peepers on ringeck pheasants

[billyv]

Even though this thread is 3 years old, I have to disagree about peepers being awful things. Pheasants peck, and are cannibals by nature. Even if you get just two in a 50 foot pen, the male can still be aggressive and hurt the female. Peepers is the most humane thing you can do if you are going to keep pheasants in a pen. Then prevent them from pecking on each other and opening wounds. If you have two males, they are going to fight not matter what you put in the pen for them to play with. this stops them from pecking and pulling feathers out of each other.

 

[Lophura]

Even though this thread is 3 years old, I have to disagree about peepers being awful things. Pheasants peck, and are cannibals by nature. Even if you get just two in a 50 foot pen, the male can still be aggressive and hurt the female. Peepers is the most humane thing you can do if you are going to keep pheasants in a pen. Then prevent them from pecking on each other and opening wounds. If you have two males, they are going to fight not matter what you put in the pen for them to play with. this stops them from pecking and pulling feathers out of each other.

Sorry, completely disagree with your entire statement. Landscaped, enriched aviaries will give the birds a natural area to get away from an aggressive bird & it will keep them stimulated. There is NO USE FOR PEEPERS. Whatever your experience has been, I suggest taking a different approach.

I'd also absolutely love to see your reference materials for this statement: "Pheasants peck, and are cannibals by nature." Author? Journal? Book? Never have I seen a published reference to this by those who have studied pheasants in the wild. Yes, male pheasants fight in the wild, but so do nearly 9,000 other species of birds. If there are Phasianus being cannibals in the wild... sorry, I've never seen any reference to this anywhere. If you do, I will happily render an apology, but being from Missouri, show me. I want to see authors, journals, pages, etc.

Dan

 

[destinduck]

The only time I could see justifying peepers is if you were raising ringnecks for commercial use. Examples: Raised for eating or sport shooting.

 

[wildlifeartist1]

Billyv, I totally agree with you. All the trees, shrubs, and toy balls, although a good idea, will not make a difference when raising the aggressive species of pheasants (silver, reeves, etc.). Blinders are a necessary tool when keeping more than two or three future breeder males in a flight pen during mating season. Clipping the primary feathers on one wing and pulling tail feathers will also help to keep aggression to a minimum. Anyone who's raised pheasants for over two years would know this. Reading it in a book wouldn't be necessary, although many books talk about the aggressive nature of males towards other males and males towards their mates. I think that putting blinders on quarrelsome males is more humane than allowing them to kill each other. That shows responsible stewardship in overseeing and protecting the birds.

 

[destinduck]

I agree to to disagree with you once again wildlifeartist1. Also another example of blinders being needed would be for raising live birds for perfect feather for taxidermy purposes.

 

[De Wet]

I never used peepers or the stuff wild artist mention for example shrubs balls etc and the best of all I raised deferent species together for example keets, reeves , poults and melanistic etc without pecking insidents to be honest the only problem I have was the lack of back feathers on the chicks and that was cause of to many chicks in one avairy where they step on each other. So I not for the peepers. My pheasants has unity, diccipline and respect for each other.

 

[billyv]

when breeding birds, you can place them in a 1 male to 7 hens in a pen of 8'x16'. Unless you have an extremely excessive amount of cover for the hens to get away from the males, they will end up with the back of their heads missing feathers and flesh. When breeding pheasants in pens, you have to collect the eggs everyday because if one breaks, the hens will eat the eggs and eventually get in the habit of eating their own eggs.

During the mating season, male pheasants get largely aggressive. Their two methods of getting out the aggression is clawing and pecking. The salt in the blood is an attractive taste to pheasants, and they will continue to peck at open wounds. Even day old chicks will peck and attack other chicks if they are laying down. I've seen chicks drag each other across a brooder and then all the rest of the chicks mob it, pecking it. If you can't stop them at the time they do it, you will end up with dead chicks.

Anyone who's raised and bred pheasants knows that in the wild they have tons of cover to escape. But in pens, there is limited space and cover, and it doesn't prevent pecking no matter what you do. If you want your birds to be healthy, pretty, and without feather loss of anykind due to pecking or aggression, then peepers is a great solution. Whether you use clip-ons, pins, or rings is up to you. Clip-ons just put little nubs in the nostrils and hangs there, they are prone to fall off, but not get the bird caught in netting or fencing. Pins puncture through the membrane between both nostrils through the beak and clip the peeper on permanently until you take it off. Rings use a clip-on method, but using metal rings like a hog ring. The metal in the nostrils can cause problems with the birds.

Books that state pheasants are cannibalistic by nature and how to manage that nature.
Pheasants, Partidges, and Grouse - By Steve Madge & Phil McGowan
Upland Game Birds, their breeding and care - by Dr. Leland Hayes
Captive Birds in Health & Disease - By John & Margaret Cooper
Gamebird Breeders Book - By Woodard, Vohra, Denton


Here is a paper from the University of Nebraska on Poultry Cannibalism (includes pheasants as part of the study)
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1670/build/g1670.pdf

 

[Tony K T]

Ringnecks usually get aggressive if they are overcrowded.Peepers are the worst thing to put on any bird.If you provide them with enough space and cover,they will not need any device.They are aggressive when breeding,so you should have plenty of space for as many birds as you want to keep.I male will breed up to 10 hens,and will only be aggressive when breeding them.Other then the breeding he will not bother them.Your pen should be well planted with lots of cover for the hens and the pen should be at least 50x50x6 for the 11 birds,and they will all live in peace.An 8x16 pen is not big enough for 8 birds.Your state fish and game has regulations on how many sq ft per bird,here in N.H it's 25 sq ft per bird.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Tony K T]

Billyv, I totally agree with you. All the trees, shrubs, and toy balls, although a good idea, will not make a difference when raising the aggressive species of pheasants (silver, reeves, etc.). Blinders are a necessary tool when keeping more than two or three future breeder males in a flight pen during mating season. Clipping the primary feathers on one wing and pulling tail feathers will also help to keep aggression to a minimum. Anyone who's raised pheasants for over two years would know this. Reading it in a book wouldn't be necessary, although many books talk about the aggressive nature of males towards other males and males towards their mates. I think that putting blinders on quarrelsome males is more humane than allowing them to kill each other. That shows responsible stewardship in overseeing and protecting the birds.

Have you ever raised any pheasants?If you have a pen full of all males they will all get along as long as you don't have any hens near them,and they have enough space.Pulling wing feathers and tail feathers will not do anything except make your birds look bad,plus it will take away their only defense,flight!It will not make them any less aggressive at all.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Lophura]

Wow. Face in palm. If you are keeping 8 pheasants in that size of aviary, that's as inhumane as peepers. Hate to say it, but I can't wait for the USDA to start regulating birds (as the rumor has been floating around a few years), weed out people like you.

Please send me the page number in Madge's book, have it sitting right here.

Dan