Golden pheasant, also known as golden pheasant, red-bellied golden pheasant, etc., belongs to the ornithischia and pheasants. The golden pheasant is a precious ornamental bird of a specialty of China's well-known world and is listed as a national protected animal. There are already many homes and zoos that are widely raised and have been introduced to various countries.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (i) ornamentation and economic value </h1>
The golden pheasant has gorgeous body feathers and a beautiful posture, which has high ornamental value. Male bird skin feathers are gorgeous ornaments, and the ecological specimens are in great demand in the market, which can be exported to earn foreign exchange and have considerable value. In addition to having a high ornamental value, its meat is delicious, nutritious and has a high edible value. In recent years, with the destruction of its habitat environment, coupled with the fact that there is a large market for the golden pheasant and artificial over-hunting, the number of wild golden pheasants has plummeted, so the golden pheasant belongs to the national protected animals, and the capture and breeding of seeds needs to be approved by the wildlife management department. The pheasant can be vigorously artificially farmed, and many families have farmed it as ornamental birds.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (ii) morphological characteristics</h1>
There are two kinds of golden pheasant, the common breed is the red-bellied golden pheasant. The rooster is about 100 cm long and has bright plumage. A golden-yellow filamentous crown of feathers draped over the back of the neck. The face, forehead and throat are rusty red. The posterior collar is orange-brown fan-shaped feathers , each with a fine black transverse spot with a thin margin resembling a shawl. The surrounding feathers are thick green on the upper back, the feathers are black, the rest of the back feathers and waist feathers are thick golden yellow to the waist side, and the lower body abdomen is dark red, so it is called "red-bellied golden pheasant". The perianal area is pale maroon , and the tail feathers are mostly black brown and densely orange-yellow spots , gradually turning ochre to the end. The female is slightly smaller than the male, with a body length of about 70 centimeters, and although the body feathers are colorful, they are mainly black brown, and the tail feathers are shorter.
There is also a white-bellied golden pheasant, also known as the copper chicken. The male is about 150 cm long and has long tail feathers. This bird resembles a red-bellied golden pheasant, but the two birds have different plumage colors. Male white-bellied pheasant has green dorsal shoulders and chest on the top of the head, red occipital crown feathers, a white circle on the neck to the back of the neck, light orange-red on the lower back and waist, white and green body feathers, white belly, long tail feathers, and white overtonets on the tail with black transverse spots. The female is slightly smaller , about 100 cm long , with underdeveloped shawls , and its plumage is predominantly green , tan , and black , and her feet and orbital areas are blue-gray. The number of white-bellied golden pheasants is very small, and many animal farms have been cultivated.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (iii) life habits </h1>
The red-bellied golden pheasant lives in the middle and low mountains at an altitude of 400 to 1700 meters, and inhabits alone or in pairs in rocky mountains, rock slopes, shrubs and bamboo forests, mainly feeding on shrub leaves, seeds, shoots, dwarf bamboo leaves, bamboo shoots and some insects. The red-bellied pheasant breeds from April to June every year, and the males fight fiercely during the breeding period. Nested in deep mountain grasses and bamboo forests or dense bushes, the nest is bowl-shaped and covered with a small amount of weeds and feathers. Each clutch lays 10 to 15 eggs, as many as 20 or so, and the eggs are light yellowish brown and smooth without spots. The female is responsible for incubating the eggs for about 24 days. Red-bellied golden pheasant is mainly distributed in Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and other places in China.
The white-bellied golden pheasant inhabits a higher area than the red-bellied golden pheasant, and generally lives in the thorns and bushes in the rocky mountain area at an altitude of 2000 to 4000 meters, or among the dwarf bamboos, often in pairs, and the main food is shrub shoots, young leaves, various plant seeds, berries, especially bamboo shoots and insects. There are seasonal vertical migration habits, such as summer-dwelling mountains and winter-dwelling foothills. The white-bellied golden pheasant breeds from April to May every year, nesting in the bamboo forest or in the ground bushes on the hillside, laying 5 to 9 eggs per clutch, the eggs are light yellowish brown or milky white, smooth and spotless, and the female is also responsible for incubating the eggs, and the incubation period is about 21 days. The white-bellied golden pheasant is mainly distributed in southeastern Tibet, central and southwestern Sichuan, western Guizhou and even the northern part of Myanmar, but the number of white-bellied golden pheasants is relatively small.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (iv) feeding management </h1>
The red-bellied golden pheasant has long lived in a hidden and quiet wild environment, and its sexual alertness is easy to frighten. Once the cage feeding is adopted, it will crash into the cage net, and the spirit is nervous, which can easily lead to the disorder of its endocrine system and cannot eat and reproduce normally. Young chicks freshly caught from the wild are more susceptible to domestication than adult pheasants. Red-bellied eggs collected in the wild or produced on farms can be domesticated from the shell through artificial hatching of the chicks. Before feeding and supplying water, it is necessary to give signals such as lighting and sound so that they can gradually form conditioned reflexes, so as to enhance the habits of their cluster activities, so that they can get used to the artificial environment from the moment they come out of the shell, and establish a certain relationship of dependence with the breeders.
Therefore, the domestication of red-bellied golden pheasant has become one of the key problems of artificial breeding, and the domestication of red-bellied golden pheasant should simulate its wild environment according to its living habits. First of all, the red-bellied pheasant caught from the wild is placed in a quiet, spacious cage, and the interior is as dark as possible. Ensure that food is fresh and palatable, with adequate and hygienic drinking water. At the beginning, it is best to feed the seeds directly into the crop and gradually transition to the pellets. Feed a small number of small captive insects, such as mealworms, every day. Every day, the breeder should gradually approach the red-bellied golden pheasant through activities such as feeding, water supply and cleaning until it sees that the breeder no longer flees in panic, and then gradually increases the room light so that it is gradually accustomed to the feeding environment.
At the same time, mixing a small number of domestic chickens with the same batch is conducive to eliminating panic, and it is also possible to take advantage of the imitation and casual nature of the chicks to make them peck and drink water with the domestic chickens, so as to help improve their degree of domestication. Adult pheasants can also mate and lay eggs after a certain period of domestication. Although its spawning volume and hatching rate are low, it can provide a certain number of eggs for human breeding of red-bellied golden pheasants.