Does Anyone raise Pheasants

[nonnie]

Just looking for info, it's someting that I think I'll try my hand at. Not commercially, just to have some on the property. Perhaps 10 or 15 chicks. expecting some fatalities etc.Has anyone done this?

[RichP]

It's not hard, if you can raise chickens you can raise ringnecks. Kinda late in the year though isn't it... I love taking them with a .22 on the ground though, I hate picking shot out.

[8Mud]

I raise a bunch every year to adulthood, then turn them loose. The survival rate is really low. Foxes or Hawks get most of them.
I've tried putting the eggs under a laying hen (chicken) and having her hatch them, which is the best method. They grow up thinking they are chickens and seem a lot calmer.
Best to buy them hand high and well out of the nest, if you aren't going the hen route. Blue Jays and Crows will kill them if they aren't protected.
They fly well and you need a lid on your enclosure. Even if they are clipped, they'll still try to fly. They are also territorial and not really flock type birds. They tend to be loners or pairs.
Mine have always been really nervous and stampede at the slightest excuse. They can and do injure themselves a lot.
Check into Guinea Fowl and see what you think. They will roost in a tree in the backyard and rarely leave the area of the tree and/or there food supply. And actually make really good watch dogs, they get really noisy when strangers show up.
I put an old Billy Goat into the enclosure with my Pheasants, mean old bastard who took no chit from anybody. The Fox raids on my pens stopped.

[IndyXJ]

The serfs in my kingdom suffice...OH, you said PHEASANTS!

I miss growing up and seeing them everywhere in PA.

[nonnie]

I'm planning to build a coop affair and buy the chicks in the spring. I'd like to have them in the woods behind the house to look at NOT kill or sell. These are beautiful birds to look at. We have Grouse, rabbits and just about any other woodland cutie:rolleyes:. The pheasants would be a great addition. The 90lb Golden retriever that patrols my backyard :rolleyes: doesn't even bother the rabbits. Yeah that's right ...I dropped a G-note on a bird dog that can't be bothered :doh:

[igotanxj]

Pheasants taste good. Last time I went pheasant hunting, we put the birds in the back of the bronco with the dog and next time we stopped there was one less pheasant and the dog has a guilty look on his face with feathers stuck to his whiskers. :)

[RichP]

I was just thinking, if we removed the "h" from the title the perfect answer would be 'The US government'...

[IGOCOMMANDO]

Every year when I cut hay for the first time, I kill a few hens on nests. They won't leave the nest and you can't see them in 3-4 foot tall grass. I carry a bucket with a towel in it to put the eggs in if I didn't happen to crush them. I got an inexpensive incubator to hatch them out in. After they hatch, I keep them in a big old water tank with netting on top. Feed them about 6 weeks and turn them loose. If I get too many eggs, I have a friend who raises them commercially. He'll hatch mine out and give them back to me. I really like having them around and yes, they are tasty...