Golden pheasant: what a bird looks like, keeping and breeding the breed

Golden pheasants are bred for ornamental and industrial purposes. Their meat is a valuable dietary product served in the best restaurants in the world. Growing pheasants at home is a labor-intensive and expensive undertaking. Chicks are hatched in an incubator way. Adult birds have a complex character, they are shy and sensitive to the conditions of detention. But pheasants also have advantages - unpretentiousness in food and beautiful plumage.

Historical background

The birthplace of golden pheasants is Tibet and the central regions of China. In the middle of the 19th century, birds with bright plumage came to Europe on merchant ships.Best of all, the English climate approached the eastern birds. Golden pheasants have become popular in Scotland and Wales. Later, farmers in Western Europe, the USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand took up their breeding. In addition to Tibet, a wild population of pheasants lives in the forests of Great Britain. It was formed by birds that escaped from the farm.

In ancient Chinese culture, golden birds symbolize greatness and prosperity. During the time of the emperors, they were bred for beauty and entertainment.

Habitat and lifestyle

Golden Pheasant Wildlife Facts:

• birds nest in bamboo thickets and on mountain slopes. They are found in the lowlands and foothills, but do not climb to a height above two thousand meters above sea level. Sometimes they are seen near rice fields and tea plantations;
• wild golden pheasants feed on foliage and young bamboo shoots, rhododendron flowers, insects;
• birds run well and rarely fly;
• pheasants live alone. Adults settle in secluded areas in the shade of shrubs and trees. They are sedentary diurnal birds;
• pheasants look for food on the ground, but spend the night in trees;
• during the mating season, males emit a dull whistle, as if they are releasing air from a car tire. Sometimes their mating call reminds ornithologists of the grinding of metal;
• in natural habitats, females build nests and take care of their offspring. They feed the chicks in the nest for two days after hatching. The brood quickly grows up, learns to search for food on its own;
• at 14 days the chicks can fly up a tree and settle down for the night, and at four months they leave the nest.

Wild golden pheasants jump up, land and run away when threatened. It is impossible to approach them - the birds immediately flee. Taming did not change the shy nature of bright birds and deprived them of important qualities - maternal instinct and immunity to diseases.

Appearance and performance

The male golden pheasant looks beautiful and colorful:

• yellow plumage on the back;
• golden crest cap;
• orange neck with black rings;
• tail with long gray-brown speckled feathers;
• red belly and chest;
• on the paws of the spur.

The female is distinguished by gray-brown plumage with specks on the back, wings and chest.

Sex differences appear after molting at two months of age. Also, males and females differ in size and weight:

FemaleWeight (in kilograms)1-30.7Body length (in centimeters)10060

Parameter	Male

Most of the body length of pheasants is occupied by the tail: 35 centimeters for females, 77 centimeters for males.The egg production of laying hens is low: young females lay 20 eggs per season, and mature ones - 45-50. But with careful selection of birds and artificial breeding, the productivity of laying hens can be increased by 30 percent. Pheasant eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, weighing 30 grams.

Selection Tips

Golden pheasants for breeding are bought in autumn. Chicks gain strength in winter, and in spring you can get strong offspring that will go for meat.

Signs of a he althy bird:

• tight, lean sternum;
• clean beak without plaque;
• shining plumage;
• mobility.

Purebred representatives of the breed can only be purchased at specialized poultry farms. To exclude closely related ties, you should buy 2-3 birds from different farms.

Pros and cons

Before organizing a pheasant farm, you should familiarize yourself with the shortcomings of birds:

• high maintenance costs;
• only artificial breeding of chicks.

Females do not incubate eggs, so an incubator is needed to breed offspring. Birds are gluttonous, shy, wary of humans and animals.

Despite the difficulties, pheasant breeding has positive aspects:

• low competition;
• high demand for pheasant meat among restaurateurs.

Pheasants are bred by rare private farms. Therefore, you can not be afraid of the battle for the client. The enterprise will pay off if it supplies regular customers.

Features of maintenance and care

Golden pheasants are kept in summer enclosures and heated barns. They have an unfriendly personality. For bright birds, cohabitation with chickens or geese is excluded. For walks, you also need to allocate a separate place to exclude frightening encounters with other poultry.

How to equip a summer aviary for pheasants:

• walls 2.5 meters high are made of fine mesh;
• a nylon net is pulled from above so that the birds that take off from fright do not get hurt;
• a couple of pheasants allocate an area of 2 square meters.

The enclosure can be fenced against the wall of the house or in an open area planted with grass.

The winter house is set up in a brick or insulated wooden shed. Drafts are dangerous for birds, so the cracks must be carefully filled with putty.

A metal mesh is placed on the floor and sawdust and hay are poured on top. The mesh floor protects the pheasants from rodents. Feeders are placed in the illuminated part of the room, and perches are fixed in the shaded part. For females, just in case, they equip nests made of reeds and dry moss.

The size of the pheasant walking area is 10 square meters. The area should also be fenced off with a net. The craving of wild ancestors for trees was passed on to domestic birds. But from high plantations, they will scatter around the garden. On the walking area, it is better to plant low-growing shrubs no more than one and a half meters high - boxwood, blackthorn, snowberry.

So that the pheasants do not meet with other birds, a walking area is located next to the winter and summer aviary, and entrances are made. In winter, birds also need hourly walks.

Diet

Golden pheasants in captivity feed on cereals, grass, meat waste and vegetables.

The winter and summer diet of birds differs in the percentage of grain components:

Share in diet (percentage)WinterSummer Grains Vegetables Animal products

Type of feed
50	45
20	20
5	5
Green	25	30

Golden pheasant food includes:

• wheat;
• barley;
• corn kernels;
• carrot;
• cabbage;
• low-fat cottage cheese;
• minced meat;
• bone meal;
• scalded nettle;
• dandelion leaves;
• plantain.

The herbs are pre-crushed. Grains are given in soaked or boiled form, with a small proportion of dry cereals. Vegetables are also boiled and finely chopped. Pheasants are prepared with wet mash in meat broth. Birds will love rhododendron flowers and bamboo stems as treats.

Vitamins are added to the food in summer. In winter they give fish oil and ascorbic acid. Also, sugar, which is sprinkled with boiled grains, contributes to the increase in the immunity of chicks. Wet mash can be replaced with compound feed. Pheasants are suitable for ready-made chicken mixes.

Newborn chicks are fed boiled eggs and low-fat cottage cheese, chopped greens, vegetables, bone meal and wheat bran are gradually added to the diet. In the second month of life, they are transferred to adult food.

Chicks are fed 10 times a day for the first two weeks of life. At the age of one month, the number of feedings is reduced to six. From three months, the birds are transferred to three meals a day. New foods should be introduced gradually. The sensitive digestion of pheasants is disturbed by sudden changes in diet.

Bird breeding

Basic principles of gold breeding:

• The mating season of pheasants is marked by fierce fighting between males. Therefore, the flock is divided into families and seated in different enclosures. Ten females are planted with one male;
• females lay eggs for three months. They have a weak maternal instinct. A typical phenomenon, when the clutches do not fall into the proposed reed nests, are randomly located on the floor;
• hens rarely incubate eggs until chicks hatch. Therefore, pheasant breeding is carried out in a more reliable way - with the help of an incubator and a brooder;
• for breeding chicks, eggs of the correct rounded shape, with a gray shell without cracks, are chosen. The assembled masonry is stored for 15 days at a temperature of +10 degrees and a humidity of 70 percent. Longer storage reduces chick survival by 26 percent;
• The incubation period is 24 days. Eggs are not washed before laying, only allowed to warm to room temperature. The apparatus is also heated during the day to a temperature of 37.8 degrees and the humidity is set to 65 percent. These conditions are maintained for a three week incubation period;
• Eggs should be turned every day at regular intervals: 4 times in the first week and 6 times in the second. On the third week, the incubator is slightly opened for 15 minutes to ventilate;
• from the 22nd day, the temperature in the apparatus is maintained at 37.5 degrees, humidity - 80 percent, do not ventilate and do not turn the eggs until the chicks hatch;
• brood is planted in a brooder heated to a temperature of +28 degrees. Planting density - 25-30 heads per square meter;
• during the first week the temperature in the brooder is increased by 6 degrees. A month later, the chicks are released for a walk and transplanted into a common aviary.

Chicks can be raised without a brooder by planting them in a chicken. Danger for small pheasants are drinking bowls. In normal containers, they can choke. Therefore, it is better for chicks to put vacuum drinkers.

Diseases and prevention

Golden pheasants are often infected with infections. Treatment gives results in the early stages.

Breed specific diseases:

• Marek's disease - occurs as a result of a viral lesion of the nervous system and internal organs. In birds, coordination of movements is disturbed, paralyzes the legs and wings. The disease quickly covers the livestock, and belongs to a number of incurable;
• viral laryngotracheitis - causes cough, bloody discharge from the larynx, foam from the nose, conjunctivitis.The mucous membrane of the throat is covered with a curdled coating and small hemorrhages. 50 percent of pheasants die from the disease in 3 days. Surviving birds remain carriers of the pathogen for life. Sick individuals are slaughtered and the rest are treated with antibiotics;
• marble spleen - birds die from suffocation. The disease is determined after autopsy, according to the spleen striated with foci of necrosis. There is no treatment, as there are no signs of the development of the disease.

Golden pheasant chicks are more likely to get respiratory infections.

Preventive measures:

• vaccination;
• feed quality and freshness control;
• disinfection of the poultry house before settling new chicks;
• use of anthelmintics every six months.

To increase the viability of chicks, they add the antibiotic "Erythromycin" or "Biomycin" to the water.Prevention of diseases of adult birds is carried out before the arrival of winter. Pheasants are given antibacterial drugs and lipase, fish oil, vitamin supplements.

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