IG 



THE GAME BREEDER 



HOW I RAISE PHEASANTS/ 



By Mrs, S. S. Hirsch, 



[Our readers will recall the interesting story by Mr. Bigelow, who wrote in detail how he 

 reared pheasants at a cost of 35 cents. Mrs. Hirsch says her birds are reared at a cost of only 

 40 cents each. The present price of pheasants is from $5 to $6 per bird and we predict they 

 will sell for more as the breeding season approaches. Hundreds of breeders do not advertise 

 because they cannot fill their orders. Many do not know the price they can obtain by letting 

 people know they have pheasants to sell. — Editor.] 



About ten years ago I became interest- 

 ed in pheasants. I procured some eggs 

 and hatched ten birds from a setting, 

 but, not knowing anything about rearing 



The Author. 



the young pheasants, I lost them all. I 

 then purchased more eggs, the same sea- 

 son, and managed to save one hen bird 

 and reared it successfully. The follow- 

 ing winter a friend of ours brought me 

 a young male bird from Iowa and I felt 

 very much delighted at having a pair of 

 pheasants which were not related. 



The following season I raised only a 

 few young birds, but rapidly I gained 

 experience.. I kept on learning and I 

 soon found the worst enemy of young 

 pheasants is lice. . One must be con- 



stantly on the watch and destroy them 

 with insect powder. I hatch the eggs un- 

 der hens only and at the same time I set 

 bantams so when the large hens, which 

 can cover twenty-five pheasant eggs, 

 hatch them I can give the young birds 

 to the bantams which never crush them 

 and are very careful mothers. 



I feed the young pheasants for the 

 first few days on Spratts food with cot- 

 tage cheese, but very sparingly. I give 

 them their freedom in a wire enclosure 

 where there are plenty of bugs on all 

 the bushes and vegetables, and the lit- 

 tle pheasants love to hide in the straw- 

 berry bushes. I have no further trouble 

 with them after July 1. By being care- 

 ful and watchful I find I can hatch nearly 

 every egg and rear nearly all the birds. 



I write only about the ring-necked 

 pheasants. I know from other people's 

 experiences that the rest of the species 

 of pheasants are somewhat more deli- 

 cate and somewhat harder to rear suc- 

 cessfully. In my estimation the ring- 

 necked cock is the handsomest of all 

 the pheasants. Of course, it requires a 

 lot of perseverance and patience to learn 

 all about these most interesting birds and 

 how to rear them successfully. One must 

 be a lover of animals in order to be suc- 

 cessful in rearing any species of the ani- 

 mal kingdom, but rearing pheasants as I 

 do requires very little expense, outide 

 of the work, and I have found that one 

 can eaily rear them for 40 cents per 

 bird for the year's feeding. The main 

 expense is only at starting. Wire costs 

 more today than it did a few years ago. 

 When the young begin flying I enclose 

 them in wire cages, 30 by 30 feet square^ 

 to keep dogs and other enemies out. 

 The cages are full of fine young dog- 



