I have a young male pheasent / what did Pheasmo get for Christmas????????????

[oesdog]

Hi

Thought someone on here might be able to help me. My usual experience with Pheasent is hanging and processing. However last night a neighbour brought us a young male Pheasent he found on his drive. It appears to have a broken foot.

I put it in the cat crate in the shed overnight so it was quiet. Thing is he is really too young and small for meat and the foot makes him unviable for release.

I checked on the fellow this morning and was happy to see he has survived the night. - Not knowing what to feed him I left some chicken feed and some water. He wore more of it than he ate.

This morning I took him up to the Greenhouse as it is the brightest area I have that is "safe" in that he can't get away! He is a feisty little man so I guess that is possitive. I rolled him up in a warm old towel and cuddled him a bit as he was very stressed. then laid him on his back"old chicken trick" and he relaxed and started to go to sleep! Actually thought he had died at one point!
I am working on the principle that he is only a wild chicken?

I have never before splinted a foot - the foot was curved over. I have managed to get it into a more "normal" position but I don't think it will heal right at all. Anyhow the wee man is not my friend at all today. I used the hard plastic lid from an Ice-cream tub cut down into a foot shape and some soft foam I had from a packing cartan. I made a foot shaped splint - Which he pulled off the first time round but now it is taped on with medical tape so its quite firm around to offending limb but not tight. Now he is back in the cat box in the shed where it is dark and quiet.

Checked a few moments ago and he is tollerating it the splint. Anyhow if anyone can advise it would be good. - I don't think he will be a viable candidate for release but here is the honest bit. - I can't keep him so the thought was feed him up and give him a really good few weeks then he would become an addition to the christmas menu. - That is the honest thing about this because he will only be Fox food the way he is and truth is I am not that good at "fixing" legs good enough for release. So its a case of comfortable and safe and fed and warm and then - Stuffing!!

Oes

 

[oesdog]

I thought someone over here might have known something more about Pheasents than me and rush to my aid?
Ohhh well - I am just treating him as a "wild chicken"!
Not even sure what to feed him so he got Porridge and mashed up scrambled chicken egg with yogurt this morning and some chicken feed. He was hissing a good one when I offered him the food! As I said Feisty little darling. He decided he would attack the fork I was scrapping the food out with. It was funny because he stopped hissing and it was like he was thinking well actually that tastes quite nice? - The foot is strapped and he is tollerating the splint. I am thinking he has severed the ligament - there is no movement in the foot at all and it is just curled over without the splinting. He simply won't survive in the wild poor thing.

I call him Phessmoo! I kind of like him. He has lovely feathers and is a very pretty chap. Sad about the foot though it would have been nice to have had a fairytail ending and release for him but it isn't viable - he is in better form even if he is a bad tempered sxxxxxd

I guess culling him eventually will be much the same as Chicken meat birds. - At least he is safe and warm and will have a good few weeks. I am going to take him up the greenhouse when its warm and let him hobble about and sit a bit in the sun.

I have no issues with processing as I have done it loads of times before. DH will have to do the dead. It is a good introduction to Meat birds for me. The wee man doesn't have a future in the wild anyhow and release would be very cruel as he could not defend himself, fly or find food. Our chicken Bertha had a similar injury a while ago but hers got better enough to be a usable foot, she still hobbles but then she is domestic and he is wild. She had at least some movement to work with but he has none.

Oes - thanks for listening you guys that visited this thread!

 

[Lophura]

Are there any avian vets or wildlife rehabs in your location? Those would be your best bet.

Dan

 

[oesdog]

If I wanted to pay big vet fees it certainly would not be on a pheasent that the local butcher could give me for a fraction of the price!

Thanks but sence and viability have to come into play IT IS A MEAT BIRD NOT A PET!

Oes

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I have never brought a bird with a broken leg to the vet unless there is huge trauma associated with it and its a beloved pet. Unless there is a bone poking out thru the skin I wouldnt worry about it and just leave him be, it will be healed in about 3 weeks time and usually the birds are smart enough to hold their broken bone in a way that it grows together straight and proper unless they are stressed that is.
Dont try and splint it, in birds that just seems to cause more stress, swelling and over all trouble more then anything.

 

[chickenzoo]

If he tolerates the splint then leave it...since it keeps him from knuckling over. I have Ringnecks as pets...they tame down fairly nicely...and they are quite enjoyable to watch.. But i understand not everyone wants one as a pet.

 

[drowe005]

I have Ringnecks as pets...they tame down fairly nicely...and they are quite enjoyable to watch.. But i understand not everyone wants one as a pet.

In a sense I guess you could say I have a trio as pets too. I sell their eggs, but I wouldn't eat any of the three. I enjoy watching em too. Real tame birds too

 

[oesdog]

I quite like this fellow he is lovely but feisty. He still spits at me loads. The splint is a good help for him because as you say he isn;t knuckling over. I don;t see him using it any though. I am worried because I can;t get him to eat any. I don't think he would recognise chicken feed as food. I don;t want him to slowely starve to death that would be awful and one of the things I was trying to avoid for him - in that release would not be a viable option if he could not defend or feed himself. I really can;t have him as a pet - I don;t have any place to put him. I just want him to have a good life that is worth something - not full of pain and suffering. I don;t know if I should just have put him down straight away and not even tried. I guess I thought if he had a good few weeks and fattened up and even if the foot didn;t heal and he ended up a meat candidate - at least his life would have been meaningful . I guess that is the mindset of farming. He is in the greenhouse at the moment but still confined to the cat cage. Mainly because confinement means he isn;t running about stressed out and injuring the foot more. I was hoping putting him into the light might engourage feeding - as he has been int he shed for a few days - figured best in the dark like a chicken to rest up. Now I just worry about the eating as if he doesn;t start eating soon he will die anyhow? - Sounds daft I guess like farming trying to get a baby lamb to suckle and survive and yet you know its going to chops in 5 months! Mad but you get the drift. I am getting attached to him which isn;t goign to help me any. I admit to going out with a warm old towel and scooping him up in it like an injured child and the I turn him on his back and rock him to sleep! If I put the edge of the towl over his head he just koncks out and I can lay him on the ground sleeping while I clean the cat cage out! Then when I lift him and he wakes up he starts spitting at me in disgust cause I tricked him!

Oes - what can I feed him - please help me figure this? - I don;t want him to die. - OMG that is terrible think MEAT BIRD GIRL!!!!!! Slap! Oh darn you know what I mean!

 

[chickenzoo]

Lol....mine eat chicken layer...wild bird seed..bits of dog food....bread....some green veggies....mealworms.....scramble egg....I just lost my five year old ringneck hen. Her name was Socks...after my dalmation tore off her toes on one foot as a chick through the wire and I had to make a sock bandage. She was very friendly...a little begger and didn't mind a pet or being held....she came when I called her.

 

[oesdog]

He still didn;t eat anything - I guess I will try live mealworm tomorrow.

Oes