Ornamental Pheasants |
Below are some questions that we have been asked in e-mails with the answers we have given.
Question:
Our Golden Pheasant has had an accident and lost his tail will he be alright?
Question:
Do you sell eggs?
Answer:
We don't. The reason for this is that it can be quite tricky to incubate pheasant eggs especially with the rarer species. We feel that we would end up with a large number of complaints if eggs did not hatch or if chicks died.
We prefer to sell birds when they are at least a few months old and tough enough to travel well. Our customers can see that the birds are healthy and have been looked after well and we can relax knowing that everyone is happy.
Question:
We stay hundreds of miles away, can birds be delivered as far and will they be OK?
Answer:
We can have birds delivered throughout the UK mainland. We would never send a bird away that was not strong enough to travel far. The birds tend to sleep for most of the journey as they are in a dark box. We do try and have them packed so that they are comfortable and if they did panic for any reason they would not be hurt. Any birds delivered by courier do have food and water available to them as they can occasionally be in transit for a day or so depending on the distance they need to travel and sometimes weather conditions during the winter can delay them a little.
Question:
How do you mark your eggs for incubation?
Answer:
When we first started incubating eggs we had some worries about how to mark eggs as obviously whatever you use has to be waterproof and also quick drying and not likely to smear. This meant a pencil was not ideal. When asking around we found out that some alcohol based markers are used in laboratories as they are non toxic. We use Sharpies permanent markers as they are reasonably priced and widely available (and they do state that they are non toxic on the packet). They also write very well on the eggs which can be a problem for some pens.
I am sure our hatch rates do not suffer because of the ink as we have had 100% hatch rate with our Lady Amherst's in 2009 (when this article was written) and very close to this with some of our other species.
Question:
Are there any laws stopping me from breeding and releasing ornamental pheasants
either as free range birds or for shooting like the ring neck pheasants?
Answer:
Yes. The law does state that no animal should be released into the wild that does not normally live in the UK. It may however be worthwhile to check with DEFRA and ask if it is possible to be granted a license to release them. There are some Golden and Amherst Pheasants already in the wild (these have no doubt been released or escaped and have survived and bred). I have heard of game keepers releasing Reeves Pheasants but this could be illegally. It may be however that they have been allowed to if they are licensed.
Many pheasants are fine free range if they have already had an opportunity to become used to their new surroundings. If you therefore start of with them in an aviary and allow them to become used to you and being fed it may be that they can gradually be allowed more space, eventually not having to be shut in at all. I know lots of people prefer to keep them this way but if they do disappear and turn up somewhere else you can be prosecuted.
Question:
Do you sell day old chicks and adult birds?
Answer:
We do not sell day old chicks. The youngest birds we sell are around three months old as by that time they are tough enough to travel well and settle in to a new environment without problems. With some of our birds such as the Peacock Pheasants and Tragopans we tend to wait a bit longer, as they do not adapt as easily as some species to change, so these birds are more likely to be at least four months old.
We do sometimes sell adult stock. The reasons for this do vary. It may just be that we wish to buy in new bloodlines and need to make some space to accomodate them. At other times the birds in question may not be good breeders for one reason or another so we will sometimes offer them to customers not wishing to breed them. We are always truthful regarding birds not fit to breed and will often sell them at greatly reduced prices. We will also occasionally manage to spare a single bird, if a customer is only looking for one cock or a hen on its own, but this does depend on whether we have enough breeders producing fertile eggs for ourselves.
We've enjoyed reading your website and wonder if we could ask for some advice about feeding our Golden pheasant pair?
We only got them this autumn and the feed we have been using is just running out. We were told they would like meal worms and that they wouldn't eat the wheat that we give our chickens and ducks. They don't seem to be in the least bit interested in the meal worms (the robins will have a good winter this year!) and to provide as much variety to choose from we have been feeding them with Buckton's Robin & Songbird feed which contains (Pinhead Outmeal, Maize Grits, Red Millet, Chopped Sunflower Hearts, Chopped Peanuts, Raisins, Suet Pellets, Mealworms and Rowan Berries), but it looks like (as far as it's possible to tell) they are only eating the peanuts (and the grass in the run). Despite this they seem well enough, but we are concerned that they're missing out in our naivety. On your website you mention proprietary game feed and we were wondering what you mean by this, since as far as we know the game pheasants round here are fed on wheat.
Answer:
There are a number of Game Pheasant feeds on the market however these are not always easy to come by especially if you only need a small quantity. We buy Marsdens pheasant pellets which are produced by BOCM Pauls. Although it is not necessary to feed a pheasant food it does give peace of mind to know that there has been much research into a pheasants nutritional needs and this would do as a complete feed for your Golden Pheasants as they have a very similar dietary need to the common game pheasants. Your Golden Pheasants will eat wheat however that on it's own has too low a protein content for them to be at their optimum condition. A poultry feed is especially problematic when it comes to rearing chicks as a chick crumb for poultry is appoximately 5 - 6% lower in protein than a pheasant feed which has around 29% protein in the starter crumb & pellet. Your birds probably will aquire a taste for mealworms (if they are not eating them just now it is likely that they have not been used to getting live food when they were reared) and I am sure during the breeding season especially they will begin to relish them, they are not a necessity but because they are a high protein food they are beneficial especially if wheat is the main diet. The peanuts you are giving are also a high protein food so if feeding wheat they should help however too many nuts may well fatten up your birds, a little too much, as they are also very high in oil. The good thing is your birds have plenty of space in a good grassy aviary so they will find a good part of their diet themselves. Bucktons food is of a good quality and they do pigeon feed as well as what you are feeding at the moment which we give to our birds with their peanuts as a treat. Scrambled egg would also be useful in small quantities to boost your birds health. I am sure if you can give them plenty of variety they will do very well as they really are an easy bird to keep. I think there is a good chance the game keepers in your area do use a game pellet at least when their birds are breeding and the chicks are very young. If so, I am sure they would manage to sell a small quantity to you so it might be worthwhile asking them.
I wish you the best of luck with your birds and please do not worry I am sure they will do fine and the cock will be stunning when he gets his full colour in late summer.
Question:
I have just bought a new golden pheasant hen but my pair of golden pheasants are 'ganging' up on her. Are the birds likely to settle down or will the problem get worse?
Answer:
It can often be difficult to introduce new pheasants to any which are already established. If you have another aviary/pen you can put either your pair into or the extra hen this would be the best option for now. Assuming you only have the one pen the best thing you could do would be to partition it. This need only be temporary but the problem is that your pair are protecting their territory. If they are also older than your new hen that will make it even more likely that they will hurt her. When we introduce new birds we like to either put all the pheasants which are going together into a new aviary or put the birds that are the more aggressive or territorial (usually the cock) into the other birds (normally the hens) aviary. Sometimes if you wish to add a young (immature) cock to an adult hen's pen the hen will attack the cock. Sometimes it can be a case of having to wait until the birds are a bit older. If a cock is attacking a hen before the breeding period starts remove him and try again once the hen starts to lay as he will often calm down then as she will accept his advances. Always try and give the birds plenty of cover and if there are problems extra perches can also help, at least a little. Try and provide some areas that are big enough for only one bird. That way a hen can escape there to get a chance to recover and rest (as they can be harrassed until they are so exhausted they will lie down and allow the other bird to peck it until it dies). It will also allow the bird chasing her a chance to cool off. Your established birds may calm down and become used to the new hen if they get the chance to be near her without being able to reach her to do any damage. Once you feel they are less aggressive towards her you can allow your mature birds into the newcomers space. This could be in a few days time or it may have to wait until your new hen is more mature. I would probably wait until the new hen has started to lay and then give the other pair access to her. If it is impossible to split the birds at all you may find it very difficult to save your new bird.
Question:
I have a pair of Bornean Crested Fireback pheasants reared in an aviary which is 24'x8'x6' in size with some plants and hiding places. The female started laying eggs but I doubt if the eggs are fertilized since I have never seen the male mating with the female. The female always keeps well away from the male. How do I persuade them to get mating?
Answer:
The male Firebacks are often very aggressive towards the hens so it is not surprising that she prefers to stay out of his way. Although we have had Fireback Pheasants for many years now with plenty of fertile eggs I have rarely seen the birds mate although seeing the cocks display to the hens is very common place.
It is quite possible that your male is a little out of synch with the hen. We have found that sometimes the first clutch can be infertile (mainly with the younger birds) but later in the season they will be fertile. If that is the problem then you could try, next year, adding a full spectrum lamp into the birds shelter to see if it will bring the cock into season earlier as they are more light sensitive than the hens. As these birds do lay a good quantity of eggs in a season there is still a good chance you will have time to get quite a few fertile eggs.
I know that a few breeders use AI for cocks who seem to lack libido but the Bornean Crested Firebacks don't usually have this problem.
It may also be helpful to give the birds a bit more space as stress can upset them so that they do not breed although as your hen is laying this may not be what is wrong with your birds.
Question:
Our Golden hen is sitting on eggs at the moment but the cock is still sharing her aviary. Is it safe to leave him with the hen and chicks when they hatch or will he hurt the chicks?
Answer:
I would suggest that taking the cock away would be the safest option although they are not always a problem. We have found that the cock pheasants are sometimes so preoccupied with chasing the hen around that they hardly notice the chicks but as the chicks will also run after the hen they can get stood on. The hen may also struggle to look after her brood well while she has to contend with the males advances. That being said if there is plenty of cover in the pen and the hen is managing to get some peace the chicks may be fine. We have a trio of Silver Pheasants this year who have reared a brood very well. Only one hen sat on eggs but both hens have been looking after the chicks and the cock mainly just stays out of the way.I hope that I have managed to produce some useful information for our viewers throughout our website but if you have any unanswered questions and would like to e-mail me or phone me on 01776 870 244 please feel free to do so and I will try to help if I can.
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