Ring-Necked Pheasants are certainly a beautiful species. They are one of the most popular breeds for stocking a wildlife area or hunting preserve. They mature at about 22 weeks. Mature Ring-Necked Pheasants are very hardy and known for their flying abilities, color, and beautiful tail feathers. Occasionally a Ring-Necked pheasant will lose some tail feathers. People often asked if the feathers will grow back. The definitive answer is yes! So, if you are raising Ring-Neck Pheasants from chicks or starters, here are some interesting facts
Ring-Necked Pheasants will molt, at times, when hatched very early in the season, and maturity is reached by late summer or early fall. When this happens, the feathers grow back without any intervention.
- But, if tail birds are left in muddy conditions, not given enough space in the pens so they pick at each other, or exposed to freezing rain or predators, tail feathers can break.
- If the feathers break rather than fall out, the feathers must be pulled, because broken feathers don't automatically grow back.
- We rarely have these kinds of problems at MacFarlane Pheasants because of excellent ground cover, the use of peepers, and lots of space for our pheasants to roam!
- If you are raising your own chicks to maturity, keep in mind that poor diets can be a reason tail feathers fall out. We use a fortified diet for all of our birds so this would be a very rare situation on our farms.
If you have more questions about tail feathers, feel free to ask them in our comments section and we will be sure to get back to you.