Seeking advice: Pheasant and chicks moved into garden

Hi, I'm back again.
The chicks are now 8 days old, and another one disappeared yesterday so shes down to 6 chicks left :(
They are still too small to get up the steps and this morning I noticed a magpie on the wall, so I'm really worried about them. I'm trying to create hiding spaces for them with some old beer crates, with gaps between the crate and the walls that are small, so they can get under/behind something if they need to.
Is there anything else I can do? Mum got very hissy with me when I built up cover around where they sleep with some branches / hedge cuttings etc but she let me get on with it.
Should I try to move them out somehow? If so where to?
Sorry, I know this is nature and the way life is etc etc, but I want to try to help them.
Thank you for any advice.

Update.

I wanted to add an update to my post, in case anyone else suddenly finds themselves in this position.

Sadly the local magpies and jackdaws targeted the baby chicks. I went out later on Saturday and couldn't see any chicks or the mother, and I just wept.

Then I found the mother pheasant, with just two chicks left. I added more shelter spots and constructed a wooden shelter, making sure the entry holes were very small so only a chick sized bird could get in.

On Sunday morning I got up very early but alas there was only one chick left. At this point I became determined the mother would not leave with no chicks, and so I spent most of the following days in the garden. I also got up just after 4am each morning, just before dawn, and sat on the steps in the garden for several hours to chase off the early opportunist visits from magpies and jackdaws.

On Monday, I could see the chick had developed flight feathers, and it fluttered around, closely guarded by the mother.

Yesterday the chick was up on the wall for the first time, with its mother, jumping at insects. I watched as it took, what I believe was, its first flight, wings spread wide as it flew from the wall to the ground. I saw the mother encourage her chick up onto the wall again. I also noticed the chick's posture was more pheasant-like than chick, and it looked like a "mini-me" walking with its mother.

Then at lunchtime they disappeared, up over the walls into a neighbour's garden which is very overgrown with shrubs. Later in the afternoon my neighbour told me he had seen them both walking along the walls of his garden.

Yesterday evening mum pheasant and her chick were spotted in another neighbour's garden and they are currently under the buddleia in the garden below us. All the neighbourhood (we live in a rural hamlet) know about them and are keeping an eye out for them. So fingers are crossed for them both.

What I've learned:
More important than anything is cover. The area the chicks got stranded in is the bottom terrace of a walled garden, so there are walls and steps all around, which they couldn't climb. It is a lawn, which although a bit long was not providing enough cover.

I ended up creating lots of cover around the edges with upended beer crates, blocking off the entrances with stacks of tiles and paint kettles so that only a small chick could get in. I placed planks of wood on the top of the crates to so they could also hide in the very narrow gap between the back of the crate and the wall and not be seen from above. I built a wooden shelter with an old gate and planks against a wall, again with only tiny openings and this became the night shelter, with mum sleeping outside.

My garden looks like a little shanty town, but I should have done this on the first day. Then the magpies, jackdaws etc, would not have seen such a sitting target. I'm so angry with myself for not realising this, it was more important than providing food or anything else. But I'm so glad that I managed to help her keep the last chick, after such a hard 11 days losing her other chicks, one after another.

I currently hate magpies and jackdaws. A few years ago a neighbour culled /shot a lot of magpies and I was quite upset at the time; now I would probably give him a bottle of wine. I know this is nature, the food chain, etc etc, but this is how I feel right now.

So, if anyone is reading this post in a few days' or a few years' time, my advice would be: build shelters that are only big enough for pheasant chicks to enter. Build lots of shelters if you don't have any natural cover.

Tomorrow I will dismantle the little shanty town I constructed. The memories of this experience (both good and bad) and especially the magical sight of that little chick taking its first flight, wings wide, are seared into my soul for ever.

That's it.
I hope this helps someone else do a more successful job of helping newly hatched pheasant chicks than I did.

Thank you Robbo for your support and encouragement :)

Stay safe mum pheasant and chick, though I know now how the odds are against you.

Hi Summergarden, I have been following your story. So pleased that mum has left with one of her chicks. So sad about the others. Nature can be so cruel at times. Don't beat yourself up about not doing what you thought you should have done, at the start. You did what you thought was for the best. Fingers crossed the wee one and her mum will be all right now and have lots of shelter and hidey places.

I’m so glad that I found your post!

I currently have a nest with 12+ eggs in my garden. I’ve been wondering how I can increase their chances of survival.
My garden backs onto a protected water meadow with lots of beautiful trees so they have a lovely habitat to grow up in.

Ma Pheasant is currently on the nest, under a large delphinium amongst other plants. I noticed that she makes a feeble effort to cover the eggs with dead leaves so I’ve been collecting some and depositing them around the area. If the eggs hatch then I think I’ll put some boxes nearby with small holes for chick access only. There are lots of magpie and crows living nearby so I’m already stressing!

Thanks again for sharing your experience!

James

Thanks Mike

Yes I’ve been concerned about disturbing her. When I first spotted the nest I was mending my fence about 2 feet away! It was lucky I hadn’t stood on her. She then appeared next to my feet, casually picking up leaves as if I didn’t exist. I reversed away and have only returned when I’ve seen her fly away, to peak from a distance and scatter leaves nearby.

Do you think I could/should provide some more cover once the chicks have hatched? An upturned wooden box with small holes for example? Or should I just let nature take its course?

Thanks again.
James

Hi James, I got an email regarding this update on my post, and although it was 2 years ago, the memory us still very fresh in my mind.

I agree with Mike: the mother would take them to an area that she felt had sufficient cover and food - unfortunately in my instance, she brought her newly hatched chicks into my garden, which is quite steeply terraced, and they all got trapped in the bottom terrace, where they were easily to pick off.

I can only repeat my thoughts from 2 summers ago, to provide lots of "chick only access" cover - in my instance there was nothing much naturally and I ended up building a little shanty town, from beer crates, tiles, and bits of wood.

I guess that once the predatory birds locate a source of easy food they keep coming back, which is when the mother would normally move them - except in my case they were all trapped so she couldn't. The early mornings (just after dawn) seemed to be the most dangerous times, which I why I ended up getting up at dawn to shoo off the crows and magpies.

So discretely putting in some extra cover is probably the best thing you can do to help them. It's so hard because you end up emotionally involved (well, I did!), and at the end of the day, nature can be very cruel. If they have loads of cover, mum will do the rest.

As Mike says, don't get too close to the eggs or the chicks when they hatch, as this really stresses their mum out, and she could end up abandoning them, which would be the worst thing. I tried to keep as far away as possible from them all whilst building chick shelters.

Good luck James, I hope your little pheasant family get through this precarious stage. The memory of seeing that sole surviving chick taking its first flight was a gift that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

As a footnote, I did eventually forgive magpies, and stopped giving them death stares whenever I saw one - they too are trying to raise their chicks in our beautiful but harsh world.

Good luck to you and Ma Pheasant!

Thanks so much for your reply!

I will be keeping my distance and just discretely adding some extra cover nearby! This is also a great excuse not to mow the lawn or weed the beds!

I’m glad you have forgiven the magpies. Last year we had a magpie pair raising their 2 chicks in the garden. They were such fun to watch as they are so inquisitive. As they grew they got braver by the day and would tap on the conservatory doors and watch us. Delightful but of course they could be this years predators.. We also have a few herons living close by..

Thanks again for your advice! Hopefully I will also have the fond memory of seeing at least one ‘first flight’..

James

JamieRaySunshine said:

Thanks Mike

Yes I’ve been concerned about disturbing her. When I first spotted the nest I was mending my fence about 2 feet away! It was lucky I hadn’t stood on her. She then appeared next to my feet, casually picking up leaves as if I didn’t exist. I reversed away and have only returned when I’ve seen her fly away, to peak from a distance and scatter leaves nearby.

Do you think I could/should provide some more cover once the chicks have hatched? An upturned wooden box with small holes for example? Or should I just let nature take its course?

Thanks again.
James

You're welcome.

Also many thanks from me for your reply.