What to do with a ringnecked pheasant?

[carolthom]

I went to a local hatchery yesterday to pick up some turkey poults and the lady who runs it pulled out a cute little baby and tells me it's a pheasant. She said it was the only one that hatched out of the eggs she ordered. Once she saw that I liked it, she slipped it in my box of turkeys and said I could have it. I have no idea what to do with it. Do they like to live in a flock? Will it take the turkeys and ducks as her flock? I hate for it to grow up and fly off since it will be the only one around, but I'm not willing to cage it either. What would you do?

 

[pheasantfrenzie]

You can raise it with your turkeys but if you don't cage it you can say goodbye rather quickly because it will fly off the first chance it gets.

 

[carolthom]

Can it survive in the wild? I live in Alabama so the winters aren't too bad.

 

[deserthotwings]

He probably wouldn't make it a week in the wild. There are way too many predators for pheasants to survive outside of their native habitat. Also it would probably be at a loss for food and water. I raise quite a few of my pheasants with turkeys and they do fine. Your best bet if you don't want to keep him caged is to find someone who is willing to accept it. Craigs List would be a good place to start.Good Luck to you and the little guy.

 

[carolthom]

Thanks for the advice. I free range all of my birds and I would hate to see this little guy alone in his cage. It would be different if there was a buddy for him, but their isn't. I kind of thought that it would die in the wild, but I didn't know for sure. I'll put it on craigslist and see what happens.

 

[dc3085]

They let you free range turkeys in Alabama?

 

[carolthom]

There are several people around here that free range turkeys.

 

[scoutspaw]

We raised them when i was a kid they will do fine in winter (im in PA) but they will run off first chance so keep him in a cage. they are great fun and are pretty too.

 

[dc3085]

There are several people around here that free range turkeys.

It's usually regulated or illegal altogether to preserve the wild population, that's why I asked. In CA it's illegal but plenty of people do it, even my sister does she just doesn't keep a tom and she has 2-3 wild flocks that come across or live on her property. Her broad breasted whites seem to be terrified of the wild hens, they won't interact at all. When I lived in missouri if you encountered a domestic or a domestic cross while hunting they encouraged you to tag it to get them out of the population. When the wilds breed with domestics it can doom a whole generation of them because the extra weight and lost instincts keep them from being able to evade predators.

 

[carolthom]

I have no idea if it's illegal or not to free range turkeys here. We've got Royal Palm turkeys so I doubt wild turkeys will get any added weight from them, if they were to breed with them, but they would probably loose some instinct. I seriously doubt that any wild turkeys will be able to get to mine because our dogs keep most things away and the turkeys will be made to stay in our fenced in 6 acre property if they get too close to the woods because I don't want coyotes to get them.