Providing Food to Pheasants

Feeding ringneck pheasants in the wild can have negative consequences, according to Pheasant Forever, http://pheasantsforever.org/page/1/home.jsp. It's not a long-term solution to winter survival. The core range of wild pheasants, from the Dakotas and Minnesota to Iowa and Illinois, is frozen under Arctic air and heavy snow. Concerned hunters and conservationists are willing to provide food to get the birds through the winter, but the experts at Pheasants Forever advise against it.

Their advice is: Habitat is the Effective Long-Term Solution.

For pheasants to survive the winter, they need winter cover that will protect them from the cold, what PF calls "quality thermal habitat." Although birds that don't have adequate cover available this winter may die, offering them food doesn't help "More than anything, feeding is reactionary to the winter, when the best thing we can do is be proactive about improving quality habitat," said Rick Young, Pheasants Forever's Vice President of Field Operations, in a press release. "Unfortunately, many well-intentioned people who provide corn and other grains as food sources actually harm pheasants more than they help them."

Feeders attract predators, making the birds easy prey for foxes, hawks and owls, that are also struggling.

While this may be no consolation this winter, consider that resources spent on establishing high quality winter cover will yield far greater results and the best winter survival rates down the road. The lesson to be learned from a tough winter is the need to plant more high quality thermal cover this spring.

PF says it's more likely that a pheasant will freeze to death than starve. Feeders may draw the pheasants out of their protective winter cover and compete for food. The exertion and exposure puts them at greater risk of freezing.

If you are worried about pheasants in your area, contact Pheasants Forever Field Staff through the website, http://pheasantsforever.org/page/1/fieldstaff.jsp. They can also answer questions about habitat and help you plan to improve habitat when the weather warms up.

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. "The Habitat Organization" has over 125,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.

Royal Palm turkeys

Frank Reese notified me of a Royal Palm Turkey situation. It's a rpoblem with the Standard that came to light when a Royal Palm Turkey, Ike, shown here, was awarded Grand Champion at the Ohio National show this year, http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/11/26/star_turkey.ART_ART_11-26-09_A1_LNFQ9JB.html?sid=101.

When Frank looked at the bird and compared it to the Standard, he found that the Standard requires a black band in the greater coverts of both toms and hens, a "double rainbow" of black on the tail. Ike, the winning bird, does not have such a second black band, the lack of which is specified as a disqualification. However, Frank does not know of any Royal Palm turkeys that have the second black band. He talked to other turkey people and none of their birds have a second band, either.

Researching the SPPA collection of antique books and magazines, I didn't find any photos from the 1920s and later, to document that second band, or the lack thereof. Most of the collection pre-dates the 1930s, though. The accepted date for development of the Royal Palm is 1938, in Florida.

Sam Brush of the APA has been notified and expects that the standard may be modified to reflect this change. If you have any documentation of Royal Palm turkeys, please let us know. Ideally, that would be photographs of actual birds from that time period. All input is welcome.

Urban Chickens, English Style

This delightful video shows how a family in East London is keeping chickens happily in their yard, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/jan/01/ask-lucy-chicken-green-living.

The three include a Leghorn, a Polish and an undetermined dark-feathered variety. Perhaps a Cuckoo Marans, since her owner says she lays dark brown eggs. The Leghorn, bless her, continues to lay through the winter. This Leghorn and her eggs are from Purity Feed in British Columbia, http://www.purityfeed.com/orderchicks.asp.

Although the owner's plan is to eventually kill and eat them when their laying declines, I couldn't help but note that although they are already past that, he hasn't gotten around to it yet. This is a dilemma for backyard chicken keepers. If you are committed to efficiency and economy, then feeding chickens who lay few eggs doesn't fit that plan. However, people and chickens being what they are, people generally become emotionally attached to their birds when they keep only a few. So dispatching them and eating them becomes unacceptable.

Some small farmers who keep chickens as egg producers have resolved the issue by giving more weight to the value of the eggs produced during those productive years, balancing the future less-productive years. They commit to the chickens for their lives and keep them on regardless of how many eggs they produce.

Seven Swans A Swimming

In the 17th century, Mute Swans were semi-domesticated in England. In the Netherlands, they were farmed, for their down, their meat and as ornamental birds, according to Sylvia Bruce Wilmore, in her book, Swans of the World. In the Netherlands, those practices continued until after World War II.

Because all swans in England belong officially to the Royal Family, swans given as gifts would have been marked on the upper part of their bills. Their markings identified the person who had responsibility for them and thus could benefit from them. Marks date back to 1370.

Mute Swans in the U.S., such as this one photographed by Larry Hindman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, are now regarded as unwanted invaders, trashing the fragile wetland habitat in which they live and chasing out other, more desirable, birds. They retain their mythic grip on people, touching the hearts of those who glimpse them gliding across a misty lake. This ancient Greek art shows Aphrodite, the goddess of love, riding a swan. This dichotomy confounds wetlands managers who want at least to control Mute Swans, if not eliminate them entirely.

“They are a beautiful form of biological pollution,” said Jonathan McKnight, associate director for habitat conservation at Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources.

Others disagree, citing Mute Swans’ circumpolar migratory route, and claim that they have a historic presence in North America, http://www.savethemuteswans.com/. Current wildlife control professionals hunt them to reduce the population, which has been successful.


Tundra and Trumpeter Swans are unquestionably native birds to North America. They remain protected. This graphic from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows the differences in the heads and bills of the respective species.

My efforts to find evidence of swan production operations in North America have not found any evidence that they were ever raised commercially here. They are wild birds, the largest flying bird, and formidable aggressors willing to protect their nests. Swans A Swimming remain a lovely image, but one not practical for domestic production.

Six Geese A-Laying

Geese are a passion for me lately. They differ significantly from ducks and other domestic poultry – in their size, their diet and their behavior.

Geese would certainly have attracted the attention of the earliest hunters, as in this fanciful painting of a hunt of 9500 BC, shared with me by Jim Pickette of Nebraska.

Despite centuries of domestication, geese remain seasonal egg layers. Some breeds of ducks, another waterfowl, have become more productive egg layers over time and with selective breeding, but not geese. They retain this aspect of wild behavior.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in its book on Goose Production, http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4359E/y4359e03.htm, considers geese ‘under-utilised,’ “although there is a large pool of genetic material available for the genetic improvement of the domestic goose.” The authors identify 96 breeds of goose currently being raised around the world, but concedes that “there are probably more.”

The two main types of domestic geese are those descended from the European Grey Lag Goose and those from the Asian Swan Goose. The European line gives us the domestic Embdens, Toulouse and all their American descendants, such as these Pilgrim Geese from Metzer Farms, www.metzerfarms.com. The Asian line gives us the African and China breeds, with their distinctive knobs.

The good news about having Geese A-Laying would be that the goslings would soon follow. Geese are excellent parents and protectively raise their young.

Five Gold Rings

Ring-Necked Pheasants can be the poultry interpretation of the Five Gold Rings in the carol. Although they aren’t native birds, they have adapted well to North America. They flourish in the wild and are probably the most hunted bird today.

I included a chapter in How to Raise Poultry on Gamebirds, because they are the wild relatives of domesticated poultry. Breeders who raise them need information similar to that required for successful poultry husbandry.

Hunters are a powerful and well financed group. To their credit, they realized that conserving habitat is vital to maintaining a healthy population of birds for them to shoot. Pheasants Forever, http://www.pheasantsforever.org/, has been a leader in protecting and restoring habitat for game birds. As they point out on their site, winter weather can be deadly for many species of farmland wildlife unless there is dense sheltering cover and a reliable food source nearby. The thick cattails of wetlands or stiff-stemmed native grasses such as switch grass are examples of good winter cover. If available, pheasants prefer these herbaceous covers because of the density of vegetation at ground level. However, the dense woody habitat of coniferous farmstead shelterbelts is the key to survival in most severe winters when wetlands are filled with snow and native grasses are flattened by ice. Woody plantings elsewhere on the land are also important, and the rules for shelterbelt establishment apply here as well.One of the up sides to making habitat their focus is that the habitat welcomes many other species and confers many other advantages, including ameliorating greenhouse gases.

Game Bird Gazette, http://www.gamebird.com/, provides good advice to farmers who raise pheasants. They can be raised for meat or for stocking hunting ranges. A white variety eliminates the issue of dark pinfeathers on meat birds. Pheasant tail feathers are in demand for costumes and other decorations.

Christopher Taylor Nature Photography, http://www.kiwifoto.com/galleries/birds/ring_necked_pheasant/, which displays this photo, includes a lot of great information about the birds. I especially enjoyed listening to the recording of the call!

Four Calling Birds

As noted last year, the ‘calling’ birds entry is thought to be a corruption of ‘colley,’ meaning coal black birds. Some historic breeds exist only in black, or are traditionally black. Many breeds have modern black color varieties.

American breeds such as Javas, Jersey Giants, sometimes called Black Giants, and the English Orpington, such as Michelle Conrad's magnificent rooster shown here, have influential black heritage. Asian breeds such as Cochins and Langshans, such as this one to the left, have a strong history of black plumage. Sumatras are always black. Black varieties of Orientals are relatively recent, such as Malays and Cubalayas. Among Mediterranean breeds such as the White-Faced Black Spanish noted last year, Minorcas were originally an entirely black breed called Red-Faced Black Spanish. In the Continental category, the old breeds Crevecoeurs, shown here, and La Fleche, noted last year as two of the three French hens, are always black.

Black East Indies ducks are an old breed, although whether they date back to the 17th century is a matter of discussion. Some authorities trace their history back only as far as the 19th century. Cayuga ducks, such as these of Robert Gibson at Yellow House Farm in New Hampshire, http://www.yellowhousefarmnh.com/, are always black. The recognition of the breed dates back to the 19th century, but it originated from wild American Black Ducks crossing with domestic ducks. In that sense, it is an older breed. A black variety of Runner Ducks is recent, 20th century. Black ducks could fit the description of ‘colley’ birds.

Black turkeys were popular in Europe, after the wild turkey was introduced by Columbus. Colonists crossing the Atlantic to settle in America brought domesticated black varieties with them. Turkeys were often known by their origin as well, such as the Norfolk Black and the Black Spanish.

In domestic poultry, black plumage has an iridescent quality that gives it a greenish sheen, sometimes complemented with violet. The feathers are truly beautiful and eye-catching, suitable for a gift that would honor the season.