Ornamental Fowl for Parks and Gardens 



A MONTHLY TREATISE ON THEIR CULTURE. 



PHEASANTS REARING AND HATCHING. 



I'.v Jxo. W. Talbot, Ixdiaxa. 



Anv one who can raise chickens can raise plieasants. 

 The one is no more difficult than the other. General in- 

 formation as to the beauty of plumage, delicacy of flesh, 

 history, etc.. of Chinese pheasants can be found in 

 encyclopaedias and books without number. Therefore. 

 I will devote this article to a practical statement of the 

 actual procedure that I believe best for the hatching and 

 rearing of these birds. In captivity the Chinese pheasant 

 does not usually set or nest. It lays wherever it may 

 happen to be, usually about sundown and consequently at 

 that time it is best to avoid disturbing the pheasant hen 

 unnecessarily. The eggs should be gathered frequently 

 and not permitted to lay around the pheasant yard, be- 

 cause this bird at times is tempted to eat its own eggs if 

 they remain before it too long. 



For hatching the eggs the best results are obtained by 

 using Piantam hens. Set your hens on the ground. Make 

 a small depression in the ground and use sod or cut straw 

 or hay for nesting material. When possible place the 

 nest under bushes, under brush or other cover. The 

 eggs of different pheasants require different lengths of 

 time for hatching. I'or instances the Ring-neck 24 days. 

 Silver 27. (iolden 21. Reeves 2^ and .\mherst 22. The 

 eggs should be moistened from time to time just as one 

 would moisten the eggs of chickens. 



Do not disturb the young chicks for 24 hours after they 

 are hatched and unless the weather is very warm, do not 

 give them any water until the\ are a week old. The first 

 food for voung pheasants may he hard boiled eggs and 

 thev should not be fed until tiiey are 24 hours old, after 

 which the boiled eggs can be grated for them through a 

 piece of wire window screen and they should be fed four 

 times a day. or every three hours, being careful to only 

 feed them as much as they will clean up. Too much care 

 cannot be taken to prevent over-feeding. It must always 

 be kept in mind that the pheasant is a light eater and 

 naturally a wild bird and requires only from one-tenth 

 to one-twentieth part the amount of feed that a chicken 

 should be fed. Instead of boiled eggs the first food of 

 the young may be made up cif hard boiled eggs and 

 jMjtatoes, both being thoroughly boiled in the same kettle 

 until the potatoes are soft, when the yolk of the egg will 

 crumble. It is well to use only the yolk. Pare the 

 potatoes and mash them, using two parts of potatoes to 

 lone of egg. Use the same food the next day and the day 

 after. You may then add a few leaves of lettuce, onion 

 tops or millet. Keep plenty of green food before them. 

 Feed in this manner for a few days until strong enough 

 to run about. You may still continue feeding them in 

 the same way if you wish, but after thev are readv to 

 run about, if it suit^ your convenience, you may scald 

 thick sour milk until the whey and curd separate, then 

 strain and use the dry curd, mixed with equal parts of 

 ground hemp and canary seed, about four parts of curd 

 to one of seed with a very little pepper added. This 

 should be sta];)le food until they are six weeks old. An- 

 other good food is wheat bred moistened with sweet milk 

 and mi.xed with baked potatoes. Scalded curn-nieal, 

 cracked wheat or corn, hemo and canarv seed whole, ripe 

 tomatoes, or any food used for little chicks will answer 

 as they grow older. Xever give oepper grass (sorrel) to 

 pheasants. It is unhealthy for them. 



The pheasant naturally is verv strong in flight. Con- 



fining pheasants was first accnmpHshed by covering the 

 pens or yards with wire netting, but the expense of that 

 method was so great, that pheasant raisers have 

 abandoned it and instead of doing that many simply 

 clipped one wing of its feathers to prevent flying, but the 

 best and most successful raisers of these birds take a very 

 sharp shears when the liird is about four days old, prepare 

 a good sized saucer filled with boracic acid or powdered 

 calomel or even wood ashes, and take each chick when 

 between four days and a week old and clip oft' one wing 

 at the first joint, immediately dippiing the raw end of the 

 wing into the powder and turning the bird loose. This is 

 called pinioning. It has no injurious effect on the birds, 

 they recover at once and it prevents their flying there- 

 after more than three or four feet in height and permits 

 them to be confined in a garden or yard surrounded by 

 a wire netting fence, llirds raised to be turned loose for 

 stocking purposes should not be pinioned fi.ir it ])revents 

 them escaping from their natural enemies. 



During the breeding season the male pheasants are very 

 jealous and inclined to fight. With them fighting is no 

 unimportant matter. They frequently fight until one or 

 the other is killed and occasionally until both are so in- 

 jured that they are thereafter of no value. On that ac- 

 count as the Ijreeding season approaches, the hens should 

 be separated and ])laced in the pens where they are to lay 

 and the males that are to be kept with any hens should 

 also be separated, not more than one male being permitted 

 in one pen. Those males that are not permitted to run 

 with hens, may l)e allowed to be together. 



Perhaps the most remarkable thing to the person 

 previously unacquainted with pheasants and their habits 

 is the fact that they will not live indoors as do chickens 

 and other domestic fowl. Therefore, their houses should 

 be made with walls on the east, west and north sides 

 and with a roof, but the south side should be uncovered 

 and open except that if one sees fit, the south side may 

 be covered half way down with old window sash with 

 the glass in them and plenty of perches should be placed 

 in the house. To avoid rains and disagreeable winds, the 

 birds will seek the house in tlaylight. but it is indeed very 

 rarely that they will be found in the house at night. In 

 the most inclement weather mine have slept out on the 

 tops of snow banks. In the winter season of the year a 

 feeding patch for them, if possible, should be made 

 beneath undergrowth, or should be kept swept clean 

 where they can come for feed. 



Great care should be taken to avoid mites and lice with 

 pheasants, whether young or old. and particularly with 

 the young, and where it is deemed necessary they shovdd 

 be greased. The uheasant seems to be fairly free from 

 disease, but occasionally a hard scaly substance like a 

 wart or a corn grown on the legs, making the bird lame. 

 Where that is found a little olive oil rubbed on them will 

 cause them to fall oft' in a short time. If a pheasant 

 should develop a cold, be very careful not to give it water, 

 except at long intervals. 



These birds are insect exterminators. That constitutes 

 a very large part of their food and as a consequence they 

 are very beneficial in the garden. Thev do not dig up a 

 garden like hens. .\ny person contemplating raising 

 these birds should not be fearful that it is a difficult task 

 or that he will not be successful. We have much better 

 results with our pheasants than with anv other fowl that 

 we raise. In handling the pheasants, thev should be 

 caught with a scap net, for the reason that their legs are 



