Any advise on Reeves Pheasents?

[redhotchick]

I just bought a pair of Pheonix chickens & seen these Reeves Pheasents.I want some bad! I build metal building for a living & will build a huge carport then enclose it with a proper wire fencing for walls. Any advise from someone who has or breeds them? I know the like cover. THANX for any help. I live in Fort Worth TEXAS so it get hot here.Can also get down cold in the winter,but does not stay that way long. Can they be housed with other birds???????????????????????????????????????????

 

[Tony K T]

They have to be in a covered pen as they will fly off.They can not to kept with or near chickens as they will catch diseases from them.It's best to have 1 male and 3 or 4 hens as the male is real aggressive while breeding.They can handle cold weather,but they do need a place where they can get out of drafts,preferably up high as they love to roost.Plenty of cover like shrubs branches leaning wood will help keep them calm.They need a gamebird feed,layer pellets and corn will not cut it.They love all fruits and veggies,wild bird seed,mealworms,crickets and should have a grit or oyster shells at all times.They do good in a 6x12 pen,but if you can go bigger it's always best for all pheasant species.
If you like the reeves,just wiat until you see the other species.
In N.H.,Tony

 

[rittert3]

Reeves are ussually a bit pricey and the males can be very human agressive. If you are wanting to get into ornamental pheasant and havn't ever had any I would recomend trying Goldens or Lady Amherst first and see how you do. Also I would never mix male reeves in the same pen with anything but reeves hens. I do agree that they are a sight to behold, just sharing my knowledge of the species.

 

[Tony K T]

Pricey?They get 50.00-75.00 per pair around here for breeders.What do they get in your area?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[rittert3]

My pricey tony, lol. Ruffed bring $50-$90 a pair and Reeves bring from $75 or 80 upto about $125-130 a pair. Nothing like those more rare species but still pretty rich for my price range.

 

[Tony K T]

I hope those are breeder prices not young birds.What breeds do you raise Ritter?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[rittert3]

None, just a hard reader and I go to auctions and constantly do market research. lol, I know I'm weird. The higher end reeves are young but grown breeder sold in pairs BTW, but single cocks in good condition bring $40 easy.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Like Tony said, they are great fliers. When I got my two pairs ages ago I had a tiny hole at the top of the netting in the corner and the first pair busted out of the box. The male flew right through the hole and the hen followed him. They flew for a good half mile before dissapearing into the woods. A few months later the neighbor was bragging about a 'weird ringneck' cock he shot, sure enough it was the reeves, I was ticked.
In my experience with them, the males are kinda aggressive, Ive had one male spur me and it went right through my chore boots. They are flighty and need lots of cover. What I used to do is get a bag of old leaves (aspen/maple type) and mix in feeder bugs like crickets and mealworms with lots of fruit/veggies then dump it all in the pen, they loved scratching through it and spent hours just foraging through it. I also had lots of branches/roosts through the pens. My pen I had them in for a pair was 10 x 20, they did fine but could have used more hens and more room.

 

[Chinchilla2]

Here is what I remember from the foursome I had. The male can and will become territorial, especially when breeding. I would not keep them with any other type of game bird and maintain strict biosecurity measures if you have chickens on hand.

You have to have a really tight pen, including roof for these. If they can get away, they will. Even wing clipping is not a guarantee with these since they will hop from branch to branch, roost to roost and find that one hole in the roof cover and head out.

Branches and roosts are their best friends. Same with piles of leaves that have "treasures" in them like flyingmonkey suggests.

Do NOT wear white shoes in the coop (even dirty white shoes) when breeding. The male considers anything with white shoes to be competition for the hens and will do his absolute darnedest to chase, maim, mutilate, and otherwise chase it off. I never wore white or light ecru/khaki pants out there after discovering the shoe thing for fear that would rile him up even more.

A good price for a breeding pair of youngsters would be around $75 to $100. A trio may run as high as $150 but some breeders will cut you a deal on extra hens providing you get a pair to start with.

 

[rittert3]

Around here hens of any pheasant species cost 3/4 of the ave. price of a breeding pair.