The Pheasants in March are highly strung. They are all preparing themselves for what lies ahead in the near future. Hens are always on their toes ready to dart away from the cock birds who are always rather overbearing at the least. Cock pheasants can be extremely aggressive to each other and also sometimes to the hens. A couple of years ago we had one White Eared cock, who we had no previous bother from whatsoever, scrape the top layer of his beak off trying to get into the cock in the pen next to him even though the other bird had not been showing any aggression at all. When we found him he was totally exhausted, covered in his own blood and part of his beak was lying in his aviary but he was still bashing the wire and jumping up trying to see the other Eared Pheasant over the top of the wooden boarding. Luckily the beak was not permanently damaged (although it looked serious at the time) and once we had extra screens put up he calmed down and made a quick recovery.

A few of our birds are already breeding during March. The Peacock Pheasants, Silver Pheasants, Swinhoe and closer to the end of the month also the Cabot's Tragopans and Goldens will be laying. Not all the birds will use nest boxes so we always make sure there are sandy corners with plenty of cover for the birds to nest in. We also scatter some oyster shell grit on the ground for them but they don't use a great deal of this as they already have a good quantity of grit available being in outdoor pens. Unfortunately due to the fact that game pheasants are not yet breeding we cannot get any breeders pellets in March so we have to make do with poultry layers pellets and supplement this with small amounts of scrambled egg and softbill food as well as cat biscuits for our Peacock Pheasants. This helps keep the protein levels high enough for the pheasants and also gives the minerals such as the calcium needed for the hens to lay good eggs.

At last we can see growth on the shrubs and new grass appearing in the aviaries. This is thoroughly enjoyed by most of the birds although they also seem to relish the new root growth which is certainly a major drawback for any small plants. Due to the fact that the birds like the roots, leaves and also bark of many plants while any shrubs are still small we cover them with cages made with chicken wire. Once the plants are big enough to withstand some serious pecking we can remove the cages.

There is great excitement at this time of year not only with the birds but with us too as we wait to see if this year will fulfill our expectations or maybe even surpass them. We know there will be some disappointments (there are always some) but there are high hopes and an eagerness to do better than previous years with lots of new plans for the coming season.

To anyone involved with breeding birds or any animal, GOOD LUCK with this years breeding season from us at Allandoo Pheasantry!