March, 1906 
mer, the breeder will have his hands full in supplying them 
with the proper food. It is the food question that bothered 
the early breeders, and was the rock on which many were 
wrecked. The natural food of the young pheasants consists 
of flies, insects, maggots and ants’ eggs, in combination with 
green grass, leaves of vegetables and similar articles. ‘The 
insects and flies are essential to the growth of the young 
pheasants. For the first four weeks they require little else, 
y 
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; 
A Pair of Silver Pheasants 
although a little cracked wheat and green food should be 
added to the diet in the middle of each day. 
The question of securing insects for the pheasants is one 
that has caused a good deal of experiment and study. Flies 
are cheap and plentiful if they can be caught, and also many 
insects. But the professional breeder of young pheasants 
raises flies and maggots for his birds, and does not trust to 
luck to keep the supply up. This part of the work is prob- 
ably the most repulsive to those with sensitive olfactories, 
but it can be made clean and satisfactory with a little pre- 
liminary work. 
Maggots and flies should be fed the young pheasants, the 
first being given regularly twice a day as soon as the birds 
are born. The maggots are raised by hanging a sheep’s liver 
or other piece of meat in the sun until it is fly blown. Then 
by putting this away for a few days in a box in a warm place 
the maggots will develop and grow. They are shaken in the 
pen before the young pheasants, and the fluffy little creatures 
will devour them greedily. 
Flies are raised from the maggots, for the latter soon grow 
to full size and then change to the pupa state. Within a 
week they emerge as full grown flies. It is only necessary 
to keep the sheep’s liver filled with maggots in some box or 
barrel until the flies develop. Then by arranging a fly trap 
in the upper part of the barrel or box the flies can be caught 
as they come up. The flies are not fed alive as the maggots, 
but are steamed for a moment to kill them, and then dumped 
on the board before the pheasants. 
With a good supply of live maggots and steamed flies 
the young pheasants are bound to grow and fatten. The 
grain and green food are added to their daily diet as they 
grow older, and at the end of a month a daily mash of corn- 
meal, bran and middlings is given them. At six weeks 
they can be turned loose in the range or yard, and they will 
feed off the green-growing grass and grain stalks. Boiled 
grain, dry grain and mash should be given to them daily, 
and with a cool, dry shed for them to roost in at night they 
should thrive. 
One of the best ways of securing green food for the pheas- 
ants is to plow and plant a mixture of clover, timothy, rape, 
AVE RveAN HOMES AND GARDENS 181 
oats and barley seed in the yards. This can be done early 
in the season before the young pheasants are old enough to 
run loose in the yards, and by the time they are six weeks 
of age the grain will be up and flourishing. 
sects will appear in this grain field, and the pheasants will 
have so much additional food to depend upon. All through 
the summer the grain stalks will furnish green food, and the 
birds will appreciate it greatly. Some divide their yard in 
summer into two compartments so that one-half can be sown 
while the other half is being pastured out to the birds. A 
greater supply of green food can be obtained in this way, 
and where a number of pheasants are raised on a small place 
it is better than the first method. In the winter season the 
pheasants require for food only such grains, green food, and 
clover hay as the market supplies. 
The pheasants are hardy birds, and no artificial heat should 
be given them in winter. ‘This weakens their constitution 
so that exposure to cold winds when they go out causes colds 
and sickness. The house should be tight and as warm as the 
sun and natural conditions will permit. “The north and west 
side should be wind and snow-proof, and the south side, with 
its glass sash, should be exposed to the full rays of the sun. 
This should be protected from the sun in summer by boards, 
and perfect ventilation should be given by having doors or 
screened windows opening on all sides. 
It goes without saying that the pens and yards of the 
pheasantry should be kept scrupulously clean, sweet and free 
from all kinds of vermin, rats, mice and weasels. ‘This 
sometimes requires a good deal of study and work. Vermin 
and insects of all kinds, and the diseases which they breed, 
can be kept out of the house and yards by careful methods 
of housekeeping. If rats and weasels are about it is neces- 
sary to catch them with traps and protect the houses by lining 
the lower parts with tin. 
The young pheasants soon learn to fly, and unless clipped 
early some of the birds will escape over an eight or ten foot 
wire fence. The clipping should be done on both wings, and 
not only on one. The latter practice is dangerous, for the 
Bugs and in- 
birds in their efforts to mount into the air may have some 
severe tumbles that will bruise the. body. 
The wings should 
Se. ese ‘a aa eae Pe soe 
Chinese Pheasants One Week Old 
be spread out at full length. Cut off the large quill feathers 
within an inch of the tip of the wing. Care should be taken 
not to cut the feathers of the wing near the body. A few 
of the longest quill feathers will answer the purpose as well 
as if all were cut off, and the latter method spoils the looks 
of the birds and often keeps them from protecting their 
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