My land borders onto what I believe is one of the largest shoots in the country ......or so I have been told. A shoot occurs in the wood adjoining my propery but luckily they only shoot there about once during the season and it is done and dusted in half an hour. So not really a problem.
I have always kept hens but never had any problems with worms or external parasites until moving here. Could have just been lucky! However when discussing hen keeping with the game keepers wife,also a poulty keeper, she said that it was well known among keepers that the worst place to keep poultry was next to a shoot. She said that they carried all sorts and those not shot during the season usually died off during the winter due to heavy worm burdens. M daughter , bless her, has brought me a coulple of pheasants that she caught that looked like they were suffering from worms.
My hens free range totally over a couple of acres and so mix freely with the phessies. I now remove my hoppers during the day and throw food out to my hens at intervals because the phessies will eat more than the hens and I dont want to encourage them due to what they may bring. Yours you will say will be enclosed behind a fence so this will limit some of the problems I experience.
A neighbour at a nearby holding lives in a rented estate property and the shoot actually goes onto his land. On a few occasions the gundogs have caught and killed his hens. They have given him a brace of pheasants as compensation! I would not be happy. I have asked the keepers wife to inform me when the wood is to be shot which she kindly does and I keep my hens in their runs on that day. My property is well fenced but a gundog can easily clear a stock fence. Of course not all gundogs would pick up hens but some will ......not worth the risk or stress of dogs running amongst hens.
Sorry it sounds as though I am having a rant but no a few phessies are good to see but 30 in your hen pen gobbling your food are not so appealing. They also panic when you approach, cant find the door, fly into the wire and kill themselves .....daughter in tears!!!!!
Still if yours are enclosed I think you will experience few of these problems. It wouldnt stop me from keeping them.