THE GAME BREEDER 



73 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH PHEASANTS. 



Bv Thos. F. Chesebrough. 



A little more than three years ago I 

 was looking one day over a magazine and 

 noticed the advertisement of a well 

 known game breeder regarding pheas- 

 ants for sale. I have always been a 

 pretty fair shot with a gun and have 

 hunted partridges, quail, woodcock, 

 snipe, ducks, rabbits, deer, etc., and even 

 rattlesnakes in Florida ; but up to this 

 time (three years ago), odd as it may 

 seem, I had never seen a pheasant. 



I had no idea what one looked like but 

 I made up my mind I would soon find 

 out. So I read over the breeder's list of 

 pheasants and I chose the golden because 

 I liked the name. I purchased fifty eggs 

 and not having bantams, had to set them 

 under big clumsy hens. Thirty-six 

 hatched and I was somewhat disap- 

 pointed that I did not see the golden 

 glitter as I had expected. Well to make 

 a long story short, the hens with their 

 big feet killed most of them and head 

 lice did the rest. I was a novice at the 

 game then but I DID SUCCEED in 

 raising two beautiful cock birds, and I 

 have them to this day. I call them my 

 mascots and I would not part with them. 



I relate this, my first experience, in 

 order to show I have been through the 

 game and have learned my lesson; prac- 

 tical experience is the best teacher. I 

 have read books on pheasants but no two 

 writers seem' to agree. Some say, for 

 example, feed custard; some say, don't 

 feed custard; give water; don't give 

 water, and that is the way it went right 

 along until I became disgusted and tossed 

 the books aside. I made up my mind I 

 would go to work in my own way and 

 I did. I have been in the game for over 

 three years and now I know pheasants 

 from A to Z, or I think I do at any rate. 



I will now tell how I raise and take 

 care of my pheasants. For setting I use 

 bantams, buff cochins and Tapanese silk- 

 ies. To get the best results and have 

 strong chicks it is better to set the eggs 

 in a nest on the grass sod, but I don't 

 always do this myself. Great care should 



be taken that the hen is free from lice ; 

 insect powder or spray solution will take 

 care of that part of it. I also keep a 

 sharp watch on the chicks from time to 

 time, for if the wing or head lice get 

 headway, it's generally good bye chick. 

 I do not give the chicks anything to eat 

 until they are twenty-four hours old and 

 very little then. They get no water to 

 drink until they are a month old, then 

 I give it to them gradually for another 

 two weeks ; after that they can drink all 

 they want. I myself do not believe in 

 cooked food such as custard, etc. The 

 only cooked food they ever get from me 

 is shredded wheat and sweet corn on the 

 cob. They don't have anybody to cook 

 for them- when they live in their natural 

 way, and that's the way I try to make 

 them live. I have a food I give them 

 which is all my own composition, made 

 of chick grain, mixed canary bird seed, 

 powdered charcoal, shredded wheat and 

 salt-water fine sand. I really believe the 

 sand is the secret of my success. The 

 sand is the grit for them and has just 

 enough salt in it to keep them in good 

 condition. I also give them green food, 

 such as onion tops, lettuce, clover and 

 chickweed. I give them more of this as 

 they get older, also meal worms and the 

 best food of all — grasshoppers. I give 

 them the sweet corn (boiled) on the cob 

 about once a week as this is very fat- 

 tening and too much would do more harm 

 than good. Ants are very good for them 

 and I give them all I can catch or set 

 the pens over ant beds. 



I use movable pens so they can always 

 have fresh ground. I find the ringnecks 

 and goldens the easiest to raise although 

 the Amherst and Reeves are my favorites, 

 especiallv the Reeves. I think the Reeves 

 is a glorious game bird. I feed the adult 

 birds in winter a mixture of ground corn, 

 wheat, buckwheat, charcoal and ground 

 ovster shells ; in summer I give the same, 

 also green food, insects, etc. 



I make them hustle for most of their 

 food in summer as I am careful not to 



