Silver Pheasant Breeding Question

[Tony K T]

I hear ya.
In N.H.,Tony.
Quote:
I currently raise just the Silvers. Come springtime though I will have Silver Golden, Green Junglefowl and Black Mutants.
I will hopefully have Yellow and Red Goldens as well, possibly Amherst, and possibly Blue-eareds. It's just so hard to get unrelated birds where I am without having them shipped 1500 km to me.

Silver Golden ?

 

[Game Bird Guy]

Quote:
Silver Golden ?

I sense some tension here. For the record I don't like hybrids or crosses either, let's not get into that. I will not be selling their offspring, I will only breed them so that I can keep them around to enjoy for myself. All of my birds currently are purebred and not crosses. The only crossbred pheasants will be the Silver Goldens, all the others will be pure.
On another subject, I had my breeding cage for my Silvers when they were a young pair as a 4X8 ft cage. I am building all new cages right now and they were designed for me to house pairs. Since these Silvers are going to be in a trio, should I make the cage larger? It was going to be 6ft tallX8ft wideX16ft long. Could anyone suggest furnishings for me as well. Thanks.

 

[Lophura]

The "Silver Golden" is a supposed mutation, not a SilverxGolden. However, research done in the mid 90s showed this mutation was perhaps "created" using Amherst. I've seen horrible birds passed off as "silver goldens", I just hope they weren't used to pollute the already poor lines here.

Dan

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
http://www.gbwf.org/phpBB2/viewtopi...start=15&sid=e90f4800936c1f3d54371211a702bee2

See second post on page 2.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

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I've seen perrys silver goldens and they don't look any more of a cross to me then any other golden mutation so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to breed them. Perry is very picky about the purity of his pheasants so you should be just fine.
He also has some great peach goldens that I would LOOOOOOOOVE to have a pair of.

 

[Lophura]

Quote:
http://www.gbwf.org/phpBB2/viewtopi...start=15&sid=e90f4800936c1f3d54371211a702bee2

See second post on page 2.

Yeah, I just wasn't going to mention any names on who I got info from some 15+ years ago!!

While doing the same research, I came across a breeder in CA (Chico area) who was using white Ringneck hens bred to Ghigi males to produce splash birds. He even went so far to send me photos of their progression. I've not trusted "new" Golden mutations since and have been called a host of names because of it. I do find some mutations very beautiful, when they are not "created" to make a $$$ (I blame the great cash-cow fad of muant peafowl of the late 90s for the Golden rush - we go 50 years without a new mutation and in the course of 2 years, 10 pop up??). I'll stick with the wild forms of Chrysolophus & encourage others to do so as well. One thing I learned about making such statements - it is a free country and they are your birds, do what you want.

Dan

 

[Tony K T]

Don't get me started again!.
In N.H.,Tony.
Quote:
I've seen perrys silver goldens and they don't look any more of a cross to me then any other golden mutation so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to breed them. Perry is very picky about the purity of his pheasants so you should be just fine.
He also has some great peach goldens that I would LOOOOOOOOVE to have a pair of.

 

[Game Bird Guy]

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Don't worry, I am fully aware that they are a cross of LA and RG. I just wanted to let people know I only sell birds that are purebred.
I have another question about goldens, are the yellow goldens pure golden, or was amherst used to create them.
Can anyone suggest furnishings for my breeding cage and check my demensions? I am 99% I am doing this right, I just want to do it right the first time.

 

[Lophura]

Quote:
The yellow (Ghigi) Golden is a mutation, not a pure species or subspecies. If bred to a golden, you will get the dominate form. This mutation has its origins in Italy when the late Professor Alessandro Ghigi was presented with one male in 1952. Initial breedings were with a normal hen and normal heterozygous chicks were produced. The heterozygous females were then bred back to the mutant male. By the middle of the 1950s, the yellow mutants were breeding true. There have never been reports of the mutation ever been observed in the wild, probably because such would not survive due to the plumage attracting a host of predators or massive inbreeding of captive stock (just a thought). If you ever get the chance to see recent imports of Goldens, they are quite different from the big, robust birds bred in the USA. They are small and flighty. Goldens have so long been treated like domestic poultry that it's pathetic. There is much debate the origin of all the other so-called mutations. Some of the signs are just too obvious. It is just my personal preference not to acknowledge or work with them and as I said in my earlier post, it is the US and they are your birds.

An aviary would be better than a cage for any pheasant species. As a rule - the bigger the better, lots of enrichment. Resolution has some great ideas on aviary design and perhaps he can weigh in with some.

Dan

 

[Game Bird Guy]

This may seem like a dumb question, but do I need to add a nest box of some sort for the Silver's? Do they just make a nest on the ground? I moved my Silver male to his new home. It is a old greenhouse converted into an aviary. It is 9ft by 11ft and 8 ft tall. I have 12 inches of hay on the ground and various perches. What do you guys think?