Pheasant or chicken?

[karollis]

That chick is a regular ring necked pheasant Phasianus colchicus. The melanistic pheasants (Pc. tenebrosus) are a mutation of the regular ring necked pheasant. You may or may not know but all of the melanistic chick's are males. The common ring necked chick is not sexable yet, within a few weeks, around 10 weeks if it's a male it will have wattles starting to show, if not, then a hen.

Many thanks!! From its behavior and general looks I suspected it was some type of pheasant other than a melanistic. Hopefully a female--but the ring-neck will have a happy home here regardless

 

[BigBlueHen53]

And you got the breed!

Nope, that wasn't me.

 

[007Sean]

Many thanks!! From its behavior and general looks I suspected it was some type of pheasant other than a melanistic. Hopefully a female--but the ring-neck will have a happy home here regardless

After looking at it's feather pattern, I can't say for certain yet but it looks like it may be a hen? the other melanistics are male, you can tell by the amount of white on the head, neck and breast....females typically only have a small cresent shaped patch of white under their throat.