Description of golden pheasants, keeping birds and breeding the breed

Golden pheasants are bred for decorative and industrial purposes. Their meat is a valuable dietary product, which is served in the best restaurants in the world. Growing pheasants at home - a labor-intensive and expensive task. The chicks are hatched using the incubator method. Adult birds have a complex character, they are shy and sensitive to living conditions. But pheasants also have advantages - unpretentiousness in food and beautiful plumage.

Historical reference

The homeland of golden pheasants is Tibet and the central regions of China.In the mid-19th century, birds with colorful plumage arrived in Europe on merchant ships. The English climate suits eastern birds best. Golden pheasants have become popular in Scotland and Wales. Later, farmers in Western Europe, the USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand began breeding them. In addition to Tibet, wild populations of pheasants live 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

Facts about Golden Pheasants in the Wild:

• birds nest in bamboo thickets and on mountain slopes. They are found in lowlands and foothills, but do not climb to a height above two thousand meters above sea level. They are sometimes spotted near rice fields and tea plantations;
• wild golden pheasants feed on foliage and young shoots of bamboo, rhododendron flowers, and insects;
• birds run well and rarely fly;
• pheasants live alone. Adults settle in secluded areas in the shade of bushes and trees. These 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 letting air out of 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 grows up quickly and learns to look 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, when threatened, take off sharply, land and run away.It is impossible to approach them - the birds immediately flee. Domestication did not change the timid nature of the colorful birds and deprived them of important qualities - maternal instinct and immunity to disease.

Appearance and performance

The male golden pheasant looks beautiful and colorful:

• yellow plumage on the back;
• golden tuft-cap;
• the neck is orange with black rings;
• tail with long feathers of gray-brown speckled color;
• red belly and chest;
• there are spurs on the paws.

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

Sexual differences appear after molting at two months of age. Males and females also differ in size and weight:

Most of the body length of pheasants is occupied by the tail: 35 centimeters in females, 77 centimeters in males. The egg production of laying hens is low: young females lay 20 eggs per season, and mature females lay 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.

Tips for choosing

Golden pheasants for breeding are bought in the fall. The chicks gain strength in winter, and in the spring you can get strong offspring that will be used for meat.

Signs of a healthy bird:

• dense, lean breastbone;
• clean beak without plaque;
• brilliant plumage;
• mobility.

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

Advantages and disadvantages

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

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

Females do not incubate eggs, so an incubator is needed to hatch offspring. Birds are voracious, timid, and 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 don’t have to worry about fighting 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 a quarrelsome character. For colorful birds, cohabitation with chickens or geese is excluded. You also need to allocate a separate place for walks to avoid scary encounters with other poultry.

How to arrange a summer pheasant enclosure:

• walls 2.5 meters high are made of fine mesh;
• a nylon net is pulled over the top so that birds flying up from fright do not get hurt;
• For a pair of pheasants, an area of ​​2 square meters is allocated.

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

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

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 secured in the shaded part. For females, just in case, nests are made of reeds and dry moss.

The size of the pheasant walking area is 10 square meters. The area should also be fenced with a net. Domestic birds inherited their wild ancestors' desire for trees. But from high plantings they will scatter throughout the garden.In the area for walking, it is better to plant low-growing shrubs no more than one and a half meters high - boxwood, blackthorn, snowberry.

To prevent pheasants from meeting other birds, the walking area is located next to the winter and summer enclosures, and entrances are made. In winter, birds also require hour-long walks.

Diet

Golden pheasants in captivity feed on grains, grass, meat scraps and vegetables.

The winter and summer diets of birds differ in the percentage of grain components:

The diet of golden pheasants includes:

• wheat;
• barley;
• corn grains;
• carrot;
• cabbage;
• skim cheese;
• ground meat;
• bone flour;
• scalded nettle;
• dandelion leaves;
• plantain.

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

In summer, vitamins are added to the food. In winter, fish oil and ascorbic acid are given. Sugar, which is sprinkled on boiled grains, also helps to increase the immunity of chicks. Wet mash can be replaced with mixed feed. Ready-made mixtures for chickens are suitable for pheasants.

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

Bird breeding

Basic principles of breeding golden breeds:

• The mating season of pheasants involves fierce fights between males. Therefore, the flock is divided into families and placed in different enclosures. One male is placed with ten females;
• females lay eggs for three months. They have a weak maternal instinct. A typical phenomenon is when the clutches do not fall into the proposed reed nests and are located chaotically on the floor;
• hens rarely incubate eggs until the chicks hatch. Therefore, pheasant breeding is carried out in a more reliable way - using an incubator and brooder;
• To hatch chicks, eggs are chosen that have a regular round shape, with a gray shell without cracks. The collected masonry is stored for 15 days at a temperature of +10 degrees and a humidity of 70 percent. With longer storage, the survival rate of chicks decreases by 26 percent;
• the incubation period lasts 24 days. Before laying, the eggs are not washed, just allowed to warm to room temperature. The device is also heated during the day to a temperature of 37.8 degrees and the humidity is set to 65 percent. Such conditions are maintained for a three-week incubation period;
• eggs need to be turned every day at equal intervals: 4 times in the first week and 6 times in the second. In the third week, the incubator is opened slightly for 15 minutes for ventilation;
• from the 22nd day, the temperature in the apparatus is maintained at 37.5 degrees, humidity - 80 percent, the eggs are not ventilated or turned over until the chicks hatch;
• the brood is placed 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. After a month, the chicks are released for a walk and transplanted into a common enclosure.

Chicks can be raised without a brooder by introducing them to a chicken. Drinkers pose a danger to small pheasants. In ordinary containers they can choke. Therefore, it is better to place vacuum drinkers for chicks.

Diseases and prevention

Golden pheasants often become infected. Treatment gives results in the early stages.

Diseases characteristic of the breed:

• Marek's disease - occurs as a result of viral damage to the nervous system and internal organs. In birds, coordination of movements is impaired, legs and wings are paralyzed. The disease quickly spreads to the population and is considered incurable;
• viral laryngotracheitis - causes cough, bloody discharge from the larynx, foam from the nose, conjunctivitis. The mucous membrane of the throat becomes covered with a cheesy coating and small hemorrhages. The disease kills 50 percent of pheasants within 3 days. Surviving birds remain lifelong carriers of the pathogenic virus. Sick individuals are slaughtered, and the rest are treated with antibiotics;
• marbled spleen - birds die from suffocation. The disease is determined after autopsy by the spleen streaked with foci of necrosis. There is no treatment, as there are no signs of the disease developing.

Golden pheasant chicks are more likely to suffer from respiratory infections.

Preventive measures:

• vaccination;
• control of feed quality and freshness;
• disinfection of the poultry house before moving in new chicks;
• use of anthelmintic drugs once every six months.

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