Raising Pheasants For Beginners
                     Raising Pheasants
Brooding
The brooder house for pheasant chicks should be weather tight, free from drafts and rodent proof. It 
can be designed for the birds or part of another building that can have a penned in portion.
Preparation
It is worthwhile to spend some time preparing before your chicks arrive as young pheasants are very 
delicate and your brooder must be set up correctly or you may encounter problems. Clean and 
disinfect your brooder house at least 2 weeks before the chicks arrive. We feel the best litter is to 
use on the floor is chopped straw. 
Mac Farlane pheasants seem to like to eat wood shavings. If the chicks have access to wood 
shavings, they will eat them and die. If you insist on using shavings, cover the shavings with 
brooder paper for the first week after the chicks arrive. 
Sandor newspaper is not recommended as litter. If brooder paper (a course, rough paper that allows 
chicks to keep their footing) is not available at your feed store, burlap works very well also. Do not 
use newspaper as the chicks will not be able to get a firm footing. Remember to remove the burlap 
or brooder paper after the chicks are about one week-old.
Heat lamps are the easiest to use. We recommend at least one 250 Watt infrared bulb for each 100 
chicks you plan on starting. Make sure to get the bulb with a red end, as it won't be so bright and 
will help control cannibalism. Hang the heat lamp from the ceiling, about 18 inches from the floor 
to the bottom of the lamp.
Use a ring or draft shield to confine the chicks for the first 5-7 days the chicks are in the brooder. 
We use cardboard about 14-18 inches high formed to make a ring or circle. A circle with a diameter 
of 4 feet will be sufficient for 50chicks (with the heat lamp in the center), This shield helps cut 
down on the drafts on the floor.
Your brooder house should be big enough to allow 3/4 of a square foot per bird. Pheasants tend to 
be very cannibalistic, so don't overcrowd them.
We recommend at least one 2 foot long feeder for each 50 chicks. Also 1 one-gallon waterer for 
each 75 chicks. Use a waterer with a narrow lip (1/2 inch or less) or fill the water trough with 
marbles so the chicks can't drown.
From the time chicks arrive until they are six weeks old they should be fed a 30% protein medicated 
game bird or turkey starter. The best medicated started feed contains 1 LB. Amprolium (a 
coccidiostat) per ton of feed. The feed should be in crumble form. You can add terramyacin soluble 
powder (an antibiotic) to their water for the first week, but we do not recommend using an antibiotic 
unless the chicks are sick or dying.
Raising
When the chicks arrive, remove them from the box, dip their beaks in the water and put them under 
the heat lamp.
Most losses occur because the chicks do not start to eat or drink. Never let your chicks run out of 
feed or water. The chicks should form a circle around the heat lamp. If the chicks bunch up directly 
under the heat lamp they are cold -lower the lamp, and more bulbs, or further draft proof your 
brooder house. If the chicks spread out too far away from the brooder and pant, etc...they are too hot 
- turn off one of the bulbs, raise the heat lamp and perhaps open a window during hot weather.
Inspect the chicks often during the first week - especially at night during the first few nights. It has 
been our experience that chicks often die from piling (from being too cold) during the first or 
second night.
After the chicks are 2 or 3 weeks old it is a good idea to allow the chicks to range outside during the 
daytime. Wait for a warm sunny day and open the brooder house door into the pen. The pen must be 
covered and enclosed with one inch hole chicken wire to prevent the chicks from escaping. The pen 
should be large enough to allow 1 - 2 square feet per bird. Drive the chicks back into the house late 
each afternoon. Discontinue operating your heat lamp during the day once the chicks spend each 
day outside. Continue to turn the heat on each afternoon. Discontinue operating your heat lamp 
during the day once the chicks spend each day outside. 
Continue to turn the heat on each night until they are 3-4 weeks old (depending on how cold it is 
outside). After the birds are 4-5 weeks old, they will need a bigger pen. On our farm we allow 25 
square feet per bird (with peepers) in our covered pens.br> You should always be on the lookout for 
cannibalism. The first evidence you will see will be blood on the wing tips and tails of some of the 
smaller birds. Don't expect it to just go away - instead, it will just get worse. Add branches and 
alfalfa hay to the pen for the birds to peck at and play on - this will help. You may have to trim the 
top beaks on your birds to curtail the problem. A pair of fingernail clippers will do - trim far enough 
back just so it bleeds a little. This can be done as early as 2 weeks old and may have to be repeated.
After the birds are 6 weeks they can be fed a 20% protein grower feed. We recommend that you 
continue to use Amprolium in their feed until the birds are mature
Pen Construction
One of the most expensive requirements on a game bird farm are covered pens. It is important to 
build your pens in such a way that they will do what they are supposed to do. ie. keep the birds in 
and preditors out. Other considerations are 1) cost 2) long life 3) ease of construction 4) resistance 
to bad weather. Below is a covered pen that incorporates many of these desirable characteristics.
Basic Layout
The size of this pen is 144' x 96'. These pens can be grouped, but for this page, I will describe one 
pen. The size conforms to two rolls of toprite. On our farm a pen this size would hold 700 hens with 
peepers or 500 cocks with peepers, or 600 hens and cocks with peepers.
Posts
These posts should be set equidistant from each other around the perimeter of the pen. It works out 
that the posts should be 12 feet apart. The posts should be 10' long. They should go into the ground 
3' and extend 7'.
Wire
The four sides of the pen should be covered with galvanized-after-weaving wire - 1" mesh - either 
18 or 20 gauge.
This wire should be buried at least 6" and flared to the outside underground. This prevents animals 
from digging down under the pen. The wire should extend up to the sides of the pen to the tops of 
the posts.
#9 Wire
A standard #9 galvanized wire should be strung around the top of the poles around the perimeter of 
the pen. Another strand of #9 wire should be strung the length of the pen equidistant from the two 
sides. Two #9 wires should be strung width wise splitting the pen in thirds. These #9 wires will 
support the roof. The poles to which the #9 wires is attached should have "dead-man" poles for 
support. This will prevent the poles from pulling in.
Toprite
Over the top of this grid put two connected rolls of 150' x 50' toprite netting. The netting should be 
connected to the four corners first to make sure it is square. It should be pulled over the edges and 
attached to both the #9 wire and to the wire sides. DO NOT attach the netting to the #9 wire running 
through the pen. You should hog-ring the #9 wire to the toprite in the inside of the pen about every 
5' to prevent ripping in the wind. At the junction of the #9 wire in the middle of the pen, put brace 
posts made of 2" x 4" material. They should be tall enough (10 to 12 ft.) to make the pentent-like in 
appearance. 
On the top of the 2" x 4" add a screw-in eyehook, run the #9 wire through, then close the eyehook. 
This pen is designed to be lowered in case of wet snow or icy conditions. In case of foul weather, 
simply take down the 2" x 4" poles and let the top rite down. Even with the birds inside, they will 
move to the edges of the pen. This pen is economical as you have fewer posts and #9 wire then 
most pen designs. I purposely avoided the subject of gates, feeding, watering or catching birds, as 
each farm has is own situations.
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