Redirected from chicken thread - could this be a pheasant chick?

[jennymarieg]

Hi guys,

We have what we think is a pheasant chick - can anyone give us a clue about age and/or sex? Sorry, we are clueless about fowl! We found this chick on a busy road, with a squashed flat chick nearby and no obvious signs of poultry-type animals in close proximity. It's a bank holiday today so we've not been able to call any local sanctuaries/reserves but we will try tomorrow.

Thanks for any advice

Jenny.

 

[jennymarieg]

Eeep, sorry, forgot pictures!

 

[wildsam]

Looks like a pheasant chick, but you won't be able to find out the sex til it is about 4-6 months old and it shows the feather coloring. Usually females tend to be staying in the brown/grey range while males get pretty colorful, depending on the type of pheasant it is. Since you found it on the side of the road I would presume it to be a ringneck pheasant, but again it is hard to tell although its beak looks a bit different than a pheasants, not as curved. Only one way to find out though: let it grow! And have fun raising it!

 

[jennymarieg]

Thank you! The chick made it fine through the night and is making a merry racket this morning! We've phoned a couple of nature reserves/sanctuaries nearby and are hoping they can take it in. We don't mind taking care of him/her but I'm sure there's a more sensible home somewhere nearby