THE GAME BREEDER 



19 



THE GAME BREEDERS' DEPARTMENT. 



By Our Readers. 



Pheasant Breeding. 



By Spencer Brothers. 



The chief thing we try to do is to 

 get good results with as little expendi- 

 ture as possible. If one were to follow 

 all the rules and ideas laid down in the 

 books, good as they are, it would involve 

 a heavy outlay. 



Our pheasants generally start laying 

 about the first week in April, and by 

 feeding plenty of green food, meat 

 scraps, etc., they average 70 eggs or 

 more per hen. We set the eggs on the 

 ground, with a little straw for the nest, 

 and draw up a small wire run to the box 

 and allow the setting hen just enough 

 room for a dusting place and green 

 grass. We try to arrange to set as man\i 

 hens as possible on the same day, using 

 any breed of healthy hen we can get, al- 

 though we do not care for the Barred 

 Rock as a rule because they seem to ob- 

 ject so much to being changed and set 

 on the ground. 



Lately we have been raising game 

 chickens for this purpose, also for sport 

 and profit. They make the best of 

 mothers and are a fine table fowl. We 

 keep an incubator going constantly dur- 

 ing the season at about 103°, and find it 

 very useful for saving wet chicks or 

 chilled eggs. We do not disturb the hen 

 at all when hatching, but keep the box 

 blocked up and dark until chicks are 

 strong and dry. In about 24 hours the 

 hens and birds are moved to some field 



and we try to keep small colonies of birds 

 of the same egg in various suitable locali- 

 ties where there seems to be plenty of in- 

 sect life and cover. We keep the hens 

 confined for about a week, but let the lit- 

 tle pheasants run about, after that she is 

 let out to roam at will, with nothing to 

 return to at night but an open box, as 

 the wire runs are needed quite often for 

 the next batch of setting hens. The 

 pheasants are fed for the first two weeks 

 three times a day on nothing but hard 

 boiled eggs, as they like it above all 

 things, it is easy to prepare, and to regu- 

 late the exact amount of food required. 

 We find that it takes about two eggs at 

 a meal to satisfy 17 birds up to two 

 weeks old. After this age we cut down 

 on the eggs somewhat, and also give corn 

 meal, rolled oats and boiled rice (dry 

 and not messy). 



When the birds are at an average age 

 of six weeks, the hen is generally ready 

 to leave them or they are getting too 

 independent of her, so they are caught 

 up and put in runs 50 feet by 200 feet, 

 which gives them plenty of space to fiy 

 and develop. The runs are covered by 

 cord netting, so that they do not injure 

 themselves. We now cut out the egg 

 entirely, substituting meat scraps, plenty 

 of green food, wheat and meal and 

 boiled rice, which is substantially what 

 we feed our old birds. 



We have found that the Mongolian 

 Ringneck cross is an easier bird to raise 

 than the pure Ringneck, as they are 



