Pheasant pics - the "melanistics" are growing up - pretty but mutts...

[pbjmaker]

So the phesants I hatched May 4th are getting soooo pretty it is to bad they aren't black melanistic like they were labeled. Then I was hoping they were actual ringnecks - but I am pretty sure they are just mixed colors.

Here are some pictures of them. There are 5 roos and 1 hen

It was really hard to get pictures of them because they are so skittish. My cat was sitting by so that didn't help.

The only hen:

Pretty beetle sheen:

What most of the pictures looked like

The offending cat:

 

[tysonb24]

From what I can tell they all look like green mutants. They are not a cross, they are mutations.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
THEY'RE A CROSS BETWEEN STANDARD RINGNECKS AND MELANISTIC MUTANT RINGNECKS

 

[shelleyd2008]

They are still pure ringnecks, just a cross between 2 colors. Breeding them together should (I would think) give you some that look like them, some that look like regular ringnecks, and some that look like the beautiful black melanistics that you were hoping for.

 

[pbjmaker]

Quote:
Unfortunately a predator got into their pen the other night and took three of them including the only hen. I now have three tattered and terrified roosters

My husband has left them to their own devices during the day and they stay in the yard together then at night they are locked into a fort knox prison that is really too small for them but keeps them safe. I don't think they realize they can fly?

I think it was a fox - a real rarity around here - since the bodies were all carted away over two fences. It is my understanding that coons will just eat what they want and leave the bodies behind.

 

[happyhensny]

I bought a pair of red goldens yesterday, my coop has hardware cloth over the windows, chain link dog kennel panels for the run and welded wire woven over the top. Well, the female decided to go out in the run during the night, chickens stay in ALL night, and then leaned on the only outside wall fence and got eaten. Just don't understand. If she had moved over 4 inches NOTHING could have gotton her.