pheasant eggs

vincentf

I kept a few hens and a cock pheasant this winter in a pen.their in good condition. They are on rolled barley. Im hoping to get them laying to hatch their eggs or put them under broody hens.
Do they need different feed to get them laying ?
Should i put in a nest box with straw like with chickens ?
When do they start laying?
This is my first attempt keeping them. Any help appreciated.

EPointer=Birdss

vincentf wrote: »

I kept a few hens and a cock pheasant this winter in a pen.their in good condition. They are on rolled barley. Im hoping to get them laying to hatch their eggs or put them under broody hens.
Do they need different feed to get them laying ?
Should i put in a nest box with straw like with chickens ?
When do they start laying?
This is my first attempt keeping them. Any help appreciated.

They won't lay well on barley IMO.
I'd have em on a layer pellet now. You will get way more eggs. Some say more infertile eggs but it boosts em. A high protein game feed might be better but layers pellets were cheap & available for me when I used do a lot of breeding pheasants.
Id expect eggs the first to second week of April & they only need a bit of light cover to lay. A turned over sheet of galvanize or a few nettles always works but you will see eggs in the open too.
Too much cover makes eggs hard to find.
Collect em daily so they don't sit on em as will be a waste of time if they do.
The cock will harass them & the other hens will lay on top of the sittin hen.
Give the eggs to a broody bantam for best results. Spare eggs can be incubated & chicks slipped under a hen with other chicks if you get your timing right.

A very rewarding hobby but time consuming & will need proper escape proof brooding pens to put the bantam & chicks into on their own after a few days.

I have had hens hatch clutches in a pen before but the chicks got picked by the other hens or wondered out of the pen & got lost/ picked off.

td5

Hens should have been on Breeder pellets from 1st week in March. Expect eggs early April. Avoid Layers pellets they are formulated for one purpose ( Laying Eggs) not for producing future stock.

Kells1

A game rearer told me to feed the hens a turkey finisher pellet. Red mills do one. You will get it at your local co op. For the nest cut a couple of blue 150 l barrels in half put them around the pen and fill them with straw. Perfect for nesting hens. An incubator would be the handiest thing to hatch the eggs if you don't have bantams.