4 a 
ow PHEASANT FARMING raw 
chase your birds in the fall of the year in order that they may be- 
come acquainted with their quarters and feel at home before the 
laying season. ‘Then before the first of March secure two dozen 
Cochin bantams. While the “near bantam” | have described is bet- 
ter, still you will be unable to procure these, and there is no ques- 
tion but that the Cochin bantams are a success for pheasant rearing. 
Exercise care in the purchase of your bantams that they are not 
infected with lice, and use those ordinary precautions known to 
poultrymen to keep them free from these pests. Give them good, 
healthy, sanitary quarters to live in, and keep them away from your 
other chickens so that they may not be contaminated with lice or 
disease. Lice on your hens means lice on your young pheasants. 
Prepare a place for your nests as heretofore described and follow the 
directions as to setting the hens, care of setting hens, ete., until the 
birds are taken off the nest. 
There is no trouble about hatching pheasants. Feeding is prob- 
ably the most serious problem. Don’t try to experiment with foods. 
Follow the directions I have given, and if you will take my advice, 
for the first year at least, you will feed your birds until they are a 
month old on the fly larvae. I recognize that this may appear to 
you as offensive, but following the directions I have given, you will 
find that this is an imaginary offense. The reason I so strongly 
advise the use of the fly larvae is because it is the natural food of 
the pheasant, and with its use you cannot fail, if you exercise other 
ordinary precautions which I have suggested. From your first 
year’s experience with pheasants you will learn of their nature and 
disposition and be better qualified to act on your own initiative. 
While I have tried various methods of feeding and have been 
successful in feeding the young birds custard, still, after all my 
years of experience, | am still feeding fly larvae. The mother hen 
being kept in the coop enables you to feed her with ordinary food 
and to supply the fly larvae to the young birds alone. You cannot 
afford to place the fly larvae where the mother hen can reach them. 
A good plan in feeding larvae is to have a shallow pie tin with ver- 
tical sides in which is placed some fine dirt. Then with a long- 
handled spoon you can place some of the larvae on this dirt. They 
will immediately bury themselves in it, but the pheasant chick soon 
learns how to find them. The young pheasant, after eating a few, 
will run about, returning occasionally to the pan. With the “bugs” 
thus constantly before him, the young chick will not overeat, but if 
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