Brown Eared Pheasant Information

Scientific Information

Class: Aves

Order: Galliformes

Family: Phasianidae

Subfamily: Phasianinae

Genus: Crossoptilon

Species: Crossoptilon mantchuricum

Species English Name: Brown Eared Pheasant

Common Name: Brown

CITES Status: CITES Appendix I

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Distribution: Himalayas - Northern China

References: William Beebe’s A Monograph of Pheasants Volumes I & II, CITES status search, & IUCN status search.

Description

• Male and female are very similar in appearance. Black crown, bright red wattles, reddish legs, & white ear tufts that continue under the chin. Dark brown/black neck blending into a dark chocolate colour on the body and wings. Tail is white with brown ends on some of the feathers. Rump is also white. Males are usually larger than females and males possess large round spurs while the females have small oval spurs.

• Extremely hardy birds. They love snow and inclement weather

Diet

• We feed our breeders and young adults 17% poultry layer pellets, our tiny chicks 21% poultry starter crumble (fine crumble), and our growing chicks 16% grower crumble (coarser crumble).

• Brown Eared love treats of any kind. They get a handful of mixed grains every second day during winter. They also get fresh greens (lettuce, chickweed, dandelions, grass) and fruits & vegetables (tomato, grapes, berries, etc.) when available.

Breeding

• Done in pairs. Eared are very monogamous birds and become very attached to their mate. Trios are not recommended because the dominant female will usually try to kill the less dominant female. 

• Brown Eared are classically second year birds meaning that the female will not lay eggs until their second year. Although in recent years, we have had several females that were terrific layers in their first year. Males will normally be fertile in their first year.

• They start laying eggs in the middle of April and will lay every second day until they lay approximately 10-20 eggs.

• They lay very large greyish or greyish-green eggs. We have had one female that lays bright turquoise eggs.

Incubation

• Eggs are collected twice a day and marked with the date and breeding pen number and set daily.

• Eggs are set in an automatic turning Lyons Roll-X (RX2) with grid 71 or a Brinsea Ovation 56 with the large egg carrier.

• Temperature 99.8°F, humidity-wet bulb 80 with humidity adjusted periodically depending on development of the air space shown by candling

• On the final day of incubation, each egg is placed in its own oval wire mesh hatching basket (6" x 3" x 3") and set in a Roll-X incubator converter to a hatcher.

• Incubation for Brown Eared is 27-28 days.

• After the chick hatches, it stays in the hatcher for a minimum of 8 hours.

Chicks

• When the chicks come out of the incubator they are lively and rambunctious. They are very large and leggy compared to most of the other kinds of pheasant chicks. They have a brown back and wings, a whitish-cream chest and belly and a golden brown face and head. A distinctive feature of these chicks is that they always look like they are smiling.

• They start out in our round 18" brooder pen with a mixed assortment of chicks. After a few days they are separated into an all Eared 2' x 4' baby pen for about a week. They are then transferred to an all Eared 2' x 6' pen for the next 7-9 weeks. During this time, they are separated into separate Brown and Blue Eared pens to minimize fighting once we have enough chicks of both varieties. All of these brooding pens have wire bottoms with a heat lamp at one end and feed & water at the other end. The heat lamp is attached to a dimmer switch so we can turn down the amount of heat as the chicks get older until it is turned off completely.

• After they are off of the heat for a few weeks, they are moved outside to the pheasant house (has outside grassy pens and a heated inside house part where they are blocked in for the night). After they are toughened up, they are moved to an outside chick pen.

• Brown Eared chicks have a tendency to be violent and will kill other chicks when over crowded. We de-beak our Eared chicks very frequently to minimize problems. You should not mix chicks of different of ages and sexes.

Pens

• 25' long x 10' wide x 6' high with a 4' x 4' x 4' house in the middle.

• Pens are covered with 2" diamond top-rite.

• Pens contain grass, but since Brown Eared are rooters, they need to move to another pen every 1-3 years to let the grass come back.

Behavior

• They are very easy to tame down and are incredibly friendly and curious birds. Most will tame down enough to eat out of your hand or follow you around. Some learn how to do tricks and chicks are quite eager to sit on your hand or shoulder.

• The males can become aggressive enough to attack humans during breeding season. Some males will continue to attack humans year-round.

• They are very calm and non-flighty birds that love to show off when any one is watching.

• Males will often turn to one side and lower one wing to assert their dominance. Females will crouch down and make purring like noises during breeding season.

• Eared love to dust and sun themselves. They also love to play in the mud and will tip waterers to make mud.

Article By Krissy & Donna Bush Pheasant Ridge (updated by Krissy Bird - 2025)

Brown Eared Pheasant Chick

Brown Eared Pheasant Chick