Egg question

[crittersitter]

My friends male chinese golden pheasant died one month ago and his female companion is now sitting on 8 eggs. Is there any chance these are a fertilized eggs? These belong to a friend of mine and I don't know anything about pheasants. Should the eggs be taken away? Thank you!

 

[pheasantfreak]

you could candle them to see

 

[SlowMoneyFarm]

From what I've seen sperm can be viable for 11-42 days according to a Pheasants Forever site. Candling is difficult at best and information more so. :-/ When to give up is a difficult bit of information. I've got most of the eggs set last month still doing nothing, but 2 out of 12 hatching (and 1 of those died) makes it so not good and information is tough to get what to change. Good luck with yours.

 

[crittersitter]

Thank you. It is difficult to find information on pheasants. Mostly we feel sorry for her because she lost her mate and obviously wants to be a mama now. She is crazy protective of her nest and quite intimidating when you approach her. I guess we will just nature takes its course and for her sake I do hope she gets to be a mama. Thanks for the info.

 

[Tony K T]

Of course they are fertile.The male breeds the female in Feb-Mar and then they very rarely see each other.I have heard that when they breed,she is fertile for the season.I am not sure if it's true,but you very rarely see a female and male together in the wild.
In N.H.,Tony.