= = = A 9 
ofSqo PHEASANT FARMING Pk 
fe) = 
in the absence of the usual number of eggs in the nest, 
the hen is most likely to set so heavily on the remaining one 
or two as to mash them at hatching time. After these hens have 
been removed to the brood coop with their individual hatch and 
given food and water, and allowed ample time in which to hover 
their chicks, other young pheasants may be added from the in- 
cubator, providing they are of the same age and variety as those that 
she has hatched. A hen will invariably kill instantly any young 
pheasant given her of a variety other than that which she has 
hatched. For instance, a hen that has hatched silver pheasants will 
not claim goldens, or Chinese, and vice versa. A hen can properly 
hover and care for more young pheasants than she can hatch out 
without entailing considerable loss before they leave the nest, hence 
the use of the incubator. 
Pheasant eggs will, beyond a doubt, hatch as well in an incu- 
bator as will chicken eggs, but I will have to admit that so far I 
have been unable to successfully brood young pheasants artificially, 
though the incubator has proven a great help when used as de- 
scribed above. 
For some time I experienced difficulty in getting the hen to 
hover the pheasants when they were first taken from the nest; the 
pheasants, being foster children of the hen, do not understand her 
call or her manner. They do not seem to understand that she will 
hover them. They do not recognize that she is “home and mother.” 
The hen is perfectly willing to receive the pheasants, but her call to 
them is not the naturai call of the pheasant, hence it means nothing 
to them. Some plan must be devised to bring the pheasants under 
the hen. Recently I have adopted this plan with good success: A 
basket is prepared with a hot water bag filled with tepid water and 
placed in the bottom 
of the basket, over 
which is placed a cloth. 
When the pheasants 
are first taken off 
from the nest, they 
are placed in this 
basket and a_ cloth 
thrown over the top. 
Enough air will pass 
through the sides of 
Brood Coop for Young Pheasants the basket so they will 
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