With Walter gone to my sisters, I thought today was the day that the pheasants get moved into the winter side of the chicken house. I call it the winter side because we put in all the windows on this side to keep it warmer and also there is a couple of heated water bowls for them to drink out of. Now I knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy project to catch these guys, and if anyone ever tells you that hand catching a pheasant is a piece of cake – I think they are pulling your leg! So I grabbed an old bed sheet that I use as a drop cloth and off to the chicken house I went. Of course the two dogs also wanted to be in the action, so they followed me to the brooder house. They were sitting so nice watching me from the screened windows, I knew that this wouldn’t last long. The two pheasants names are Tim and Martha. Tim is the male and has really pretty coloring, while the female is brown and almost looks like a small chicken. Last spring when we put them on their own side, we had trouble catching them and ended up pulling out most of Tim’s long tail feathers. (don’t ask) So with my sheet in my hands, I wanted to see if I could do this by myself. After what seemed to be a long time, I did corner the male and was able to get him put with the chickens on the winter side of the brooder house. I was really nervous because I was worried that Hitler would want to fight him – but it was the opposite. When I put Tim down inside, all the chickens went CRAZY! They looked at him and then ran from one corner to the next corner… and you could just about imagine the dust they were making! So now the dogs are watching this and get all excited. They start barking, which in turn makes the chickens run more! I have said this more than once – I sure am glad we live out in the country because I really yelled at those dogs! Once all the dust settled (literally) I noticed that the chickens couldn’t get far enough away, and that they were so scared. I guess it’s better than being mean. So the next step was to get Martha caught. By now the dogs were all wound up and I decided that this was enough. I would run after her and throw my sheet down hoping to catch her underneath. But when I would run after her, she would fly at the windows and the dogs would try to jump up from outside and see if they could catch her from the screens. And you guessed it – barking and barking! Finally, I did get her in my sheet and I put her in with her buddy, Tim. It was funny, because he ran up to her and the other ‘chickens’ just stayed in the far corner and wouldn’t move.
Tim the pheasant is on the left hand side of the picture
My two helpers ... Not!