Game birds — summer return to the wild

Pheasant poults for sale: 12 to 16 weeks, ready for the wild this summer

Two strains to choose from — US cross or FAISAN PUR CHASSE® — reared in planted aviaries at Chatte (Isère). The restocking pheasant par excellence: birds that fly, take cover and go wild before the season opens. Live delivery throughout France, from June to August. Quote on 04 76 38 31 01. For adult birds, see our hunting pheasants for sale.

Pheasant poults 12 to 16 weeks old for sale in netted acclimatisation pens, GIBIS game bird farm in Isère

Our summer production

Pheasant poults reared to survive in the field

Every summer GIBIS produces pheasant poults of 12 to 16 weeks for restocking: fully feathered, flight-muscled, reared in large planted aviaries and flushed with pointing dogs. This is the bird expected by hunting clubs that return their birds to the wild in summer rather than the day before the season opens. Two strains in the catalogue: the US cross, hardy and economical, and our exclusive FAISAN PUR CHASSE® strain, the closest thing to a wild pheasant. For a multi-species programme (partridge, rabbits, hares, mallard), see our restocking game page; for adult birds in season, our hunting pheasants page. The complete husbandry, from lay to return to the wild, is detailed in our pheasant rearing guide.

Two strains to choose from

US cross at €11.60 or FAISAN PUR CHASSE® at €13.50 each at 14 weeks: the right bird for every ground and every budget.

12 to 16 weeks: the right window

Developed enough to survive, young enough to go wild. This is the benchmark age bracket for a return to the wild from June to August.

Live delivery throughout France

Transport in our purpose-fitted vehicles, live arrival guarantee, health certificate and proof-of-origin invoice with every delivery.

Restocking — the method that works

Restocking pheasants for shooting

A restocking pheasant is not a shooting bird returned to the wild the day before the season opens: it is a young bird put on the ground early enough to learn the terrain, find its own food, roost at night and escape the fox. The whole difference between a return to the wild that fills a bag for one morning and one that leaves crowing cocks the following spring comes down to three decisions: the age of the birds, the density per hectare and the preparation of the ground.Recommended age for the return to the wild: 14 weeks. That is the heart of the 12-16 week window, and the age at which we deliver most of our batches. At 14 weeks the poult is fully feathered, its flight muscles are formed, it flies several dozen metres and roosts — yet it is still young enough to take to its surroundings and go wild. Younger (8 to 10 weeks), it needs an acclimatisation pen and closer supervision, and pays a heavy price to predation. Older, it keeps its rearing reflexes and disperses more. It is this age class — 14 to 15 weeks — that the Isère poult scheme chose for its 2 312 birds in the summer of 2026.Densities per hectare. The benchmarks commonly used by the federations run from 45 to 90 poults per 100 hectares of suitable ground, roughly one bird per 1 to 2 hectares. The lower end applies to well-managed ground, rich in cover and hedgerows, where the aim is to establish a breeding population; the upper end to open plains short of holding cover, where losses are higher. Do not concentrate everything in one place: batches of 25 to 50 birds per site, one site every 50 to 100 hectares near cover, a water point and a feeder, give far better results than a single mass operation.Timing. Returning birds to the wild for restocking takes place in summer, from June to August, six to twelve weeks before the season opens — the time the birds need to go wild, disperse naturally and settle into the ground. A return to the wild in late August or September is shooting, not restocking. Avoid hot days and let the birds out at the end of the afternoon, immediately alongside cover.Preparing the ground before the birds arrive. A restocking pheasant needs three things the moment it touches the ground: somewhere to hide, water and food. Provide game cover crops (maize, sorghum, sunflower, wild bird mixes) over 2 to 3 % of the area, grass margins and hedges to link the holding cover, a clean water point within 200 metres of every site, feeders installed and already visited before the poults arrive, and sustained control of foxes, mustelids and corvids in the preceding weeks. The acclimatisation pen — a few days on site, under shelter — sharply reduces mortality and dispersal in the first days. The full step-by-step method is in our guide to achieving a successful return to the wild, and the feeding side on our feeding and habitat management page. As for paperwork, introducing game into the wild is regulated: see our small game regulations page. And if you are hesitating between our strains, the guide to choosing your pheasant strain compares flight, hardiness and use; the classic strain is detailed on the common pheasant page.

Returned to the wild at 14 weeks

The recommended age for a restocking pheasant: feathered, flying, roosting — and still young enough to go wild before the season opens.

45 to 90 birds / 100 ha

About one poult per 1 to 2 suitable hectares, in batches of 25 to 50 per site rather than in a single mass operation.

Return to the wild from June to August

Six to twelve weeks before the opening: beyond that, it is no longer restocking but shooting.

Ground prepared

Game cover crops over 2 to 3 % of the area, a water point within 200 m, feeders already in place and predation under control.

Purchase and booking

Ordering your poults: booking, quantities, delivery

Poults are booked in the spring for delivery from June to August — batches go out in booking order, and the PUR CHASSE® strain is produced in limited numbers. Volume discounts apply, and joint orders between neighbouring clubs are welcome: a single delivery run across the massif, uniform batches, separate invoicing for each club. Quote on 04 76 38 31 01 or by e-mail.

Volume pricing by quantity

The catalogue prices — €11.60 for a US-cross poult, €13.50 for a PUR CHASSE® poult at 14 weeks — apply to small quantities; as soon as the volume increases, the unit price goes down. Since a summer return to the wild is rarely counted in tens, most of our customers benefit from volume pricing, set in the quote according to the number of poults ordered, the strain, the age at return to the wild, the period and the delivery location.For an exact price, ask for your quote or call 04 76 38 31 01.

Book in spring

Order before the end of May to secure your summer delivery slot and enough birds of the strain you want.

Sliding-scale pricing

The higher the volume, the lower the unit price. Tailored quotation according to quantity and delivery location.

Group orders

Several clubs in the same massif, a single delivery round: the most economical and most efficient formula for restocking.

Our husbandry choices

What we have been doing day in, day out since 1951: producing restocking birds that survive in the field. Our exclusive strain, at the heart of these choices, has a page of its own: FAISAN PUR CHASSE®.

FAISAN PUR CHASSE® strain

Our exclusive, registered-trademark strain, bred naturally in a one-hectare aviary: explosive flush, wary behaviour.

Planted aviaries

Large planted aviaries with crops and cover: the poults grow up in contact with the habitat they will find again once returned to the wild.

Dog-based scaring

Regular flushing with pointing dogs: the birds learn to flee and to roost, reflexes that make the difference when a predator appears.

Age at return to the wild, criterion no. 1

Between 12 and 16 weeks the bird is developed enough to survive and young enough to go wild: this is the window we recommend.

Proof in the field

Summer 2026: 2 312 PUR CHASSE® poults returned to the wild in Isère

On 31 July 2026, the Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs de l'Isère announced on its official page that "the first releases of pheasant poults have begun!": 2 312 birds of 14 to 15 weeks, for 59 holders of shooting rights — 57 ACCA hunting associations and 2 private shoots — distributed from six delivery points across the département (Chatte, Beaucroissant, Viriville, Saint-Savin, Bellegarde-Poussieu and Le Gua). These poults are ours: the federation describes them as "from Strauch strains available under the name Faisan PUR CHASSE®" and closes its post with these words, "Many thanks to the breeder Gibis for his support in this initiative". In a single summer campaign, that is what we know how to do: turn out several thousand young, uniform, flying birds and deliver them alive at the right age, to six points, within a few days. Source: post by the FDC Isère on its official Facebook page, 31 July 2026, accessed 1^st August 2026 (no public permalink available). The full record of our references with federations and shooting grounds is gathered on our they trust us page.

59 holders supplied

57 ACCA associations and 2 private shoots in the summer 2026 campaign alone, according to the FDC Isère announcement of 31 July 2026.

2,312 PUR CHASSE® pheasant poults

Birds of 14 to 15 weeks when returned to the wild: the age window that leaves time to go wild before the season opens.

6 delivery points

Chatte, Beaucroissant, Viriville, Saint-Savin, Bellegarde-Poussieu, Le Gua: grouped delivery, uniform batches, separate invoicing for each club.

Ringed birds

Ringing lets the federation and the clubs track actual recoveries and dispersal, season after season. A hunter who shoots a ringed bird from the operation can report the found ring.

They came to see our methods

July 2026: hunters from Haute-Loire and the Drôme visit the farm

On Thursday 23 July 2026, the small-game hunters' association of the Haute-Loire — 24 ACCA associations represented, some forty participants accompanied by officers of their federation — travelled to Isère, joined on site by hunters from the Drôme. The day, organised with the Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs de l'Isère, included a presentation of the pheasant poult scheme — which the federation describes as having been run in the département for ten years — by its technical officers Sébastien Blanchard and Antony Valdivia, followed by a tour of our farm at Chatte "to see for themselves the rearing methods and the technical choices applied", as the federation reports in its write-up. Discussion covered the origin of the strain, the age of the birds at the return to the wild, acclimatisation pens, feeding and predator control — with a live demonstration of the difference in behaviour between an intensively reared common pheasant and our birds reared in large aviaries. Source: write-up published by the FDC Isère on 24 July 2026 on its official page.

Group photo of the hunters from Haute-Loire (24 ACCA associations) and the Drôme visiting Isère on 23 July 2026, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes banner — photo Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs de l'Isère

The Isère pheasant poult scheme, explained

For several years — and formally since 2023 in its departmental game management plan — the Isère federation has supported its hunting clubs in a summer restocking approach: poults of 12 to 16 weeks, ringed, returned to the wild several weeks before the opening so that they go wild and settle, rather than adult birds set out on the ground the day before shooting begins. The departmental plan sets out that direction: recover a strain close to the original bloodline and work with the small-game breeders of the Isère. That is precisely our farm's niche: young, hardy birds, reared in planted aviaries, that know how to fly and how to hide. One practical point emerges from the federation's monitoring: pheasants disperse — birds returned to the wild do not stay in the commune where they were set free. Hence the value of coordinated operations between neighbouring clubs, and of joint orders on the scale of a whole massif.

Summer return to the wild, no shooting

Poults of 12 to 16 weeks returned to the wild from June to August: time enough to go wild before the opening, and to build a population.

Ringed and traced birds

Ringing allows clubs and federations to track the actual recovery and dispersal of the birds returned to the wild.

Coordination between associations

The pheasant's natural dispersal argues for returns to the wild coordinated between neighbouring grounds — and for joint orders.

Season 2026 Pricing

2026-2027 hunting season — prices current as of August 2026

Pheasant poults — summer return to the wild

Product Price

Common strain, US cross14 weeks · each · +€0.55 per additional week

€11.60

PUR CHASSE® strain14 weeks · each · +€0.55 per additional week

€13.50

Gallery

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a pheasant poult cost?

A 14-week poult costs €11.60 each for the common US-cross strain, and €13.50 each for the FAISAN PUR CHASSE® strain, with a supplement of €0.55 for each additional week of age. Prices fall with the quantity ordered: for a large batch or a joint order between clubs, contact GIBIS on 04 76 38 31 01 for a quotation including delivery.

When should poults be booked for a summer return to the wild?

In the spring, ideally before the end of May, for delivery between June and August. Batches go out in booking order and the PUR CHASSE® strain, produced in limited numbers, is the first to sell out. Booking early guarantees you the strain you want, the age you want (12 to 16 weeks) and the delivery slot that fits your schedule for returning birds to the wild.

Do you offer prices for large quantities and joint orders?

Yes: our prices fall with volume, and we arrange grouped deliveries for several clubs in the same massif — a single delivery run, batches uniform in age and strain, separate invoicing for each club. It is the most economical formula, and the one most consistent with the pheasant's natural dispersal, which argues for returns to the wild coordinated between neighbouring grounds.

What age should a restocking poult be?

The benchmark range is 12 to 16 weeks for a summer return to the wild: the bird is fully feathered, flies properly, and is still young enough to adapt to the ground. Earlier (8 to 10 weeks), it requires an acclimatisation pen and closer monitoring; later, it goes wild less readily. This is the age bracket adopted by the Isère pheasant poult scheme, with ringed birds so that results can be tracked.

What is the difference between a restocking pheasant and a shooting pheasant?

A restocking pheasant is a young bird — 14 weeks with us — returned to the wild in summer, six to twelve weeks before the opening, so that it goes wild, learns the ground and helps establish a population that will breed the following spring. A shooting pheasant is an adult of 20 weeks or more, set out on the ground a few days before a driven day or a walked-up day, with an immediate bag in view. The two are complementary: our poults cover the first use, our adult pheasants ready to be returned to the wild the second.

How many restocking pheasants should be returned to the wild per hectare, and when?

Allow 45 to 90 poults per 100 hectares of suitable ground, roughly one bird per 1 to 2 hectares: the lower end on ground well provided with cover and hedges, the upper end on open plains short of holding cover. Spread them in batches of 25 to 50 birds per site, one site every 50 to 100 hectares, close to cover, a water point and a feeder already in use. The period for returning birds to the wild runs from June to August, at the end of the day and outside hot spells.

What is an acclimatisation pen for?

The pen — or recall aviary — lets the poults spend their first days on the ground under shelter: they get their bearings, become used to the local water and feed, then are set free on the spot. Dispersal and mortality in the first days drop markedly. Left open with a feeding point, it goes on holding the birds in the sector for weeks.

What is the difference between a common pheasant and a hardy strain at the flush?

The difference shows within seconds: a pheasant from intensive rearing runs on the ground and lets you walk up to it, whereas a hardy-strain bird reared in a large planted aviary takes to the wing the moment you enter the pen. That behavioural demonstration was given during the July 2026 visit to our farm, comparing a common pheasant with our FAISAN PUR CHASSE® strain birds.

Is authorisation required to return pheasant poults to the wild?

Yes. Introducing game into the wild requires an application to the DDT, generally processed after an opinion from the departmental hunting federation, and each return to the wild must be supported by a purchase invoice stating the origin of the birds. GIBIS is registered under no. 38001 and supplies a health certificate and an invoice with every delivery. Always check with your departmental federation.

How many poults should be returned to the wild, and how do several clubs organise together?

The benchmarks commonly used by federations range from 45 to 90 birds per 100 hectares depending on how the ground is managed. Since pheasants naturally disperse beyond commune boundaries, returns to the wild coordinated between neighbouring clubs — same schedule, same age classes — give better results than isolated operations. We arrange grouped deliveries across a massif: a single delivery run, uniform batches, separate invoicing for each club.

Book your pheasant poults for the summer

Poults of 12 to 16 weeks, US cross or FAISAN PUR CHASSE® strain, delivered alive to your ground from June to August. Volume discounts, joint orders between neighbouring clubs welcome. Quotation on 04 76 38 31 01 or by e-mail.