Male Yellow and Red Golden Pheasants If you like bright colors, you will like the male Golden Pheasant. There is no other bird that can compare to his brightness and attractive appearance. The following description will give an idea of his beauty.

Male: On the crown of the head is a crest of elongated, silky, bright golden-yellow feathers. The ear band is a brownish grey, the other parts of the face, the chin, the throat and the neck are brownish red. The tippet is formed of broad, rectangular feathers, the visible part of which is light orange in colour. Every feather in the tippet has two dark-blue bars across the tip. The upper part of the back is deep green, and every feather is margined with velvet black. The lower part of the back and the rump are of a deep golden-yellow colour. The tail feathers are mottled predominantly black and brown. The wings feature the colours dark red on the wingtip; deep blue tertiaries; black and brown bands on the primary and secondary quills. The entire under-part of the bird is scarlet, merging into a light chestnut in the middle of the abdomen and the thigh-parts. Under-tail coverts are red. The iris and the naked skin around the eyes are light yellow; the bill and legs are a horny yellow.

Hen: The Plumage of the hen is much plainer than that of the cock. The colours are mainly light, medium and a very dark brown, with an occasional pale-yellow feather. The feathers show a black mottled or barred design. It should be noted in passing that among the hens variations in the intensity of colour do occur. The iris is brown, the skin round the eyes is yellow, the bill and the legs are a horny yellow (Pheasants Including their Care in the Aviary,H.A. Gerrits, Bradford Press, London,1974).

We raised these marvelous little pheasants when we lived in Montana. They were kept outside in the very cold winters with no trouble. We did offer them a covered shelter for the feed and water and most of the time they did not stay there except to eat and drink. We had a very tame little male that would roost on top of the gate frame. This kept me awake many nights as I could imagine how cold he was and how vulnerable to a predator reaching through the wire to grab him. No harm ever came to him. Most of our Golden pheasants roosted as high as they could get in their large outside pens.

If the breeder has good strong bloodlines, these pheasants are easy to Breed and raise. We had some of our hens get broody and even set on a clutch of eggs. The nest was located up on a rock ledge about five feet high. When the chicks hatched, they ran off the ledge and got chilled before we found them. I suppose that if the nest had been located on the ground the chicks would have stayed under their mother and survived. We were disappointed at the loss and vowed to let the hen raise the following year with some good tight wire around her to hold in the tiny chicks.