Pheasant Nesting

mbaldw · #1 (**permalink**) 16-05-2011, 09:23 PM

Hi folks,

this evening I received the below e-mail asking about pheasant nesting behaviour. My knowledge is scant to say the least, so I'm hoping someone on here might be able to offer some advice. My understanding is that pheasants can be quite quick to abandon nests if disturbed, but the lady seemed to think it was unperturbed by the comings-and-goings in their garden for the last five weeks; this makes me wonder if maybe the hen has been killed?

Many thanks as always.
Cheers,
Marc.

We live in a rural area and around six weeks ago I discovered one egg in the middle of the spring flowers underneath the window in our front garden. Every day for the next fortnight another egg appeared until we had 15 in total. I noticed it was a Pheasant who would come and sit on her nest for around an hour every day. For the past three weeks she has hardly been off the nest only to go and find food for the odd hour or two.

The other day we noticed that one of the eggs had been lost to a predator and the unborn chick had been eaten out of the egg. She has since laid another two eggs so there is now 16 in total but does not appear to be sat on the nest at all (only for the odd hour here and there). We have not seen her for days and she has left her eggs exposed to the elements. From reading on the Internet they should soon hatch but I am worried they will perish as she seems to have abandoned them.

Can you advise me on whether this is normal behaviour for a nesting pheasant given her bizarre choice of nest in the first place. We are worried all 16 eggs will perish or succumb to predators given the mother is no longer around.

SheffieldLass · #2 (**permalink**) 16-05-2011, 09:35 PM

I would be interested to know too. I've had pheasants dropping their eggs around my garden, in the middle of the lawn, on bare, just dug flowerborders etc, certainly not in appropriate nesting sites. Plenty of sex has been going on, but the females seem to spend all the day loafing about in my garden, preening, eating, sunbathing, dust bathing, snoozing, loitering without intent ... One is darker than the others, so instantly recognisable, and she's around nearly all the day. If they do only sit on the eggs for an hour or so a day then it might mean mine are not feckless mums after all, as they give the impression of being ....

The Woodman · #3 (**permalink**) 17-05-2011, 07:37 AM

It does sound like the hen has abandoned the eggs at the time the first egg was predated. She may have been killed or disturbed enough never to return.

The egg could have been eaten by a number of predators, e.g. rat, hedgehog, stoat, squirrel, crow, fox. It could have been removed from under the sitting hen by the first two on the list.

It's impossible to say which came first I think. The predation of the egg or the hen pheasant.

What may be unusual is the laying of two eggs after a three week incubation period.

mbaldw · #4 (**permalink**) 17-05-2011, 10:19 AM

Thanks for the info folks. Does anyone know how long the eggs are likely to be viable for after the clutch is abandoned? Presumably, after a while they chill and any developing chicks die?

Cheers,
Marc.