RAISING PHEASANT CHICKS
THE BROODER HOUSE AND EQUIPMENT
Brooder House:
Pheasant chicks should be in a brooder house which is relatively weather tight, free from drafts, and rodent proof. A special gamebird brooder house or a building that has been used for rearing chickens can be used. If such facilities are not available, a part of some other building, such as a garage in which a portion can be penned off, will work.
In all cases, the brooder or house should be large enough to allow at least 2 square feet of floor space per chick. The pheasant is a wild creature and tends-to be nervous; therefore, too much space is better than too little.
Brooder:
The easiest way to brood 50 pheasant chicks is with a heap lamp. This is called cold room brooding, because the heat is directed at the chicks without regard for temperatures in the brooder house itself. The heat lamp burns continuously.
Use a 250 watt, red-end, infrared heat lamp. If possible, get the lamp with a Pyrex glass. It won't break if you accidentally hit it with a few drops of water.
If you make your own, be sure to use a porcelain socket (ask your electric company for plans). A commercial heat lamp made especially for brooding chicks and pigs is best. This unit generally has a reflector and built-in safety features. Heat from the lamp keeps the birds warm while the red color helps reduce cannibalism. The heat lamp needs not have a reflector however, but a reflector is desirable. When using heat lamp, you can see your chicks at all times. This makes it easier to care for the birds than with a conventional brooder.
Hang the heat lamp from the ceiling. Some means of adjusting the distance between the floor and the face of the lamp is essential. In most cases, it will hang 15 to 18 inches above the floor.
Covers with regular light bulbs do not provide constant heat and are not recommended. Oil, coal and gas brooders heat the whole house and are not recommended for hot weather brooding. In case of necessity, they can be used. Battery brooders are unsatisfactory.
Regardless of the kind of brooder used, follow the manufacturer's directions.
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Feeding and Watering Equipment:
Three chick feeders 2 feet long will handle 50 birds up to 8 weeks.
Three one quart chick waterers will be needed up to 8 weeks. The addition of a 2-foot trough type chick waterer is desirable after the second week.
Use green plastic jar waterers. The green color attracts the chicks and aids in teaching them to drink.
Chick Guard:
Use a 3~-inch high chick guard to confine the chicks to the brooder area for the first three to five days. The guard keeps the little birds from straying away from the heat and prevents floor drafts. Use roll roofing, metal, or cardboard boxes. A 12-foot length of chick guard will make a circle about 3 feet in diameter which is adequate for heat lamp brooding.
Yard:
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Pheasants need sunlight and exercise to grow rapidly and develop into strong healthy birds. Therefore, a big yard is essential to prevent overcrowding. Overcrowding contributes to feather picking and cannibalism. The less crowded, the better the young pheasants will adapt to the wild after release. Each chick should have at least 20 square feet of yard space. For 50 chicks, this means 1000 square feet.
If your yard has natural grass and weed vegetation, the birds will do better. If the yard is bare, plant oats or some cereal grain. The grain should be planted early enough so that it will be 4 to 5 inches high when the chicks are ready to go outdoors.
If possible, do not yard pheasants where chickens have been raised. Chickens have many diseases which remain dormant in the soil for long periods and can then infect your pheasants.
Pheasants like shade. A few natural bushes for shade are preferred. If not available, cover a part of the pen with brush, snow fence, old roofing or sacking to provide shade.
Questions to Ponder
What kind of brooder will you use?
When you use a red-end, infrared heat lamp as a brooder, why must you use a porcelain socket?
How large a brooder house do you plan to use?
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Does your brooder house have at least 2 square feet of floor space for each chick?
Why do pheasants need a good yard?
Why should you build the yard on ground that has not been used for poultry?
How many square feet of yard space should each bird have?
If you already have a yard, does it meet the requirements?
WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE CHICKS HATCH
Day old pheasant chicks are delicate, easily injured, and subject to many diseases. Therefore, time spent preparing for the chicks before they hatch is worthwhile. If you have an old brooder house, remove all of the old litter. Scrape the floor and walls, if necessary. Scrub the walls and floor with a good disinfectant (lye used as directed on the can is a good disinfectant). Be sure all cracks are cleaned and disinfected. Do not use tar or asphalt sanitizers unless the house can stand empty for at least 30 days-tar and asphalt bum the chicks' feet and may cripple them.
As soon as the house is dry, put down a good litter. Expanded vermiculite is one of the best litters because it is fireproof. Shavings or commercially processed flax straw are excellent litters. Peat moss can be used if it is not too fine. Sand is not recommended because it may get into the chicks' eyes and blind them.
Put a layer of paper, made especially for starting chicks, or a white muslin cloth over the litter for the first five days. This keeps the chicks from eating litter instead of feed meant for them and starving to death. Do not use slick paper, such as wrapping paper; the chicks slip and slide on it and may develop leg trouble.
Keep the paper or cloth on top of the litter for the first five days. Turn it over if it becomes soiled before the fifth day.
Clean and disinfect the feeders and watering equipment (lye will damage galvanized metal).
The Brooder:
Check to see that the heat lamp works. Check the hanging apparatus for ease in raising and lowering the lamp. Be sure that the lamp can not accidentally fall into the litter. If it should fall, the brooder house might bum.
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Adjust the heat lamp to the weather when you put in the chicks. Be sure to follow the directions that come with the lamp.
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Feed:
Have at least 2 pounds of gamebird or turkey starter for each chick when you start brooding. This should last you until release time. Do not use chick starter for the pheasant chicks. It is too low in protein.
Secure and have on hand by the fourth week either chick scratch grain or screenings from grain cleaning operations. If you use screenings, run them through the fanning mill a couple of times with a high wind to get rid of the chaff. The screenings should contain broken kernels of grain as well as wild millet, buckwheat, and pigeon grass seeds. Pheasants need a hard grit (not oyster shell). Four to five pounds of chick-size grit should be enough for 50 birds through 8 weeks.
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Questions to Ponder
Why should you clean an old brooder house?
How do you clean a brooder house? (list the things you do)
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What kind of litter will you use?
Why should sand not be used as litter?
What is the purpose of the litter cloth?
What kinds of feed are recommended for pheasant chicks?
CARE OF CHICKS AFTER THEY HATCH
When the chicks hatch, take them out of the incubator, dip their beaks into water and then into the feed, and put the chicks under the heat lamp. Dipping the beak into the water and feed helps the chick learn what it is and where it is.
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Adjust the height of the heat lamp so the chicks huddle in a small circle with a vacant spot directly beneath the bulb.
If the chicks bunch up directly under the lamp, it is hung too high and the chicks are not getting enough heat. If the chicks spread out in a large circle, then the lamp is too near the floor and there is too much heat.
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When the temperature is established to the chicks' satisfaction and they are comfortable, remember the following:
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1.
Leave the chick guard up for the first three days, four days if the weather is bad. On the fourth and fifth day, take the guard down during the day, but put it up again at night. On the sixth day, remove the guard entirely.
2.
Remove the litter paper or litter cloth at the end of the fifth day. If the litter paper or cloth becomes soiled before the fifth day, turn it over and use the clean side.
3.
Inspect the chicks often during the first week, especially at night, to be sure they are comfortable; neither too hot nor too cold. Be careful when you work around the chicks. Don't scare them!
4.
After the first week, reduce the temperature each week by raising the light to 2 to 3 inches. Let the chick circle under the light be your guide.
5.
At the end of the third week, discontinue the heat during the 'day, weather permitting, and turn heat on again at night. By the end of the fourth week, if the weather is nice, it should be pussible to discontinue the heat entirely.
6.
Allow some ventilation in the brooder house, but be sure there are no drafts blowing directly on the young pheasants.
Feeding
1.
Gamebird diseases are easily spread through dirty feeding and watering equipment. Therefore, clean all feeders each day in scalding water. The feeders should be thoroughly dry before feed is put back into them.
2.
Keep feed in the hoppers at all times, except when cleaning them.
3.
For the first five days, scatter some crushed starter pellets on paper plates or squares of rough paper and put them inside the guard with the hoppers. This helps the chicks learn to eat. If you buy paper plates, buy green ones. The green color attracts the chicks to the feed. Brightly colored marbles in the feeders also help attract chicks to feed.
4.
Sprinkle a small amount of chick size grit over the feed the first day and every fourth day thereafter. Don't use too much grit or the chicks will go on a grit binge. If they eat too much grit, they will not eat enough feed.
5.
When chicks are allowed in the yard, put a feeder in the yard. Otherwise, they will have to go back into the house for food.
6.
At the end of the third week, sprinkle a small amount of chick scratch grain or screenings on the feed. At the end of the fourth week, feed the grain or screenings in a separate feeder.
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Watering
1.
For the first three days, give the chicks water that feels warm to the touch. After that, they can drink cold water.
2.
Put small stones in the chicks' water founts for the first few days to keep the chicks from falling in and drowning.
3.
Put a fountain on each side of the heat lamp inside the chick guard so the chicks will not have far to go for a drink.
4.
Scald water founts every day. Change the water twice a day. Pheasant chicks like clean water free of litter and dirt.
5.
Move a water fountain into the yard as soon as the chicks are allowed outside.
Yarding and Ranging
1.
When the chicks are a week old, let them run in the yard on warm, sunny days. Chicks can squeeze through a I-inch mesh wire until they are about 10 days old. Put a board, a strip of tarpaper, or chick guard material about 18 inches high around the bottom of the fence to keep the young chicks in. This also prevents dogs, cats, barnyard animals, etc., from frightening them.
2.
If a storm threatens, drive the chicks back into the house.
3.
Drive young pheasants into the brooder house each night and let them out again in the morning. After five weeks, give them free access to both house and yard.
4.
Provide some shade for the chicks. Natural bushes are the best. Otherwise, put tree branches (evergreens are good) or sacking over the top of the yard. Be sure the material does not flop or wave in the wind or the chicks will pile into the comers from fright, and some may smother.
5.
In a bare pen, cannibalism may break out. The first indication of cannibalism will be bare backed birds. The back feathers will either be pulled out or broken off by other chicks.
Putting green branches, green weeds, or clean straw into the pen for the chicks to peck at or play under curtails cannibalism. In extreme cases the chicks may have to be debeaked. If they need to be debeaked, consult your county extension agent, local hatchery man, or farm supply store. However, if the chicks are to be released into the
wild, debeaking should be avoided whenever possible.
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