Golden Pheasant Housing Questions

[Jack Scarecrow]

Just received a gift of 2 pairs of Golden Pheasant younglings so need to start getting onto the housing quite quickly. So far i got an old dog pen i was going to use. Will be 6*3 meters and with extra netting to stop rodents/martens. And with planks at the bottom so they can't see out while on the ground.
How would they like their house to be? Are they fine with a house with a small opening like chickens or do they want it to be more an open wind cover with just covered sides and roof? Or perhaps with 1/2 of the front also covered so they can go in and be protected from all sides?
Roof over half or the entire aviary? Got quite long and cold winters where i live with plenty of snow.
Will it be fine with the 2 pairs together or should the extra male live elsewhere? All the time or just during breeding? They were only sold in pairs and still quite young so my husband bought 2 pairs in case any is ''lost''.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Males generally fight, especially in breeding season. In a large space they may be okay, but It really depends on the individual birds.

 

[Jack Scarecrow]

Okay thanks. Guess i will let them stay together but keep an eye on them during next spring to see if they are Ok with each other or fight.

 

[Quailobsessed]

They probably won't fight much while they're young.

 

[Jack Scarecrow]

Ye i'll have to wait and see for that. Seen others keep goldens mixed with more males and females without problem.
But really should get started on their housing. Need to know about what kind of house/wind cover they need as i will probably have to put that in before i put the dog pen together (wont fit tru the door).
So good size and shape for it. All the way up to the roof with a branch high for them to roost on? Or a lower cover is fine too like 120cm?

 

[muddy75]

Just received a gift of 2 pairs of Golden Pheasant younglings so need to start getting onto the housing quite quickly. So far i got an old dog pen i was going to use. Will be 6*3 meters and with extra netting to stop rodents/martens. And with planks at the bottom so they can't see out while on the ground.
How would they like their house to be? Are they fine with a house with a small opening like chickens or do they want it to be more an open wind cover with just covered sides and roof? Or perhaps with 1/2 of the front also covered so they can go in and be protected from all sides?
Roof over half or the entire aviary? Got quite long and cold winters where i live with plenty of snow.
Will it be fine with the 2 pairs together or should the extra male live elsewhere? All the time or just during breeding? They were only sold in pairs and still quite young so my husband bought 2 pairs in case any is ''lost''.

if they are young and basically grow up together, given enough room, fighting may not become an issue......but you will want a means of separation just in case once breeding season arrives. I ended up with a single pair of ringneck pheasant and luckily my cockbird is a true gentleman and did not overbreed her.
While they do need shelter available in the aviary, pheasants in general roost outside even in inclement weather. a partially covered roof is nice but just ensure that it is strong enough to bear the load of any snows. another big concern with aviary construction is to ensure it is escape proof and predator proof especially if you don’t plan on keeping wings clipped. I recommend double latched entry doors and strong roof covering whether netting or wire. electrifying the perimeter is also very effective for deterring predators.

 

[Jack Scarecrow]

Yes I can always house the extra male elsewhere if things go bad. Always good to have ''spares''.
Probably will need some kind of wind cover tho as only a roof dont seem enough. Can get quite windy sometimes and wont be good if it blows in rain/snow on the birds and they have nowhere to get cover from it. So will build something.
Roof will be as sturdy as can be and slanted to keep snow off.
Concider doing a 2nd door room to prevent escapes or hang some cloth strips at the door to walk tru. Heard that can be good enough to prevent them from taking a shot at flying out?
Predators i do have a problem with. But the dog pen is strong enough to keep the fox, lynx and badgers out and the extra netting should keep the smaller ones out. Will also dig down some net or bend out a bit to prevent predators digging in.
Will be clipping wings if they act very stressed and crash around the avairy.

 

[Jack Scarecrow]

As we're not sure if we will get the pheasant aviary ready this autumn and i dont want them to live in a small cage all winter either we're gonna try make the chicken run pheasant friendly and they will live there temporary.
I know keeping chickens and pheasants together isn't good and it will only be until i get their own aviary fixed up.
The (11) chickens are this years younglings and all machine hatched with no contact with any adults so hopefully doesn't carry anything bad.

Putting in plenty of cover and will tie grass on the lower part all around the chicken run so the pheasants can't see out or get taken from the outside.
It's also hawk season with hawk younglings often hopping around or on top of the run so should i maybe clip the wings of the pheasants so they wont fly up to the top or crash into the sides?
Dont want the hawk to manage to grab them.
Or will the pheasants be smart enough to take cover low bellow?
I brought up a small group of wild ringnecks in the past and they went crashing into the sides and top all the time when spooked but the goldens seem alot calmer overall.

Gonna test not having any roosts outside in the run to see if the pheasants will enter the chicken coop at night so i can lock them in for safety. But else i'll give them a roost outside and put something to cover the roof above it. (the run currently only has netting and no solid roof).

 

[007Sean]

Clipping the wings of any gamebird is a bad idea! Being able to fly is their best defense against a predator attack. Just make sure the netting on top has enough 'slack' to give a little when they flush up into the netting.