Anyone has ever tried to raise pheasants, cocks, hares, etc. for their hair, feathers or whatever? any info will be very appreciated.
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Anyone has ever tried to raise pheasants, cocks, hares, etc. for their hair, feathers or whatever? any info will be very appreciated.
I tried back in the 70s. Chickens, Rabbits, etc. What a mess. I got much better stuff, and more of it, by hunting.
Anything that I couldn't shoot on my own, I just bought and used EVERY bit of it.
You should read John Gierach's accounts of raising chickens. It's a riot.
Ken
hi Ken.
The thing is that I live in Colombia, South America and here we don't have any of the animals you hunt up there. Well except for deer, but it is so endangered here I won't ever shoot one. I have the space and some time and thought it will be fun to raise some pheasants or rabbits...
anyway thanks very much for your reply
Dave
Rabbits are very easy to raise and you can get some neat varieties such as Rex with different fur. They are also very good eating. The biggest problem you may encounter is critters getting at them (up here it's usually dogs) and they get stressed out in the heat very easily.
Jim Smith
I tried raising chickens and racoons ended up killing all of them. It was also messy work and they are really hideous creatures. Ducks on the other hand were very fun and easy to raise and have great personalities. I have heard that some birds are hard, like partridge, supposed to be real delicate. Do the same turkeys that live in Central America also inhabit Colombia? Those things have amazing feathers that would be great for countless patterns. Of course I know nothing about the hunting regulations but I would kill one for the feathers if I could.
I raised pheasants for several years for dog training and meat, their not that hard to raise, but if you want them for feathers you"ll have to debeak them as they are aggresive to one another(pecking order is vicious), or you can get plastic eyepeices that don't allow them to see straight ahead to peck, if you don't you"ll have a lot of bare *** pheasants.
Benjo:
No we don't have wild turkey in Colombia, so there's not a chance to hunt one. There are plenty but were introduced only as farm animals and are used mostly to protect chicken from other animals that may harm them as their sound can be heard from great distances in our mountainous geography. thanks any way for the advise on that. I will consider ducks. any info on them will be gladly accepted.
dlacelle:
Do you know any farms that may sell the little pheasants? Any recomended reading about their care?
thank you all.
[IMG] [url=http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources/forest-facts/species-profiles/images/ocellatedturkey-guatemala-small.js.JPG:f16ec]http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources/forest-facts/species-profiles/images/ocellatedturkey-guatemala-small.js.JPG[/url:f16ec] [/IMG]
[url=http://www.canadianpheasant.com/pheasants_for_sale.htm:586a6]http://www.canadianpheasant.com/pheasants_for_sale.htm[/url:586a6]
Here's a site for purchasing chicks, if the send to Columbia is another question. Good Luck
WOW!! what a bird. I think I will have to check for feathers in Guatemala. thanks Benjo.
dlacelle. thanks for the link. I have relatives on the states, I'll see if they can work something out. May be easier to bring the eggs, who knows.