Bog Myrtle & Peat

After twenty four days in the incubator, my pheasant eggs suddenly showed fruit this morning. The early trouble with a power surge appears to have killed the overwhelming majority of eggs during the first thirty six hours, but after candling and scanning eggs for the past fortnight, we were able to filter out the majority of duds. The disasterous start did mean that a tiny number of eggs have hatched, and supplementary day-olds will have to make up the numbers when I finish work on the new release pen up on the Chayne.

This little blighter (pictured above) has been peeping all day in the incubator while his companions hatched. I have worked as a ‘keeper in the past, and while none of this pheasant rearing process is particularly new to me, doing it on such a small scale is letting me see the whole process at first hand and in great detail. When you are responsible for thousands of day-old pheasant chicks, you don’t have time to sit and watch their behaviour and marvel at the literal magic of incubation.

After around six hours, the chicks were moved to a temporary brooder under a red heat lamp where they will pass their next few days as pheasants of leisure. Meanwhile, I need to buckle down and put some real work into fox-proofing their long term accomodation.