QUESTIONS ABOUT MY PHEASANTS. (preparing for breeding season)

[SeasideDuckMan]

Hello everyone,

It is the middle of March and things are starting to warm up a little here at the Jersey. My doves are cooing, bobwhites are "bobwhit-ing".... and the other day my red golden pheasant starting screeching and displaying for his female counterpart, the Lady Amherst. (I know that there are many people on here who do not like cross breeding, please do not preach to me, I have already heard it)... This is my first time ever having a female and a male pheasant together. I am hoping they breed and produce some fertile eggs for me incubate but I have a couple issues:

1. The two nest boxes I have are already inhabited my two silkie bantam hens. (which are currently laying, which leads to my second second issue............)
2. My silkie bantams lay light brown/tan eggs that are the same size and color and pheasant eggs. My question is, how can I tell my eggs apart? I do not want her to lay them in the middle of the coop floor because they will definelty get trampled. Is there a certain place female pheasants like to lay their eggs? Would a raised nest box be better? in the photos below, you can see she is sitting on top of the silkies boxes, she doesn't like to be on the ground (except when dust bathing, eating drinking, etc. )

Any input is appreciated, but please remember, if you are against cross breeding, I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOUR RANT!

Thanks, Alex

 

[Tony K T]

Restrain.I know you must be talking about me!I won't tell you the 3 things you are doing wrong.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[cypressdrake]

Maybe add another nesting box with a small hole like the wood duck boxes, so that the chicken will stay with other boxes , due to the size of the entry hole.

 

[pheasantfrenzie]

Hello,
If you wish to sell you La I will buy her

 

[BYC-user-174785]

Tony you are not the only one seeing the problems!

 

[deserthotwings]

I can see a couple of issues you have with your birds, but the main one is keeping the silkies and pheasants together. Not only do chickens and other domestic fowl transmit diseases to game birds but this time of year the male pheasants become very aggressive toward other birds, even their own hens at times. If you can at all it would be best to separate them before someone ends up scalped. That little silkie hen is sure no match for that RG rooster. I've been raising pheasants and quail for over 20 years and have tried every contraption in the world to get my hens to lay in. I have over 90 breeding pheasant hens and they all prefer to lay on the ground where ever they might be. You just have to remove the eggs as soon as possible to prevent the birds from eating them. If that ever starts you will have major problems. I guess the bottom line is that every breeder has their own system. What works for me might not work for anyone else, but so far I haven't had any major problems. Theres a lot of knowledgeable folks on this site (Tony, Blue Creek and others) it sure pays to listen to them. Good Luck Amigo

 

[SeasideDuckMan]

Hello,
If you wish to sell you La I will buy her

Not for sale

 

[SeasideDuckMan]

I can see a couple of issues you have with your birds, but the main one is keeping the silkies and pheasants together. Not only do chickens and other domestic fowl transmit diseases to game birds but this time of year the male pheasants become very aggressive toward other birds, even their own hens at times. If you can at all it would be best to separate them before someone ends up scalped. That little silkie hen is sure no match for that RG rooster. I've been raising pheasants and quail for over 20 years and have tried every contraption in the world to get my hens to lay in. I have over 90 breeding pheasant hens and they all prefer to lay on the ground where ever they might be. You just have to remove the eggs as soon as possible to prevent the birds from eating them. If that ever starts you will have major problems. I guess the bottom line is that every breeder has their own system. What works for me might not work for anyone else, but so far I haven't had any major problems. Theres a lot of knowledgeable folks on this site (Tony, Blue Creek and others) it sure pays to listen to them.  Good Luck Amigo

Thanks will take that info into consideration.

 

[SeasideDuckMan]

Maybe add another nesting box with a small hole like the wood duck boxes, so that the chicken will stay with other boxes , due to the size of the entry hole.

That's a very good idea thanks