Pheasant question

[hobble]

For the last couple of days we have had a male pheasant visiting our garden, this made me wonder where it came from and what they eat.
I have never seen one here before.
Any knowledge would be interesting. Thanks.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by hobble

For the last couple of days we have had a male pheasant visiting our garden, this made me wonder where it came from and what they eat.
I have never seen one here before.
Any knowledge would be interesting. Thanks.

They can survive most anywhere - in woods &c as encouraged by gamekeepers but they get most of their food from cereal crops. They like to roost in hedges or shrubs. What does your local neighbourhood offer them?

[hobble]

Lots of woodland and shrubs, there is some farmland but not sure about cereal crops. It just seems odd that it should appear out of the blue. It is rare to see one within a 10-15 mile radius from our house, if not further.
There are no gamekeepers near us either.
Perhaps it escaped off the back of a lorry!!!

[REEVES.]

Chances are his hen(s) are sitting and he is having a look around to see if there are any other available hens to add to his harem.
Or he has been driven out of his normal territory by a stronger cock bird.

[hobble]

Thanks Reeves,
lets hope he has hens sitting, would love to see young pheasants.

[REEVES.]

We could do with a spell of dry warm weather as this rain will soon kill of any wild chicks that hatch.

[Brocker]

Hi Hobble. Just to let you know that they adore to eat raisins. Just be careful not to overfeed with this otherwise he will begin to turn up his nose (or beak) to what is available naturally. . . .

[lincs lass]

The pheasant that visits my garden every day will eat whatever is put out for the birds. I buy Mayfield premium bird seed and he seems to enjoy that.

[hobble]

Originally Posted by REEVES.

We could do with a spell of dry warm weather as this rain will soon kill of any wild chicks that hatch.

It has been very dry here lately, thankfully. (unusual for us here in Cornwall)


Thanks Brocker for the raisin advice, perhaps he has been eating the badgers raisins!!
I will not encourage him by feeding but he is welcome to what he finds left in the garden.

[witham]

we had a male Pheasant visit one of our bird tables daily for a couple of years but not seen it so far this year, it would fly up and stay for a while even after feeding and would bob down if I walked across the garden but after a while didn't bother too much unless we got too near. we sometimes get the odd one in the garden especially in the chicken pen and occasionally I have disturbed one roosting in the trees if I've gone out a bit late to check I've shut the chickens up etc and it's flown off chuck chucking.