The Surrogator®

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Surrogator with 125 day old quail chicks

The Surrogator® is a self-contained field unit that will establish a huntable population of game birds on your property. This is NOT an adult bird release system!  The Surrogator® functions as a “surrogate parent” by providing food, water, warmth and protection for the first 5 weeks of the bird’s life. By placing the Surrogator® in a location where you would like to establish a huntable population of pheasant or quail, chicks raised in the unit become imprinted to that location. The bird's natural homing instinct motivates them to live and reproduce where they were raised and released.

The Surrogator® will hold 125 day-old quail chicks or 65 day-old pheasant chicks until they reach 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

2008 Model Surrogator ready for shipment

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 gamebird starter feed (available at your local feed store or from your bird supplier), 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. 

5 week old birds flying from surrogator

The unit requires only minimal weekly maintenance and birds are released at 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). 

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