Introducing birds to a new flock PICS ADDED!!!

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

We are getting a young yellow golden pair, and I already have a trio. How can I introduce them without a fight?
What disease can pheasants catch from other pheasants?

BTW, my male I have now CAN be aggressive.


Thanks!!

 

[Robo]

[YOU HAVE TO QUARENTINE THEM FOR AT LEAST A WEEK. I cannot stress this enough.

 

[J3172]

Yes,
Meaning a different pen as far away from the rest of your birds as possible for a month. I have found the best way to introduce new birds is to move all the birds to a new pen none have been in. With plenty of places to hide.

 

[95yj]

Are you attempting to mix two males with three females? Cause that probly won't work out so good, especially if the male you already have is aggressive...

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
very true, and it is one month that's commonly done, and if the birds show any signs of illness during that time, the clock resets after they are completely over whatever they had.
Can be a pain in the butt, but it's much better than loosing all your birds due to someone else's disease.
As for the diseases they can spread, well, every single one in the poultry world, T/P, A.I., M.G's, enteritis, cocci,you name it, if you have seen it posted on a thread, they can get it.

I also agree with both on the MIXING new bird deal.

I have kept multiple males in the ruffed species together, but they are usually hatched and raised together and housed in large pens with 7-10 hens (plenty to go around)
with just 3 hens, come breeding time, chances are they are going to fight. If the old male is aggressive, it's VERY LIKELY.

The best way to attempt it, is like J3172 said, all in a totally different pen. This way the old male is no longer the dominate pen bird, and will not be as aggressive to the new comer. Also, if there is a big age difference in the two, they younger one is going to loose out.

With all pheasant species though, the general rule is one male - breeding group per pen.
With these, it is always very important to have new pens, BEFORE you get new birds, because most often, you arent going to be successful in mixing new males together.
At this time, if you dont have a new open pen for them, you're in trouble, cause they can kill each other in a matter of minutes.
For the most part also, the ruffed species are the only ones I have ever had luck mixing males with. I say this because I know you are looking into the impeyans and tragopans too. THESE WILL NEVER MIX WITH OTHER MALES. They'll just flat out kill each other before they stop, so keep that in mind before you get though high end rarer birds.

Good luck

 

[Robo]

I would divide the pen.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep, if it's big enough, thats always a quick option too

 

[Robo]

I keep mine in pairs or trios. The trios get a 5x5 and the pairs get a 4x4 cage.

 

[J3172]

As far as mixing male ruffed pheasants go, I have each pair by itself for the spring. First its so I know where each chick comes from and can make unrelated pairs. Second I don't have to worry about males fighting. Now come end of summer early fall I try to condense as many cages as I can, that way it leaves me less work in the winter, and I don't have any problems with fighting males then.

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Here are some pics!!

Meet Laffy Taffy, one of the males we bought tonight!!

How does he look?