Entering Unknown Territory, couple of questions

[lockedhearts]

I am switching gears with my flocks. I have cut way back. Hubby mentioned Pheasants last year and now that I have some space I am considering taking the plunge. So, I know nothing about them.
I have a pen that is 12 x 12 and about 6 foot tall, would this be sufficient housing? What type of shelter do they need? I assume Game Bird Feed is appropriate.
How hard are they to hatch? Any other "must" knows to get started.

My pens are totally fenced, even on top.

 

[Riffecreek]

If the pen has had chickens in it, the first thing I would do is lime it with the regular garden lime and till it in! Other than that, the pen is plenty good enough to house pheasants.
Not sure about your weather in the winter, but most will do good with anything to knock off the wind/rain/snow and a roost to get them off the freezing ground in the winter.

Game bird feed is what I use..

They are more of a challenge to hatch than chickens, but not too bad. The newer LG incubators are junk when it comes to hatching pheasants cause they can't handle big temp swings. Keep steady heat (mine sets dead on 100 deg), 50-60% humidity (I never check mine, just keep water in the sportsman's water container) and bump the humidity up the last 3 days to about 70-80% ( I just mist a couple of the paper egg flats I use to set eggs in) and they pop out when their time comes.

Don't house them with other types of game birds...
Don't mix different ages of chicks,
Don't pen them together until they all are full grown.. unless they are raised together
Don't try to keep a bunch of males.. That pen should be big enough for 1 roo and and a few hens (3-5 maybe more) during breeding season..

Thats about all I can think of, all the above is just my opinion and may be totally wrong.. but it works for me!

 

[lockedhearts]

It has had chickens in it, I keep lime in the barn as I use it in my Horse Stalls. We plan to completely cover the tops of our pens before winter comes again, we are in GA and the last couple of winters we have had more cold and snow.

What about laying? Nest Boxes of some sort, on the ground? Also, I know nothing of colors, other than RingNeck, is there a good site to check out for colors of Pheasant?

I have a Hova Bator now, but we are building a small cabinet, will be similar to the "Big Boys" just on a smaller scale, guts will be from GQF, so expect it to be just as good as the larger ones.

 

[Riffecreek]

Google would be the best place to start looking at the colors of them.. I'm sure there is some sites out there that has it, but I don't know any right off hand.

Mine lay on the ground (wire).. Ga, weather shouldn't be much of a problem in the winter as long as they have something to get under out of the the snow and rain with a roost.. They will need shade in the summer too! The hova bator will hatch them, but I've had better luck with the gqf style incubators. Their mulit-turn thermostats are real good about holding a steady temp! I also like wiring a wafer thermostat up backwards in the wiring from the thermostat to the heat elements and set it to kick the heat off at 102 deg in case of a thermostat failure. this keeps your eggs from being cooked and the wafers are dirt cheap!

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
I have an extra wafer, always keep a new one on hand. I will also have to re-enforce the wire on my pen, I just thought about it and it is the larger Chicken Wire, will probably put hardware cloth on bottom and smaller chicken wire on top. Luckily we are pretty predator free, even the loose dogs do not come in our yard.

 

[Tony K T]

Check out www.gbwf.org.You will find all info you need there along with colored pics of breeds.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
Thanks you!

 

[chickenzoo]

I would suggest trying Red or Yellow Goldens, or perhaps Lady A's first. They are pretty easy as far as pheasants go and good tempered mostly, aswell as being affordable. Make sure they can not dig out around the sides of the pen, pheasants love to dig and wallow in the dirt. They can easily wallow a hole right under a board.

If you want plants in the pen, make sure to plant them and let them grow ahead of time, as pheasants will eat the heck out of plants.

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
What type of plants are okay for them? I never had plant with the chickens, or at least not for very long

I guess we should do concrete around this pen like we did around the big coop.

What about marketing them? I know I can sell the eggs, but what about extras, cause you know I will be hatching eggs from them