blinders on my pheasants.

[flinthillwolf]

This spring, when breeding starts, should I remove the blinders off of my cocks? I have 18 pheasants in a averary thats varies in size. Part of it is 25x 100 and some of it is 35 by 50. One part is 50x 50 with a large coop with roost if they wanted to use it. The whole area is covered with averary netting. Most of the area is grass, and weeds, clover, and wild flowers. All 18 have have on blinders because I raised them and they became very canible . I intend to thin out the cocks, because I think I have 12 and only 6 hens. I wonder if the cocks will breed with the blinders on. They stopped picking on one another once I put the blinders on them at 6 weeks old. They are around 13 weeks old and just now really feathering out to show their sex. I have them on Game bird feed, plus oats, sunflower seed, and whole corn. I also give them lettuce, and meal worms. Hope to get eggs in the spring to set under my hens if I have any sitting. Your advice ?

 

[muddy75]

i don’t have experience with blinders but maybe @007Sean can help with that. i would suggest that by spring, you get down to a maximum of 2 males for the six and be prepared to separate or remove 1 of the males if any aggression occurs. personally I am too far south for mine to brood so that is dependent on your location in addition to individual birds and setup. my hens will sometimes lay inside the coop and the males will occasionally use it for daytime nap but it really doesn’t get much use overall. i have incubated a few eggs each year with success but i have to remove any extra males by spring or I encounter problems.

 

[007Sean]

Personally, I don't like blinders! Have never used them. They are forced through the septum and when removing can cause even greater damage to the septum and nares.

Having enough pens, I seperate my birds into 1cockbird per 5 to 6 hens. My pens on average are 350 to 425 sq.ft. each pen. My 'True pheasants' rarely use the sheltered part of the pen, which is 12' deep and 6' wide by 9' high at the front decreasing to 7' high at the rear of the sheltered area on all the pens. All my Ruffed pheasants use the sheltered area to roost or just get out of the weather. Some of my other ornamentals will use the sheltered areas too! ....the Elliots, Coppers, and Reeves use the sheltered area.

Come breeding season, you better have the cock birds seperated or a blood bath will occur.
As far as being able to breed with the blinders on...I have no experince with them, maybe someone who does will chime in and give their experience with using blinders/peepers.

As far as feed requirements, a balanced and complete gamebird ration of 24% protein is all that is needed. If you want to feed treats, ie; sunflower seeds, meal worms, peanuts(unsalted), grapes etc...it should only be around 10% of their total dietary intake. During extreme cold weather I feed a handful of scratch grains to help them keep their core temperature up during the night.

HTH

 

[flinthillwolf]

The blinders I used can be removed with nail clippers, with no pain. The bar on the end, will be cut off, and the smooth rod will slide out the other side. It was really necessary for me to do this because they had each other picked raw on their backs, and had their tail feathers pulled out. now, their feathering out nice. I realize I will have to thin out the cocks, since I only ended up with 6 hens. Mine are ringneck. I just wondered if the male will breed with the blinder on, or should I remove them.