38 w. cook's turkey, goose, and pheasant book. 



get under the hen. If they only run under the coop and 

 the ground is damp they often get chilled, even while they 

 are under the hen. I am quite aware it is natural for young 

 pheasants in their wild state to sit upon the ground when 

 the hen broods them, but it must be remembered 

 that in wet weather pheasants will go into a 

 wood to brood their young, at the foot of a 

 tree, or in a hedgerow, or under a high bank, anywhere 

 for shelter. 



Though hen pheasants are not intelligent, they are 

 sufficiently so to take the young birds as much as possible 

 in a dry place to brood them. It is impossible to coop the 

 hens in a hedgerow or dry spot, they are cooped on the 

 ground, whether wet or dry, that is why I say it is much 

 safer to have some of the coops with boarded bottoms, so 

 that, should it come on a wet summer, the early young ones 

 can be put in them. All young pheasants under 

 ten days should be put in coops with bottoms, 

 and peat moss under their feet, that is of course when 

 it is wet. 



I know this is a little more expense, but I often meet 

 with gentlemen who do not rear twenty pheasants 

 ont of every hundred they hatch, for the simple 

 reason that not sufficient care has been bestowed 

 upon them, or perhaps I should say, not proper 

 care 



It is not so much the shape of the coop, but it is wise to 

 make them with a slide in front. That is to say, the laths 

 should be zin. or 2i^in. wide in front, and so arranged 

 that they will shut up at night. When the coop is closed 



