Help sexing 56 Melanistic Mutant Pheasant chicks? anyone?

[007Sean]

Thank you that helps a lot was thinking about using a younger male but think I will use him again next year to see what happens...mine just finished laying eggs...they start in March and lay up to October...I sometimes think they lay 2 eggs a day the way they pile up lol

Actually, your right....mine have laid 2 eggs in a day. That's also part of the reason or at least my opinion of why they lay "soft eggs". Im sure there are other factors involved but none of my other birds have this delima. I don't have the Blacks anymore...just not that appealing but did get a good price.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Ok, here are some pics of my Black and Green melanistics. The first pic is a day old female Green melanistic chick. The 10th pic is of a day old male Green melanistic chick. The 11th is of another day old female Green melanistic chick. The 3rd pic is of a male Green melanistic, showing the white primary feathers, which will change with iy's next molt. I'll show pics of the Black melanistic hens with the small wattles, they don't show up real well in the pics, when they were excited or being aggressive, the wattles would engorge with blood, just like males do during breeding season. Other pics are of juvenile Green melanistics and the adult parent birds. The pics didn't post as to the way i uploaded them, so there kinda hap hazard. And one double post of a juvenile male Green melanistic. Sorry about that!

OMG The Greens are beautiful... I've got to get some of those birds. What are your thoughts about bantam hens raising pheasant chicks? I would like to keep them with the bantam hens if possible once they age. Plenty of room, roosts, hidey holes, and nesting areas...could it would it work?

 

[007Sean]

Chickens carry disease's that they can tolerate but will kill pheasants and other gamebirds.
There are some peeps that do exactly what your talking about and claim they have no problems. For me, I don't risk the chance of contaminating my birds. Eventhough, the chickens don't have or no longer show signs of disease, their still carriers for life, in many cases of poultry diseases.