New Goldens - Couple Questions

[Humhill]

I had a friend give me her pair of Red Golden Pheasants and I have a few questions for ya'll experts.

Deworming - I know about worming for chickens. What about the pheasants? They were in with chickens and ducks.

Catching - OMG, please give me a tip on catching these guys. One scratched the crap out of my arm.

Pacing - The male paces the fenceline. They're in a 8x12 dog lot with flight netting, shade cloth, and an old rabbit hutch as a "house." The hutch has their food and water in it and some hay for them to nest in. Is this too small of an area, or is this because he's in a new place and nervous?

Breeding - The girl told me they should start laying again soon. I didn't think they did until spring???

Feed - Giving them the 24% gamebird starter from TSC. Sound good?

Molting - She said the male had just molted. Should the female be molting? She's dropping feathers and I didn't know if it was stress or molting.

Thanks Guys!!!

 

[chickenzoo]

Hi, typically I worm mine with safeguard liquid goat wormer, 3 cc per gallon of water. Then repeat in 7-14 days. I use it on all of my birds. Ivomectrian applied to skin if mites, lice and worms are needing to be treated for. They shouldn't be ready to lay again until next April or so, although my friend got an egg last week, but most have finished by this time. Catching, well if they haven't been handled, the best time to catch them is at night. If you can't wait, I normally give them a perch about chest height to me, then wait until the are up on it and grab their legs... but mine are use to handling. If you can't approach them, netting is the best way. Pacing, well they will do that when they are not use to where they are. A lot of people will tell you your pen is too small..... personally mine do fine in one smaller, but that is just my opinion and I'm sure most won't agree........ bla bla bla. Feeding, we feed a mix of gamebird, wild bird seed, dog food as treats, berries, fruit, veggies, layer and millet.

 

[Humhill]

The pen is really just temporary. Awhile back the girl said she'd sell them to me, but I wasn't ready. Then, she said her husband had changed his mind and wanted to keep them. So, a few weeks ago, she e-mailed me and said he decided to sell them. Needless to say, I jumped on them before he changed his mind again. Their eventual pen will be about 5x20 or 5x30, depending on if I can get enough panels. I figure they would prefer something long rather than square.
We use the safeguard for the puppies. Maybe I can steal a little from my parents.... On the chicken sections of the board, the say to use Wazine followed by the ivermectin topical.
I had thought about netting for catching. As it is now, I have to corner them, but they're so spastic I'm scared they'll hurt themselves.
I gave them some grapes last night and they looked at me like I was insane.
The male is doing better with the pacing. The female is really calm though. She likes to hide under a cedar branch I put in there.

Here's a pic my hubby took with his phone.

 

[Junglefowl]

I agree with everything Chickenzoo said. They will both calm down after a while and yes they are in moulting season and they both will moult. I advise you to buy a fishing net big enough for them and use that to catch them. avoid trying to catch them at night it tends to stress them out more. They should start laying in late march early apirl. Again temps and weather have a big part in it. I've raised Ornamental Pheasants for years so if you have any questions I will try my best to help.

Saul Villagrana
Villagrana Aviary
http://www.villagranaaviary.zoomshare.com