Gass SF .fQ^ 
 Book 'lA 
 
BOARD OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS 
 
 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, U. S. A. 
 
 BULLETIN No. 1 
 
 Pheasant Raising 
 
 Arranged by 
 
 CHAS. A. VOGELSANG 
 
 Chief Deputy 
 
 SACRAMENTO: 
 
 \V. VV. SHANNON, : : : : SUPERINTENDENT STATE PRINTING 
 
 1910 
 

 'Ki 
 
 PHE.A5ANT RAISING. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The State Fish aud Game Commissioners, realiziiii,' that ihci-e is a 
 strong and iinsatistied demand by hotels, restaurants, and by ]n'ivate 
 eitizen.s wlio do not hunt for wild game, and with a constantly increasing 
 population, which renders it necessary to place greater restrictions (such 
 as longer closed seasons and lessened bag limits) upon the amount of 
 game that can be taken, believe that the situation could best lie met 
 through the establishment of a game farm, where pheasants and other 
 game birds could be raised and distributed throughout the State, to 
 jieople who would agree to give them proper protection and attention, 
 and would take up the work of propagation seriously. The raising of 
 pheasants in captivity has been carried on for years in European coun- 
 tries, and with considerable success in Eastern States. 
 
 It is the intention of the Fish and Game Commissioners to reconunend 
 at the forthcoming session of the legislature that pheasants raised in 
 captivity can be sold in the markets. It would mean a new industry 
 and would serve a double purpose. It would reduce the drain on wild 
 game in the tield. and give the jirotit that formerly went to market 
 hunters to citizens and taxpayers who engage in a legitimate business. 
 
 At practically every session of the legislature for the past ten years 
 some variety of game bird or animal has been added to the nousale list, 
 leaving wild ducks, wild geese and rabbits the only game that can be 
 sold in the markets. It is only a matter of a very short time until wild 
 ducks are added to the nonsale list. 
 
 The establishment of the game farm has been rendered possible by the 
 hunting license law. which provides yearly a large revenue. Such a 
 farm has been establishmed near Hayward. Alameda County, at a cost 
 of approximately $10,000, which includes its equipment, houses, barn, 
 water tank, pumping plant, pens, horse and wagon, necessary tools, and 
 the original stock of birds. Our first year's work w^as performed under 
 serious disadvantages. We raised, however, 1,200 pheasants. We 
 expect to have 3.000 for liberation this year. All expenses in connection 
 with this game farm are paid out of the hunting license fund, without 
 taxing the general fund of the State one cent. 
 
 As an aid to those who are desirous of embarking in such an enter- 
 prise, we oft'er the following brief account of methods that liave been 
 proven successful by this Commission and other experienced breeders. 
 
 D. OF D. 
 
 SEP 19 »910 
 
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 Wo have quoted largely from Farmers' Bulletin No. 390 on "Pheasant 
 Raising in the United States.*' issued April. 1910, by the United States 
 Department of Agriculture, and prepared by Henry Oldys, Assistant 
 United States Biological Survey. 
 
 PENS. 
 
 The location of the pens is a most important factor. Well drained, 
 sandy or gravellj- land facing the south should be selected if possible, 
 and the pens arranged to get all the sunshine possible during the wet 
 months, as sunshine is one of the very best preventives of bird diseases. 
 In hot locations the pen can be shaded when necessary. 
 
 A good sized pen or run for one cock and four hens would be about 
 ten feet wide by sixteen feet long and six feet high. The sides and top 
 should be covered with one-inch mesh poultry netting, carefully fas- 
 tened and sunk into the ground at least a foot, to keep out burrowing 
 animals. It is well to have an entrance at both ends of the pen for 
 convenience in gathering eggs. A shed should be built in the north end 
 of the run. with the side facing the sun, open. This shed should be at 
 least four feet Avide by six feet long and as high as the sides of the pen. 
 A roost should he provided, the length of the shed and a foot and a half 
 above the ground. The front of the shed imtst he left open or the birds 
 will not enter ; the roof, rear and ends should be tight. When possible, 
 it is well to enclose in the run small trees or shrubs for the birds to use 
 as perches and for roosting; they will, besides, provide a shade during 
 the hot summer months. Pheasants usuallj' refuse to roost under cover, 
 consequently, roosts of some sort must be provided in the open. Where 
 more than one pen is used, they should communicate with each other, 
 either directly or through a covered alleyway. This greatly facilitates 
 the moving of birds from pen to pen. 
 
 It is absolutely essential that the pen be kept clean and free from lice 
 at all times. The pheasant is a wild bird with greater vitality than 
 domestic poultry, yet conditions and diseases that affect poultry l.)ut 
 slightly are fatal to the hardier bird. It is, perhaps, safe to say that 
 most failures in pheasant rearing are due to filth and lice. We can not 
 emphasize this fact too strongly ; keep your pheasants in clean quarters 
 and free from lice or you will lose them. 
 
 Before the beginning of the mating season it is advisable to move the 
 adult birds to a fresh, clean pen. The ground in the old pen should 
 then be spread with unslaked lime, allowed to stand two or three weeks, 
 and then spaded up and planted to some grain or vegetable crop. All 
 woodwork about pens and sheds should be sprayed or Avashed several 
 times during the year with a good wash made with unslaked lime and 
 water, to which has been added carbolic acid in the proportion of six 
 
ounces of acid to the gallon of wash. No whitewashing should be done 
 during the laying season, as the hens are so affected by the odor as to 
 stop laying. 
 
 HANDLING NEW BIRDS. 
 
 When a shipment of pheasants is received, first of all consider that 
 they will feel strange and timid ; therefore, must be quietly handled. 
 Place the crate in the pen, with food and water near by. After arrang- 
 ing it so that the birds can come out when they get ready, leave them 
 and keep away from the pen, except when necessary to feed and water, 
 as pheasants are easily scared when changed to new quarters. After a 
 few days they will become accustomed to their new home and can be 
 cared for without trouble. The same person should attend to the birds 
 all the time if possible, and should always wear the same clothing Avhen 
 among them, as they are sensitive to any change of appearance and 
 become frightened very easily. Strangers always bother the birds, and 
 dogs and cats should never be allowed near the runs. Handle the birds 
 only when actually necessary and then only by grasping them over the 
 wings and around the body. Never grasp them by the wings or legs as 
 is commonly done with poultry. 
 
 FEED FOR ADULT BIRDS. 
 
 Those foods that contain the elements and properties of their natural 
 food supply, and to which they have become accustomed through cen- 
 turies of feeding in the wild state, are naturally best suited to the 
 pheasant in captivity. Do not overfeed, as it is sure to induce disease. 
 The pheasant is a small feeder, needing only about half as mucli food as 
 the chicken. 
 
 Variety in food is very important, as the pheasant in his wild state 
 eats practically every edible suljstanee he finds. Adult birds require 
 feeding morning and evening, no more food being given them than will 
 be cleaned up. "We have found tlie best food to be a mixture made after 
 the following formula : 
 
 Broken ^^'Ileat (not scrtHMiinus ) 20ponuds 
 
 Fine (grauuhited) cracked corn 1-5 pounds 
 
 Oat groats 15 pounds 
 
 Coarse beef scrap 10 pounds 
 
 Millet seed 10 pounds 
 
 Canary seed lOpounds 
 
 Rape seed •!> pounds 
 
 Hemp seed .5 pounds 
 
 Fine chicken grit ."►pounds 
 
 Fine granulated charcoal .3 pounds 
 
 1<J(J pounds 
 
 We should say at this point that none of the various poultry foods 
 that we have tested has proven suitable for pheasants. The birds must 
 
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 have plenty of green ground bone at all times and be given an abund- 
 ance of green feed, such as cabbage, lettuce, swiss chard, fine cut lawn 
 clippings, clover or alfalfa. They like lettuce best. Pheasants get 
 unthrifty at once if deprived of the green stuff they need. Fresh water 
 in abundance mnst always be handy. Scald all watering dishes every 
 day, and keep drinking water in the shade or change it often; warm 
 water favors the development of bacteria that cause disease. 
 
 MATING SEASON. 
 
 The mating season will of course vary with the locality, but, generally 
 speaking, it begins in April and extends into August. In captivity the 
 pheasant hen lays from forty to seventy-tive eggs. Nests are useless, as 
 the hens will seldom use them, but drop their eggs on the ground any- 
 where in the pen. 
 
 The eggs should be gathered as soon as laid, or at least twice a day : 
 otherwise the Ijirds (particularly the males) will eat them. A sure cure 
 for the egg-eating habit is to blow some eggs and fill them with melted 
 soap and place in the pens. Eggs should l)e set as soon as possible ; after 
 they are fourteen days old they are unfit for hatching. 
 
 After hens have stopped laying for the season they can often be 
 encouraged to resume by moving them and the male to a new, clean pen. 
 The '"lay" in the new pen sometimes exceeds that in the old one, and of 
 course more than pays for the expense of extra pens. 
 
 HATCHING. 
 
 The pheasant hen in captivity is a poor mother; besides, it is more 
 profitable to keep her laying. Wyandottes and Rhode Island reds make 
 the best ' ' mothers ' ' for pheasant eggs and chicks, although any domestic 
 hen will do. so long as she is a good ' ' setter. ' ' Turkey hens are splendid 
 mothers, as they are very cpiet on the nest and careful with young birds. 
 They seldom step on the chicks and are not so given to roaming as hen 
 chickens are. The eggs must he set so that they will receive the benefit 
 of ground moisture in a nest made after this plan : 
 
 Dig a hole in tlic ground in a shady place and shape a nest in it with 
 excelsior ; a handful of onion skins is a valuable addition, as they help 
 to keep lice away. The nest should be enclosed with a box without a 
 top and aliout twelve inches high to prevent the young birds from escap- 
 ing as soon as they hatch. Before placing the hen on the eggs be sure 
 that she is free from lice and disease, as lice are certain death to young 
 birds and are tlie cause of most failures in raising pheasants. One 
 insect feeding on top of a chick's head will kill the bird if not destroyed 
 or removed. Dust the setting hen with some good lice powder at least 
 three times during the hatching period (liut not within three days of 
 
hatching), and if at any time the vonng- birds sliow evidence of being 
 infested with lice, such as drooping and refusing to eat, dust them with 
 lice powder and grease under their necks and on top of tlieir heads with 
 lard or olive oil. 
 
 From fifteen to seventeen eggs make a good setting for a chicken hen, 
 while a turkey hen will cover from twenty to twenty-five. The period 
 of incubation varies from twenty-one to twenty-eight days, although well 
 fertilized eggs usually hatch on the twenty-third day, and all about the 
 same time. The hen should be undisturbed during the hatching time 
 
 
 
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 and the young birds left in the nest until the youngest is a day old, as 
 they need the "mother's" warmth for drying and strength-giving. 
 
 A coop for the mother and her chicks sliould be ready as soon as tliey 
 are taken from the hatching nest. A cut and description of a very satis- 
 factory coop is given herewith. 
 
 This coop (as shown) is three feet wide ])y six feet long and is twelve 
 inches high, except in the hen's compartment, which is raised to twenty 
 inches at the inner end. A space two feet long should be partitioned 
 off at one end for the hen and an eight-inch opening left. This opening 
 should be covered with slats spaced so that the chicks have just enough 
 room to pass from one compartment to the other. The hen's compart- 
 ment should l)e made with a hinged cover — to facilitate feeding and 
 handling — while the runway should he covered with one-inch mesh net- 
 ting, set in a sliding frame. It is a good plan to set the coop on a 
 
— s — 
 
 freshly cut grass plot and move it daily. The tender shoots of new 
 grass form a wholesome part of the chicks ' food, and they are very fond 
 of it, besides which, there is daily provided a supply of insect life. 
 
 After the chicks are four days old and know the call of their foster 
 mother, they may be allowed to leave the coop after the morning dew has 
 disappeared, and forage for themselves. Many breeders even allow the 
 hen and her brood their freedom until the young birds show a disposi- 
 tion to fly out of the enclosure, when they transfer them to covered pens. 
 Young birds cared for in this manner -will be hardier and freer from 
 lice and disease than those confined in coops. 
 
 THE FEEDING OF PHEASANT CHICKS. 
 
 It is important that the hen and her brood be fed separately. The 
 young birds should not be fed at all until they are twenty-four hours 
 old, as they come from the shell sufficiently well nourished to maintain 
 their strength for that length of time, but they should have clean sand 
 or fine gravel to pick at from the first. By the second day they will 
 begin to get hungry and need feeding every two hours. After they are 
 five days old, let the feedings be gradually reduced, until, at the expira- 
 tion of three weeks, the birds are being fed but three times a day. 
 
 As soon as the young birds are ready to eat, they should be fed on a 
 milk curd made as follows : Heat one cpart of sweet milk to the boiling 
 point, stir in ten eggs (well beaten) and then cook until the curd is well 
 done. Strain off the watery fluid and you have a crumbly food that 
 contains nearly all the elements essential to young pheasant life. A 
 mixture of milk, eggs, and oat or corn meal in proportions to make a dry 
 crumbly mixture is also a flne food. Boiled potatoes, mashed and mixed 
 with finely chopped hard boiled eggs, corn meal, and bran — with or 
 without finely chopped scraps of meat— provides a food that the young 
 birds like. Still another suitable food is a mash of corn grits, Avheat 
 middlings, bone meal, beef scraps, and milk, made rather dry. In mak- 
 ing curd, make only enough to last one day, as it spoils quickly and sour 
 food is death to the birds. 
 
 Maggots are the very best animal food for young plieasants. They 
 are easily procured and the chicks may eat as many as they desire 
 with perfect safety. But maggots should not be given to the birds until 
 they have lain in bran long enough to clean themselves. ^Maggots when 
 taken direct from meat seem to be poisonous and are a dangerous food. 
 Maggots may be procured in various ways, but we will describe but tw^o 
 plans, both of which have been used by us. Take crushed green bone 
 and finely chopped meat and place out doors until the mixture is well 
 covered with fly eggs. Then fill a box or pan half full of bran, over 
 which spread thin scraps of liver or meat for food for the maggots, and 
 
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 spread the liyblown green bone and meat on top. Another good method 
 is to hang a beef or sheep head until the maggots get big enough to drop 
 out. Then place a box of bran underneath and allow the maggots to kiy 
 in the bran a day or so before giving them to the birds. 
 
 Lettuce is a splendid food for young birds, and they should have it 
 all the time. Fasten a head to the ground with a sharp stick and the 
 birds will pick it off as they want it. Leave no remnants of food around 
 the pens to become stale, and keep everything as clean and dry as pos- 
 sible. Dampness causes colds and gapes. Have plenty of fine grit and 
 sand in readi at all times, and it is Avell to keep a pan with such food as 
 is fed to the adult birds in the coop so that the youngsters may learn to 
 eat it. 
 
 For watering the young birds, it is l)est to use the fountain jars that 
 can be bought of any poultry supply house. The quart size is the best. 
 Their drinking Avater 7nnst always he fresh and the fountain jars (and 
 food pans) should be cleaned and scalded every day. 
 
 Usually the birds can be moved to the large runs by the time they are 
 two or three weeks old. Don't put them with old birds. By the time 
 they are five weeks old they may be fed anything they would find in the 
 wild state. Young birds (as well as old) must always have dust or 
 ashes to "dust" themselves in. This is their way of taking a bath and 
 freeing themselves from insects. 
 
 DI5LA5LS OF PHLA5ANT5. 
 
 By George Byron Morse, M.D., V.S. 
 
 In charge of investigations of diseases of birds and cold-blooded animals, U. S. Bureau 
 
 of Animal Industry. 
 
 DISEASES AFFECTING YOUNG PHEASANTS. 
 
 Pasting.- — Pasting occurs usually during the first week of life. The 
 chick loses its vivacity, sits with eyes closed and its downy coat fluffed 
 until it appears like a ball. Examination reveals the vent plugged or 
 covered by a whitish, chalky, or pasty substance. This stoppage of the 
 vent frequently leads to death in a day or two as the result of the absorp- 
 tion of putrefactive poisons due to retention of the feces. Treatment 
 consists in the immediate gentle removal of this chalky plug and the 
 application of a few drops of sweet oil or a bit of petrolatum. 
 
 Diarrhea. — AVhitish diarrhea may be caused in yevy young chicks by 
 cold, by overheating, b}^ overfeeding, or by too little or too mucli water. 
 The observant fancier will come to recognize these conditions almost 
 instinctively, and will relieve them by at once altering the regime. This 
 should be all that is necessary. If more is required it is evidence that 
 
— 10 — 
 
 either tlie ease has been permitted to run so long that the chick is too 
 weak to recuperate or infection is operating. 
 
 WJiite diarrhea of chicks, so dreaded by the poultryman, is an atfec- 
 tion of pheasant chicks as well. The diarrhea is merely a symptom of a 
 severe infection of the intestines, especially of the blind pouches or ceca, 
 by a low form of animal life, known as Coccidium teneUum, and Ave 
 therefore speak of the disease, as an intestinal coccidiosis. The white 
 coloration of the fecal discharge, as in the two previous diseases, is due 
 to excretions from the kidneys. In certain virulent forms of tlie disease 
 the minute blood vessels on the inner portion of the intestinal Avail burst, 
 and the bleeding giA^es rise to a dark broAvn or CA'en blackish coloration, 
 which obscures the Avhite effect of the uric acid. 
 
 Treatment should begin Avith the administration of Epsom salts, mix- 
 ing them in a mash and estimating from eight to fifteen chicks to one 
 teaspoonful of the salts, according to age, size, and previous thriftiness. 
 The drinking AA^ater should contain sulphate of iron (copperas^ in the 
 proportion of ten grains of the copperas to one gallon of Avater or enough 
 permanganate of potash may be added to the drinking Avater to give the 
 Avater a claret-red color. The coops, feeding utensils, drinking vessels, 
 and runs should be disinfected. As a prcA'entive measure, incubators 
 and brooders should be cleansed and disinfected, and, prior to incuba- 
 tion, whether natural or artificial, the eggs should be dipped in ninety- 
 five per cent alcohol or in a four per cent solution of some good coal-tar 
 disinfectant. 
 
 DISEASES AFFECTING MAINLY ADULT PHEASANTS. 
 
 Roup. — Certain affections knoAvn as contagious catarrh, diphtheria, 
 and roup, if, indeed, they be distinct diseases, generally group them- 
 selves in the fancier's mind under the one name, roup. The term diph- 
 theria should not be used, because it belongs properly to that disease in 
 the human family Avhich is caused by a special bacillus AA^hieh does not 
 cause disease in birds. The other tAA^o names may represent tAVO different 
 stages of the same disease, a contagious inflammation of the mucous mem- 
 ])ranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, gullet, or Avindpipe, which may 
 express itself by a Avatery, sticky, bad-smelling secretion, or by the devel- 
 opment of yelloAvish patches. 
 
 In the treatment of these affections the first thing is to recognize the 
 contagiousness and to isolate the sick birds. Disinfect the houses and 
 grounds. Make a mixture of peroxide of hydrogen and boiled water, 
 equal parts ; into this plunge the head of the aft'ected bird. By means 
 of a slender Avire covered Avith a little absorbent cotton and dipped in 
 this mixture clean out of the eye or scrape oft' the tongue and sides of 
 the mouth all yelloA\ ish matter and apply a four per cent solution of 
 borax or boracic acid or the peroxide solution named aboAT. Give all 
 
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 birds, sick aud well, a dose of Epsom salts. Keep iron sulphate or per- 
 manganate of potash in the drinking water. 
 
 Enteritis.— Enteritis, as used in bird medicine, means inflammation of 
 the intestines. While it may originate from cold, improper f eedmg. and 
 the like, it is usually an infectious disease and calls for prompt cleansing 
 of the digestive tract, which is best accomplished by Epsom salts or a tea"^ 
 spoonful of castor oil containing about fifteen drops of turpentine. Add 
 iron sulphate or permanganate of potash to the water; isolate the 
 affected birds. Disinfect thoroughly the houses, utensils, and grounds, 
 and sprinkle lime everywhere. The causes may be coccidia. such as we 
 find in white diarrhea of chicks ; flagellates, as in the canker of pigeons ; 
 or bacteria, as in Klein 's infectious enteritis. 
 
 CJiolera.— Cholera would really come under the third class just men- 
 tioned. The organism causing it is frequently so virulent that death 
 comes within a few hours, even before the diarrhea symptoms have had 
 time to manifest themselves. The treatment would be practically that 
 outlined under enteritis, although treatment is usually of no avail." Kill 
 the very sick and treat only the apparently healthy, thus anticipating 
 and preventing the disease. Necessary in aU the other diseases, it is of 
 supreme importance in cholera to burn quickly all dead birds, after 
 saturating them with coal oil. Burying deep and covering with lime 
 may have to do, but it is not so good a method. In killing the sick birds 
 do not use the ax, and thus spatter everything with the infective blood. 
 Scurfy legs.— The affection known as scurfy legs, scaly legs, scabies, 
 or mange of the legs and feet is caused by a parasitic mite, Sarcoptes 
 mutans, which burrows under the scales and by its presence sets up an 
 irritation which causes a rapid increase in production of cells, together 
 with a secretion resulting in a gradual thickening and elevation of the 
 scales. Being a parasitic disease, scaly legs is transmissible from one 
 bird to another and from infested houses, perches, nests, etc. Treatment 
 must begin with isolation of the patient and the thorough application to 
 the coops and fixtures of boiling soapy water, then kerosene, and finally 
 a coat of five per cent carbolic acid, to which has been added enough 
 lime to make a whitewash. The affected bird should have its legs soaked 
 in warm soapsuds, this part of the treatment being completed by a good 
 scrubbing with a small hand scrub. This alone has cured the disease. 
 However, it is best to follow this with a good rubbing of sulphur oint- 
 ment (one part flowers of sulphur to nine parts of lard, sweet oil, or 
 vaseline). 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 Pheasants can be hatched in incubators and raised in brooders, but 
 unless one has had much experience along those lines, it is best to resort 
 to the domestic hen. 
 
— 1'-^ — 
 
 There are numerous other methods of raising pheasants, but from the 
 success had with this one, we recommend it as particularly satisfactory. 
 
 The best plan is to always follow nature as closely as possible and 
 heware of filth and lice. For any information that you may desire 
 which is not contained in this booklet, w^rite to the "Superintendent of 
 the State Game Farm, Hay^vard, Cal.," and he will give you such sug- 
 gestions as you may need to make a success of raising pheasants. Any 
 one going into the business extensively should have special instructions 
 and must provide a different equipment. 
 
 IMPORTANT. 
 
 HOW TO LIBERATE GAME BIRDS. 
 
 If game birds are taken from the crates and left to fly, in their fright 
 and desire to get away as far as possible from the crate, they will con- 
 tinue until exhausted. Such a flight will land them outside the lands 
 they are intended for and will scatter them so badly that the pairs may 
 never be reunited. If this is not the case, the exhausted birds will fall 
 easy prey to predatory birds and animals. 
 
 To prevent this it is best to take the crate to some suitable location— in 
 or near thick brush and with water at hand — and scatter plenty of feed 
 about. Now quietly open the doors and go away from the crate, allow- 
 ing the birds to leave in their own w^ay — undisturbed by any one. If 
 liberated in this manner, the game almost invariably will make its home 
 close to the spot where it found its first food. 
 
 Birds should be liberated during the daytime so that they may get 
 together, if scattered, and select a safe roosting place before night comes 
 on. "Where it is possible to do so, splendid results will be obtained by 
 opening the crates in some old barn or ranch building and keeping the 
 birds penned up for several days before allowing them their full liberty. 
 
 If the birds are fed and watered and left to themselves, they will 
 recover from the effects of close confinement and traveling, and be in 
 such condition that predatory hawks and "varmints" will do them no 
 harm. When ready to liberate them, open a door and allow the birds to 
 come out in their own way and time. 
 
 Game birds should not be liberated where their natural enemias are 
 numerous. By trapping, poisoning, and other means, endeavor to kill 
 oft' all predatory animals and such birds of prey as the great horned owl, 
 sharp-shinned hawk. Cooper's hawk, duck hawk, butcher bird, and blue 
 jay, before turning out any birds. 
 
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