Help Identifying and sexing

[Jack Scarecrow]

Yes but by looks you can tell obvious signs of mixing so it's a start. And if the breeder keeps what looks to be a golden male together with what looks like amherts hens for example.
I know that even if they look pure they might not be pure. But if the ladys got red in the breasts or the goldens got white capes then a DNA test is not needed to tell they are mutts.
Do you know any place to DNA test pheasants for purity btw?

 

[pheasantfreak]

Well here are some more pictures. The Amherst’s look ok to me but without dna unfortunately I doubt I will ever know. The breeder mentioned he had a ton of extra males so I don’t know if he was just trying to ditch a few hoping to slip a fast one by or what his deal was. Here is some pictures with the Amherst and then one with an Amherst and golden obvious color difference.

 

[pheasantfreak]

Here’s the photos

 

[007Sean]

Here’s the photos

Ok, here's my take on these birds. I don't think either of them are 'pure'.... although, lighting, and sharpness of the pics may be playing a part in my judgement.
They are Goldens and Lady Amherst but not pure....which are extremely hard to find nowdays.
I've circled the points of interest in the photos and explain my thinking/ reasoning for my judgement.

The bird infront is Amherst, the tail feathers are characteristic of a juvenile male Lady Amherst. The bird in the back appears to be an Amherst but is too out of focus to tell whether it is male or female.

At first glance, this bird appears to be a hen but after enlarging the pic and examining the head and legs, I think it is also a juvenile male Anherst. It appears to have wattles or 'tear drop' also the cape feathers are just beginning to show. If it were a hen, then there would be rust colored crest feathers, I don't see that in the pic. The legs are an 'olive' color in this pic which leads me to think this bird isn't pure. Pure Amherst will have
blueish color legs.

Yes, the one on the left is a Golden, the one on the right, Amherst but again, leg color makes me think they are not pure birds. The Goldens legs have too much of an orange/grayish appearance, should be a brighter yellow.
The Amherst has olive colored legs not blueish in appearance.

 

[Jack Scarecrow]

I also agree the amhersts are not pure but will probably look kinda correct as adults. The goldens does look fine to me. Sure the legs aren't bright yellow but as far as i know there are lines that have a bit duller tone (which probably also means not entirely pure). But i also get the feeling the breeder might have just ''dumped'' some males on you hoping you wouldn't notice. As so far all pictures you have shown apears to be males even if the tail on the 2nd/3rd one seems more femaleish. I also bought 2 pairs and think i might have gotten 3 males by accident so mistakes do happen but the goldens were very obvious and even the wrong species so i really think this breeder is just plain out scamming you. Was the pictures of the amhersts all 3 birds or just 2 of them? (the one in the back at first pic was too blurry to see).

 

[007Sean]

Yes but by looks you can tell obvious signs of mixing so it's a start. And if the breeder keeps what looks to be a golden male together with what looks like amherts hens for example.
I know that even if they look pure they might not be pure. But if the ladys got red in the breasts or the goldens got white capes then a DNA test is not needed to tell they are mutts.
Do you know any place to DNA test pheasants for purity btw?

I don't know of any specific lab for testing genetic speciation. Most only test for sex, possible diseases and other nutritional deficiencies. That having been said, you would need to send blood samples from 'pure' Goldens and 'pure' Amherst to be tested first. This would be the reference samples or the control samples. Then samples from the bird 'in question' could be sent for analysis to determine the amount of hybridization....that is the simple answer to a very complex question. The cost of such testing would be out of the realm of most 'backyard' breeders....that's why you have so many differences of opinions when going by phenotype or morphological differences for a guideline in determining whether or not a bird is pure or a mutt.

Yes, there are birds that are obviously crosses but the one's that aren't obvious, there is no other way to know except through testing.