Is this a decent Pheasant Aviary ?

[lydiagirl99]

So me and my family have gotten into the wonderful world of Pheasants ! We love them. Not affectionate by any means but beautiful birds that are nice to have around and love holding them when I can get my hands on the ones used to people, haha. Anyway, they had to stay with the chickens for a while until they got there own aviary, which we just built. Wanted to show some pictures and get your guys' opinions on it. Should I add anything ?

This area will be their winter shelter. Need to add perches inside and put weather proofing stuff on the boards, then we're covering with branches. I've heard they handle winter really well.




And just some extra pictures with my Pheasants in them.

 

[Tony K T]

Very nicely done.I see all males in there,so I'm guessing that is your plan?If you plan on adding hen later on you will need to separate them by pairs ,trios or whatever as the males will fight to death.They will live in harmony until around the end of Dec and then you need to set them up for breeding if that is your plan.
Is there a cover on the top?It is hard to see if there is,if not they will fly off and they may stick around for a while but eventually they will find a greener pasture.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[lydiagirl99]

Yes, there is a top. Trust me, we've had our fair share of birds getting out and trying to catch them again.

This is an older picture but you can see the netting coming down from the tall posts.

And actually I have 8 pheasants in there right now. A pair of Red Goldens, 2 pairs of yellow Goldens, and a pair of young Lady Amherst's. The males right now all seem to get along well, even seem to enjoy one anothers company more than the females, though I do see the Red male display to the yellow males (and females) every once in a while. Wasn't quite sure what that meant. We were planning on putting them into their breeding pens 2 months prior to their specific breeding season and then after the season is over, putting them all back into the pen together. Would that be okay ? Or would it be best to try and get some blinders from our breeder ?

 

[lydiagirl99]

The reason why you see the males so easy is because they're the easiest to see ! Haha. In the last picture in my original post you can see one of my yellow females and one of my red females.

 

[Tony K T]

Don't forget to put them in their breeding pens by the end of Dec or there will be a blood bath.I had no luck when I moved birds around.I use to house all the males together and the hen in another pen come Jan I put them outside and figured the males would over anxious to be with their girls,but that wasn't the case.Resulted in very poor fertility,less then 10%.I set them up for breeding and leave them alone.I do all my prep for breeding with new xmas trees and give them new straw for nesting in Jan.By the time they start their courtship phase they know what the boxes are for and are no afraid of them as they have been in their pen for 2 months before the eggs start to come.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Midnightman14]

One other thing to remember is to keep that water feature as clean as humanly possible. They can get dirty really fast and that's obviously not good for the birds. I would also remove it if you plan to let any of the pheasants breed in said aviaries to prevent chicks from drowning.

 

[007Sean]

Nice pen! Im curious, I don't see any base boards around the bottom of the pen? Depending on how deep the wire is buried and the extent of the apron, preadtors could dig a way into the pen. Without a footing around the enclosure, it's easier for preadtors to damage the wire. Just my thoughts.

 

[lydiagirl99]

I totally agree with you. We need to add base boards around the bottom. My dad gets most of our materials free from work, so we're waiting until some come up.