Traditional Surrogator®
The Surrogator was designed to be used far afield and away from people with minimal checking and maintenance required. By raising wild birds in their natural habitat and away from human influence, birds are both exposed to natural predators in the area and, due to lack of exposure to humans, have a more natural desire to flee or fly from humans and dogs during hunting. This leads to a set of birds much more likely to hit the ground ready to tackle the threats of their natural habitat while still being in extremely healthy, flight ready condition.
The Surrogator will hold 125 day-old quail chicks or 65 day-old pheasant chicks until they reach 4 to 5 weeks of age. The greatest mortality on the life of game birds happens in the nest and before three weeks of age. Chicks raised in the Surrogator are protected from predators and the elements at a time when they are most vulnerable. Research proves that game birds develop their natural survival instincts around 5 weeks of age. Chicks raised in the Surrogator have limited human contact, further protecting the natural survivability of the birds.
HOW IT WORKS
You will purchase 125 day-old quail or 65 day-old pheasant chicks from your local bird supplier. We can provide you a list of bird sources that will ship birds to you overnight delivery if a local source is unavailable. You will provide fifty pounds of top quality game bird starter feed (available from WMT or at your local feed store), a forty-pound propane tank and fifteen gallons of water (water tank provided). The Surrogator® will arrive with an instruction manual describing the minor assembly required and how to operate the unit.
Maintenance
The unit requires only minimal weekly maintenance and birds are released at 4 to 5 weeks. The fifty pounds of feed, 10 gallons of propane and fifteen gallons of water are typically adequate for one five-week cycle. A cycle can be repeated 3-5 times in a season, depending on the temperatures of your region. Depending on the habitat, we recommend one unit for every quarter section of property (every 160 acres or so).
