Pheasant Care and Management

 PHEASANT ARE a very colorful bird.  They are actually the most underrated of the ornamental birds.  While researching pheasants I found these three unbelievable breeds.  Their beauty is unmatched, especially in barnyard birds.  They are a little more difficult to raise than chicken, turkeys and even quail because they are much less social and do not usually tend to be friendly like chicken and quail.  Their eggs are very nutritional,like Quail and they also have similar laying seasons as quail.  Rather than laying every day like chickens, they lay during 2 seasons, spring and late summer/autumn.  Most people acquire pheasant as eggs or as baby chicks either from an organization like Strombergs, other online website, or as chicks from a local breeder. 

COLORFUL Pheasant breeds pictured above are (left) Bornean Peacock Pheasant, Top Center Ringneck Pheasant, Top Right Golden Pheasant and Bottom Right is the Lady Amherst Pheasant.  All photos are article links with more information about these brilliantly colored birds.

MANY PEOPLE raise pheasant for hunting, raising a larg number of them and then releasing them into the wild when they are grown.  Right Choice Farms enjoys raising quail and Pheasant for their eggs and other benefits.  We dont release them into the wild, however one cool benefit: sometimes early in the morning, we will find wild quail or pheasant visiting our domesticated ones. 

PHEASANT feathers are beautiful.  Pheasant are the type of bird you add to your farming operation for diversity, eggs, feathers and meat.  Each feather has beautiful markings and coloration.  Pheasant cannot be freeranged, so a large enclosure (similar to the quail) should be built, allowing them to fly.  They are almost always very "skittish" and will run or fly wildly when startled.

THE PRODUCTS below will be very adequate for raising pheasant.  The products are relatively inexpensive and available from any farm supply store or click the images below for links to purchase them online.  One product, shown below is a heat lamp.  This is a very inexpensive method for providing heat for your poulty of all types.  When using a heat lamp, the brooder (shown below) could be optional.  To achieve best results using heat lamps for heat, the general rule of thumb is as follows:: if the poults are huddled tightly together under the lamp, the lamp may be hung to high.  If the poults are laying away from the lamp and away from each other, the lamp may be hung to low.  In a larger enclosure, the brooder should be located as far from the heat lamp as possible.  The poults can then get under the brooder if they are cold, but will be able to roam freely about the enclosure if the heat lamp is efficiently heating the enclosure.  A coop heater may also be a safer alternative to the heat lamp.  

Quart Plastic Container	Quail plastic Waterer Base fits A mason Jar or the plastic container to the left	Metal Chick Feeder Base - fits a Mason Jar
Plastic Poultry Feeder	Woods Clamping Heat Lamp	250 Watt Heat Lamp Bulb - Red
Quail Gamebird Starter Crumbles	Seashore Shell Flour	Dove and Quail Blend Seeds and Nuts
Chick Probiotic - 3 Packets ONLY!!!	Quail Grouse Pheasant Egg Cartons	Premier Chick Brooder Heating Plate
Pheasant Breeding & Care		Radiant Chicken Coop Heater
	Chick Grit for Small Birds necessary if birds are given seeds	Purina Game Bird Chow

ONCE THE poults are about 6 weeks old, when the outside temperature remains steadily above 65 degrees, they can be transitioned from the brood area to a coop.   We also repurposed a rusted out stock tank as a brooder for young poultry until they are old enough be go out into the big pin.  That worked really well in our garage.   

ADULT PHEASANT will need an area large enough for them to fly in and safe for them as they are a skittish lot and tend to panic and fly off in all directions at any unusual sound, as mentioned earlier.  An example of the ideal pheasant enclosure is seen here.  The open upper portion is covered in netting so the pheasant cant hurt themselves but can fly freely.  There is an shelter building at the end for them to go in during inclement weather and at night.  The lower portion is wire mesh then wrapped with a shade cloth to prevent outside predators from easily seeing and spooking the pheasant.  The Wire mesh will keep most predators out.  The run should be full of grass.  Pheasant will lay their eggs in the grass and also enjoy eating and hiding in it. 

MOST OF the products needed to build an enclosure similar to this are shown below.  The PVC pipe for the arched top can be purchased at any hardware store.  Also the T-Post Anchors for the PVC are available below or at most hardware stores.  

Flight Pen Netting for the upper portion of the Pen

Shadecloth Windscreen 4 ft x 50 ft

Wire Mesh 1/2 inch opening  48 inch by 100 feet

ONCE THE Birds mature, there will be some differences in the way they should be cared for.  Animal husbandry will play a role in their care.  Pheasant prefer one male per bevy of female or hens.  The males are territorial and will fight however there are rarely any fatalities, only bruised egos.  If you are raising the Pheasant for their eggs, a male is not required however part of the enjoyment of raising pheasant is the beautiful colors presented by the males.  The females are much more drab without all the bright colors and kind of resemble grouse or large, long necked quail.