22O 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



food sound and good when fed, and to regulating the quantity 

 given for a meal so that it will not lie about and become sour 

 or soiled before it is eaten. 



Most pheasant fanciers use large bantams or small common 

 hens to hatch and rear the young pheasants. The period of in- 

 cubation is from twenty-two to twenty-four days. Until they are 

 weaned from the hens the little pheasants may be managed as 

 young chickens are, but with the same attention to variety of food 



FIG. 175. Fowls and pheasants in same yard on a New England poultry farm 



and to moderation in feeding that has been specified for the 

 old birds. A small number with a good range on grass or in a 

 garden will pick much of their food. Many of the older works 

 on poultry which treated of the care of pheasants recommended 

 for the young birds a great variety of foods not easily provided. 

 Nowadays the most successful amateur fanciers feed either a 

 mixture of the common small grains or some of the commercial 

 mixtures which contain, in addition to these, a number of seeds 

 and grains not much used by poultry keepers who buy their 

 grains separately in bulk. Stale cracked corn, which is dangerous 



