Breeding Phesants to free range???

[miss hen]

Miss hen, it is so nice that you are a considerate hunter. I wish everyone was that way. Were i live, if it stands still long enough some dough dough is going to try and put a hole in it...... Im afraid to stand too long.... Lol

Honestly most hunters I know in the US or Canada are ethical and care more about nature, conservation, habitat loss and just being in the woods to watch nature. Meat is a bonus and trophies are luck. Jerks like they have in your area are the people that make hunters look bad and the kind of people true hunters do not like or respect but I know they are around here too just fewer I guess because it isnt as common up here as it is in certain states. Imagine someone shooting a bird they clearly knew wasnt in natural habitat, RUDE! Any wild animal even near my property line gets considered a resident rather than freezer meat. I told you I get attached.

 

[birdboy15]

Just curious, do any of you realize that pheasants are not native to North America or Europe. It's not natural for them to be here and they will never survive in our countries as well as they would in there own.

 

[chickenzoo]

Tony.....if you remember...... I said my Pheasants are kept in pens. When i pinion any of them they are kept in pens. I pinion to keep the possibility of any escapees to a minimum. i am around my birds all.day...if one gets out and can't fly off.... I can catch him easier.Only my cranes, swan and Egyptian geese are freerange and they don't worry about hawks and my livestock guardians and emu take care of anything else.

 

[Tony K T]

Tony.....if you remember...... I said my Pheasants are kept in pens. When i pinion any of them they are kept in pens. I pinion to keep the possibility of any escapees to a minimum. i am around my birds all.day...if one gets out and can't fly off.... I can catch him easier.Only my cranes, swan and Egyptian geese are freerange and they don't worry about hawks and my livestock guardians and emu take care of anything else.

It was not directed at any one perso,I was just making a point.Can you post pics of your cranes?My friend Peter Nardi in Ma raises 3 species and I find them fascinasting.He has east crowned,west crowned,and desimosells.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[annabell254]

It is very interesting to read all the different views people have about their birds!

I can not agree with statements about keeping the birds wild for conservation reasons. I have heard this talked about so many times. Can anyone give me an example when they have bred and released their endangered pheasants back into the wild in their native country for conservation? I think no one has. So this argument is pointless as its clear this will not happen. This type of work is best left to large zoos and conservation groups.

My golden pheasants still free range fine with my chickens and ringneck doves. The predator issue is not unique to the pheasants.....if you have predator problems in your area then you should not let the birds out......same as your chickens.

Pheasants can and do survive very well in the wild. In my native UK with have a large wild population of Golden Pheasants that established themselves form escapes. Same as some parrot species. In the UK there are thousands of ring neck parrots now living and breeding in the wild.

Keeping pheasants in captivity and getting them tame and comfortable around humans will in no way get rid of their natural instincts. Just look at feral cats , wild pigs and wild dog in some areas of the world. Just try to tame one of them! Animals will quickly revert back to the wild state. Even take a chicken egg and place it in the nest of a wild jungle fowl. The chick will grow up and behave the same as the wild bird, and if a human were to go near it, it would flee.

People keep many endangered species as pets: macaw parrots, gouldian finches, and even the humble hamster. In fact the hamster is though near total extinction in the wild, but all these animals have very healthy populations in captivity. The reason none are released back into the wild is there is no longer the correct habitat or WILD left the release them.

If people preserve the wild habitat or ecosystem of a particular species then that animal will reproduce and grow in number in the wild. That is what needs to be done, not breeding captive animals......which will never have the opportunity to go back to the wild, where their home is degraded or destroyed, or pressure from hunters and poaches is hight. Unless we can address these problems then the rare animals have no future in the wild.

Beautifully said! thanks!

 

[miss hen]

Just curious, do any of you realize that pheasants are not native to North America or Europe. It's not natural for them to be here and they will never survive in our countries as well as they would in there own.

Of course we all know that (at least I think we do

). It is just a case of people hoping that because their pheasants are in captivity that they could be trained to like you and come back for a meal and a roost at night like a chicken. As far as I have learned this is a rare occurance and you need to be prepared to possibly lose a bird to flight or predator and it is likely not going to survive if it doesnt come home. I personally will not let mine free range because they dont stand a chance off my property but that doesnt mean someone else may not have luck.

 

[annabell254]

I hate to say it on here for risk of jinxing myself but we have very few preditor problem and thoughs are mainly from wild dogs...which my dogs take care of most of the time...we have not had a single loss to hawks or owls in 20 years...dont know why as I see them all the time, we even had a great horned owl sit outside of the coop last year ever morning and evening??? but they seem more interested in the over abundance of rabbits that we have...I see at least 5 every time I go out the door! foxes, racoons, and cyoties pose bigger problems for us but still are minimal...and the property fence will be even more help to us once it is up...any bird that does fly off or wanders off to far will not be bred...Only the birds that stay cloest and can be put up at night will be bred....with each generation I will up my expectations and continue to only breed the birds who stay closest...I expect in 4-5 generation to have most of the babies staying close and in 10 generations to be at a point where I can concentrait on other qualities of the birds...I do plan on this being a hobby for many many years to come, and yes loss is expected, and it will take alot of time to get my first few generations going, but all I have in life is time....and dreams

 

[chickenzoo]

It was not directed at any one perso,I was just making a point.Can you post pics of your cranes?My friend Peter Nardi in Ma raises 3 species and I find them fascinasting.He has east crowned,west crowned,and desimosells. In N.H.,Tony.

I just love them....they are so funny to watch and are always doing something amusing.....like two spoiled bored children...lol They are always doing something... I had made a floating feeder for my swans until they used it as a amusement ride and sunk it....... They are very curious and notice anything different. They love throwing sticks and moss in the air and them jumping on it as they dance in a circle.. Beautiful to watch. I would really love to get more cranes.... They are amazing even thou you can't pet them etc... They will come up to me to see what Im doing. I have many pics of them over in ornamentals. I've raised these from three months old.

 

[annabell254]

They are stunning!

 

[greymane]

With all of the talk about free-ranging, I thought I would share this. Many weeks back, my son and I were transferring some pheasants from one pen to another. One of the male Lady Amhersts got loose and made a break for the woods. I figured he was done. We did see him once or twice in the next couple of days and then nothing. I am sure this is well over a month ago. Four days ago, he showed up strutting his stuff in front of the pens where my Lady Amherst pairs are located. Each time I went near, he ran for the woods. Yesterday, I fed the animals and went in for my shower before work. I came out to leave and (we let our Silkies roam the yard during the day), he was milling about the yard with the chickens. Last night, I got home just before dark, and he was in the coop with the chickens! That made for an easy capture, so he is once again in the pens. He was looking pretty rough, but I am just very surprised that he lived that long in the wild!