How to Raise Ringneck Pheasants

Raising a brood of Ringneck Pheasants is an enjoyable process, but one that requires care. Loss of pheasants due to drowning, malnourishment or the weather can take a substantial hit out of the profitability of your your pheasant-rearing endeavors.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 250-Watt heat lamps
• 18-inch-by-12-inch cardboard rectangles
• Packing tape
• 2-foot long feeders
• 1 gallon waterers, with 1/2-inch lip
• Straw litter

1. Prepare a floor for your brooding pen with straw litter.

2. Hang your heat lamps, one for every 100 pheasants, from the ceiling 18 inches above floor level.

3. Create a draft shield by forming the cardboard rectangles into a circle with the 12-inch sides on the ground. Hold them in place with packing tape around the outside of the circle.

4. Place a feeder in the draft shield for every 50 pheasants. Place one waterer for every 75 pheasants.

5. Dip the chicks' beaks in water and then place them under the heat lamp when they arrive.

6. Stock the feeders with 30 percent protein game-bird starter.

7. Remove the draft shield after one week.

8. Construct a pen off the door of the brooder. The pen should be fully unclosed with chicken wire to ensure your pheasants don't escape. It should have 1 square foot of floor space for every pheasant being raised.

9. Begin allowing the pheasants to walk outside on warm days when they are 6 weeks old. Open the doors from the brooder to the pen and close them again at night.

References

• Pheasant Chick Farms