How to Raise and Breed Red Golden Pheasants

The male red golden pheasant has colorful plumage.

The red golden pheasant is the name of a colorful game bird bred in captivity. In the wild, it is known as the golden pheasant, or Chrysolophus pictus. According to "Game Bird and Conservationists' Gazette," George Washington bred these birds at Mt. Vernon and was the first well-known American to raise them. Originally from China, you can easily raise and breed red golden pheasants at home. They are hardy birds and the males have full golden crests, scarlet breasts and long spotted tails. These distinctively plumed birds are easy to care for even for beginners.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 3-foot-long wire rabbit cage
• Paper towels
• Waterer
• Feeder
• Crumbled game bird starter
• 250-watt red light bulb
• Clamp light
• Chicks
• Aviary
• Adult layer pellets
• Nesting boxes
• Dummy egg
• Incubator with automatic turning
• Wire mesh hatching basket

1. Place a wire rabbit cage in a warm, draft-free area of your home such as a bathroom. This will house your baby red golden pheasant chicks until they are old enough to live outside. A rabbit cage approximately 3 feet long is suitable for up to four chicks. You can use large box instead.

2. Line the cage with three layers of paper towels that will need to be changed at least once a day to keep the cage clean. Place a waterer with water and a feeder with crumbled game bird starter in the cage. Clamp your light with the red light bulb in one corner of the cage, so the chicks can move away or closer to the heat. Keep the light on 24 hours a day until they have feathers.

3. Place your few-days-old chicks inside your cage. You can purchase unsexed chicks from local breeders or use an online website such as eFowl or McMurray Hatchery. Some breeders only sell adult male and female pairs. Change the water and replace the food when needed.

4. Place the pheasants outside in an aviary after three weeks if the weather is warm, such as in the middle of spring. For four birds, an aviary about 6-by-6-feet should suffice. Red golden pheasants are not good flyers but they need space to roam. If you let them out in your garden you do not need as large an aviary.

5. Switch to adult game bird layer pellet food once they are four months old. Feed the birds vegetable and fruit scraps, like peels and dandelions. Be sure they always have fresh water, especially in the summer.

6. Check the sex of your chicks. By the time they are about four months old, you will notice that the females are mostly brown and the males have the colorful plumage. You must have at least one male in order to breed your birds.

7. Place nesting boxes in your pheasants' aviary. After eight months, check for eggs. They may lay them in other areas, but you can teach them to lay in the nesting box by placing a dummy egg inside.

8. Put the laid eggs into an incubator that automatically turns. Set the temperature to 99.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The incubation period is 21 days and on the last day place the eggs on a wire mesh hatching basket inside the incubator. Once the chick has hatched, keep it in the hatcher for eight hours.

Tips & Warnings

• Red golden pheasants may be housed with other birds but keep them away from other pheasants if you do not want them cross-breeding.

• The more you handle the birds, the more tame they become.

• These are winter-hardy birds and you do not need to do anything extra in the winter.

References

• Akey Pets: How to Raise and Breed Red Golden Pheasants
• GBWF: Golden Pheasant
• Gazette: Raising & Marketing Pheasant
• Aviangenetics; Red Golden Pheasant Information, Krissy Bush et al.

Resources

• Efowl: Buy Adult Pheasants
• McMurray Hatchery: Red Golden Pheasant
• "Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse"; Madge, S. McGowan, 2002