Pheasant lovers -n- keepers

[DaKid]

Ok how many of you have a large aviary or pen for different breeds of pheasants , are they living together.

Do they get along altogether as one family , ( I know if house together they with interbreed or mix breed )

If keep in a all male pen / all female pen ------

Do males of different breeds living together in one pen or aviary get along if keep together or do the fight .

Same thing if it was all females of different breeds would there get along,



Can a few pairs or trio’s of Pheasants and Quail live together in a large pen / aviary ( a large aviary not a 10’ x 12’ or smaller I’m talking like 18 ft. by 20 ft. or 30 ft or larger ……………get the picture





Alan

 

[adriano]

It would be best if different breeds of pheasants were seperated especially the males.

At the moment i have young Reeves in with Red Goldens and Peacocks.
The reeve male pecks at the goldens so i reckon the bigger he gets the more damage he could do.
Same with the peacocks who peck the reeves.
I have finished some new pens just have to put roosts in so that will be the end of mixed pheasant pens come monday.

I had some quail in the other day with a silver cock, while i cleaned out the quail pen and after a while he was pecking at them.

But i have heard of others having quail in with pheasants and they get along ok as long as the quail have places to hide from the pheasant if the need arises.

 

[DaKid]

adriano ,
how big of a pen or aviary did you keep all of your pheasants together in .


And what about now how big of a run/pen are ther in now.


Thanks
Alan

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

DaKid,
It is possible, but it would be best to raise them together. I have and currently am keeping 4 pair of golden in a pen together, but they were all raised together
As long as there is room, 10x 25 minimum and cover, they do just fine, though I know some will say otherwise... in my opinion, it all depends on the birds individual attitude,
As for inter species housing, that is possible as well, but it should be of different strains, ie ruffed with longtails, generally work out, with the exception of the above mentioned Reeves, who are to me, about the most aggressive of all the longtails, mine attack me about every time I go in to feed up during breeding season. I had one lone adult male a few years ago, and needed his pen for a different breeding group, so I put him in with my flock of rio grande wild turkeys 25x 50 pen 12 foot tall, he killed the lead tom over night!

All in all, it is always best to house them per species, but with a little research, you can mix certain ones with caution, and to the best of my knowledge, the different strains really dont interbreed. Example, I have never seen a golden /silver cross, or with reeves, etc... Kind of like a wood duck and a mandarin duck, the hens are near identical, but it's genetically impossible for them to cross.

Now some species, like the various tragopans, eared, impeyans, firebacks, stuff like that, 1 pair to the pen! Pretty much no exceptions there, except for maybe an extra hen, but sometimes the dominate hen will kill a newly added one too... Again, it all goes back to the individual birds and their disposition, some are kittens, some are lions...
Always on pen size, bigger is better, and the more natural cover you have, the happier they will be, and happy birds, produce better in the long run.

Hope this helps
Aubrey

 

[DaKid]

Boggy Bottom Bantams ,

Thanks your infor. is great to know ,
I ask because at some point in time , I was planing on getting a few different pairs and was just doing some research on how others keep there's . I know most all do keep them seperated, but just wondering if anyone did keep a few different breeds together or if they keep say 2 males to say 4-6 females of the same breed together, would the males fight or even kill one off.

right now I'm building a very large aviary for some wood ducks and mandarin ducks for this coming early spring 2010, and if all go's well I was think on getting some pheasants to add to my collection , just was figuring on what or how I should house them, together in another large aviary or two or place them in individual pens or smaller type aviary, which I think would be best for all.


Again Thanks
Alan

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

no problem Alan!
And you are going about it the right way, finding out before you get them. So many people just get them on a whim, then something ends up dead over it. Great to see a responsible buyer! Here's a few pen ideas for you in the pics below.
These are my bantams, runs, theres a house doen the center, and these style pens off the front and back for the building, this help utilise every dollar and gets you as much pen as possible.... These are 4X12 each. On my pheasant runs, they are the same set up, just 10 wide, 25 long

Hope this helps ya a bit
Aubrey