What do I do with a pheasant?

[sadieH5836]

Last weekend we had a Blue eared Pheasant arrive at our house.
we don't know where he/she came from. My nephew named him chubby.
So what should I with him. He is real calm and very friendly. He has been roosting in my bushes. and when I come out of the house he runs to me looking for his meal.
I raise chickens and was wondering if I could put him in the run with my girls. I worry about preditors. We have coyotes in the area.
Any suggestions?

 

[chickenzoo]

You need to send him to me......

I would not put him in with your chickens but you could section off an area for him. I'm sure he is missing his regular meals hehe.

 

[monarc23]

oh wow that's really neat!!! I wish someone would let some cool birds like that go on my property lol! being as he's friendly i bet someone put him there??

 

[skunknchatter]

your chickens may pick at his tail feathers. Also it's probably not a good idea to introduce strange birds into your flock. You are lucky though! I love pheasants!!!!

 

[Lophura]

Quote:
Received your e-mail, but will reply here as well. If you are concerned for his safety and depending on the breeds of chickens, you could temporarily house him with them until a permanent aviary could be constructed. He sounds pretty tame and could be easy pickings for a predator, so do what you feel is best.

Eared-Pheasants are big birds and do need a lot of room, so a small section would stress him out. Perhaps even moving the chickens into a different area temporarily if you can, they can tolerate smaller locations than this species. Eared-Pheasants are also super personable and have been the "tamest" pheasants I have ever worked with. I had a female brown eared that bonded with me and had absolutely no interest in other birds!!

I have a running tab on "loose" pheasants. Since I created gbwf back in 97, I have heard from folks in a Washington state subdivision (city escapes my mind now) that had a resident Blue Eared, a Swinhoe that took up residence in a backyard near Pittsburgh, countless Golden, Amherst, and Silver sightings (lots of e-mailed photo for me to confirm id) at backyard bird feeders - including here in the KC area. I have always intended to create a page on the pheasant section of gbwf about these stories, just never got around to it.

Dan

 

[Mahonri]

I wish I had room for a pheasant or two. When I was little we had lots of ringnecks that nested on our ditch banks and fence lines. We even had a game hen that was bred by a rooster pheasant once... The chicks just looked weird.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
WOW Dan! I'd love if you can do that someday. If you do please post about it here! I'd love to read about that!

I wish one would come here that'd give me an excuse to make a big flight pen for it!

 

[poultrykeeper08]

Lophura Id love to see some of the pics people sent you of the feral pheasants . Got any to share on here ?

 

[Lophura]

Quote:
Here's a few "backyard pheasants" that were sent to me and I have uploaded to gbwf. All of these were from non-bird keepers of birds that showed up in their yards.

Dan

 

[Cara]

Is that last pic a melanistic pheasant?