My adventures with pheasants came about with an eventful trip to the county fair. There I saw for the first time a golden pheasant. Wow. I wanted one. My son was in agreement and decided that he HAD to have one for 4H.
We researched feeding and basic care then set out to some local breeders. That was fun, one of them even had an emu I got to pet. None of them had golden chicks hatched yet so we ended up with 2 Chinese ring necks a week old and 3 silver pheasants a day old. We started them in the bathroom for a while. You know, to get them used to people, keep them warm, and of course because they're so darn cute.
And so our adventures began.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I am a first time pheasant owner I'm sure I'm not doing everything right. These are just my observations and personal experiences.
Lessons I've Learned So Far From My Adventures
1. Pheasants are completely different from chickens! I can't stress this enough. I was surprised. I mean, a chicks a chick right? Not at all. They act totally different from chickens.
2. They fly really really early. Mine were only a few days old when they discovered they could fly. I'm not talking about the cute flapping and barely getting off the floor my little chickens do. Nope. They launch themselves fully into the air and zip around bouncing off the walls and knocking stuff off the counter.
3. The Chinese ring necks seem more skittish than silvers. Now this may be because they were a little older than the silvers when we got them but they seem to have a hard time grasping the concept that I don't want to eat them.
4. Pheasants like to play hard to get. When picking them up (even though they are picked up and held 3-5 times a day) they panic until they are in my hand. That's when they seem to remember I'm not so bad after all and calm down. I've found that putting my hand towards them slowly and picking them up in slow motion helps them from freaking out. They like being under a cupped hand, not trapping them, just over them. They get excited and start peeping and rubbing their head on your hand. When putting them down they will fall over trying to stay under your hand.
5. Pheasant poop takes a long time to soak off a pheasants rear. I won't even get into this, I'm sure you've all been there. And on that note:
6. Pheasants really like a warm bath. They fall instantly asleep. At least mine did.
7. They make the cutest little peeps and squeaks as they wander around talking to each other but when they want attention, wow. They make this shrill high pitched peep that can be heard anywhere in the house and is guaranteed to wake up even the soundest sleeper. My husband is not a fan.
8. Don't forget to close the lid on the toilet when you let the pheasants out of the cage. Fishing a wet pheasant chick out of the toilet isn't the best thing to have to do first thing in the morning.
9. Double check the outside cage doors after your kids hold the pheasants. While very entertaining for your kids, trying to catch 2 baby ringneck pheasants in amongst 26 chicks is not very fun (did I mention they fly??).
10. They like to peck anything that moves, so don't let them anywhere near your eyes when they're on your shoulder. Ouch.
11. If one gets hurt it's good to separate it from the others. They see blood and will try to eat the hurt chick. Yea, I said eat. Seriously. They're hardcore like that.
12. Sitting with your feet propped up, a good book in your hands and some pheasant chicks in a towel on your chest (peeping softly in their sleep of course) is a nice way to end the day.
13. Maybe not a good idea letting them get used to flying onto your head and shoulder. Trying to untangle pheasant chicks from your hair, having to change a poop stained shirt or heaven forbid re-wash your hair when you're running late to work in the morning isn't the best way to start the day.
14. Yes, pheasants posses the Stink Eye
15. No matter how convincing your kid is when begging for pheasants and swearing to help care for them, Don't Believe Them!
16. Spend time with them when they are chicks. It will be worth every second of it when they get out the first time and you are able to walk right up to them and grab them.
17. If they are in a pen then separate the males from each other as soon as you can tell the difference. The males will fight and doctoring a scalped pheasant isn't something you want to have to deal with.
My Silvers are very photogenic. My Chinese Ringnecks not so much. They don't hold still. It took forever to get some decent pictures of them and I had so many good ones of the Silvers it was hard to pick a few. I had to zoom in on the ringnecks but the silvers came right up and posed.
Ringneck starting to get it's mask and the pretty feathers:
Silver starting to get it's silver feathers:
Ringneck starting to look pretty:
Silvers mask coming in:
Silver being cute:
Well, there you have it, a few things I've learned so far. I'll try to add more to this as I go.
Anyone else have any fun lessons in pheasants for us to laugh at....... I mean learn from
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