success rate of hatching not eliminate it.

I speak with a gentleman in Greece a couple times a year and he rears pheasants above 3500 feet.  So it can be done.  

Cali,

The simliest answer is after the farmers last mowing.   It seems the birds prefer this are when your releasing them so any management should be done before the release.  Obviously since the farmer is trying to make some money on the property this is the delema?  I would think a 4-7 week old bird would be smart enough to get out of the mowers way.

This is the same problem we have in the midwest farmers want to mow hay fields in may so they can get 2 or 3 cuttings off the property but any nesting birds don't leave the nest until the first week in June,...so many nest get destroyed by the farmer just before they get ready to fledge.