Can my silkie hen raise pheasant chicks?

[Sunblast]

i recently was given some pheasant eggs that were about to hatch (there were crack marks on the 5 eggs, and i could hear the babies cheeping) so I put them under my broody silkie hen to hatch.

This morning, all 5 eggs had hatched, and I now have 5 baby ringneck pheasants. They all seem to be happy, healthy, and moving around.

My question is, can the silkie hen raise the pheasant chicks?
They are in a smaller, enclosed draft free pen with a roof and the hen is setting on them, keeping them warm. They are not "listening" to her, but I see them looking for their own food, and finding the water. I have provided the pheasants with turkey starter mixed with gamebird starter and have a separate feeder for the hen.

I've never raised pheasants, but in my chicken raising experience as long as they have warmth, food, and water they will do ok. So i'm curious if even if the hen doesn't "feed" the pheasants, if she's keeping them warm and they are finding food and water by themselves will they be ok?

I do have a heat light I can set up if I feel this situation won't work, but so far it seems to be ok.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tony K T]

Yes they can raise them,but ringnecks chicks tend to wander off and sometimes don't respond to mothers calls.Make sure they are in apen with no holes so they can't take off.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Sunblast]

Thank you Tony for the response.

I am keeping an eye on them, and they seem to be doing ok. They wander around and peak at things, eating and testing the grass and dirt like chicken chicks do. Then when they seem cold or tired they go under the hen.

I am debating on hand raising one to try tame it....

I am hoping that the pheasant chicks will be semi tame and think they are chickens with the hen raising them, but I'm not sure if that is the case...

 

[Oisin]

Tony do u need to give the pheasant chicks any special medical treatment of u are raising them with a chicken because from what I've read they do carry diease's harmful to game birds I have a Silkie hatching 10 white crested kalij pheasant eggs so do they need any treatment to stay alive? Also I've kalij and Silkie pheasant eggs in the incubator due next week and can they both be raised together as chicks and if so do they need any medical treatment as well also do they need special feed like medicated thanks

Oisin

 

[Tony K T]

I don't give my chicks medicated feed.They don't get medicated feed until they are on pellets.If you raise the pheasant chicks with the silkie hen I think you would be better to have them on wire.I give all chicks vitamins and electrolytes in their water supply once a week.Brooders are also cleaned once a week and older chicks moved to bigger brooders with perches.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Midnightman14]

I personally always feed medicated chick starter as it helps keep mortality down even when they are raised on wire. Hand taming ringnecks is hard because they are by nature pretty wild birds. Here and there you'll get one that is calm but as a whole they're pretty jumpy. Keeping them with the hen should work but keep them confined to a place where the chicks can't get through any wire or holes. As stated earlier they are pretty bad about wandering off and getting lost