oJOK0 PHEASANT FARMING P&o 
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I have tried large breeding yards but with very poor success. 
The method is quite common in England and consists of an open 
field of about one acre enclosed with a six-foot woven wire fence, 
into which is placed about five dozen pinioned pheasant hens and 
one dozen cocks. One cock usually “bosses” all the rest ; eggs are hard 
to find, and, worst of all, the eggs that are laid the crows often get. 
Breeding yards for all full-winged birds are the same size as the 
open yards above described, but partitions are stationary, and are 
covered overhead with netting stretched loosely. One side is boarded 
up tight, which together with a three-foot roof on the side from 
which the storms come, forms sufficient shelter. Under this 
shelter ample perches are provided, but: must be removed just before 
the laying season to prevent the birds from dropping their eggs 
while upon the perch, in which case the eggs would be broken and 
soon eaten. 
The habit of egg eating is always a source of great annoyance 
to the pheasant raiser, and no sure method of prevention or cure 
is known. The best method to combat the evil, so far discovered, 
is to place several cast iron nest eggs, painted as near the color of 
pheasant eggs as possible, around in the breeding pen. They seldom 
take the second peck at these iron eggs and hence avoid the true eggs 
lying about. The iron eggs are far superior to the wooden or por- 
celain, but after all, it is best to remove the temptation by gathering 
the eggs several times a day. 
Nests as shown in the illustration are placed in yards twelve by 
sixteen, two sections of six nests each, or twelve nests to the yard, 
and numbered consecutively from one to twelve. These yards are 
constructed in a double row with an alley between, from which a 
gate opens into each yard. ‘The nests should be made about 
Nests - : , 
fourteen inches square and placed flat upon the ground 
without a bottom. <A slight depression should be made in the 
Settings of Pheasant EPaggs 
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