Koklass Information

Scientific Information

Class: Aves

Order: Galliformes

Family: Phasianidae

Subfamily: Phasianinae

Genus: Pucrasia

Species: Pucrasia macrolopha

Species English Name: Koklass Pheasant

Common Name: Koklass

CITES Status: CITES Appendix III

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Distribution: Afghanistan, China, Nepal, India, Pakistan

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

***Not an actual pheasant as determined by my genetic work published in 2003****

Description

• Male - Metallic green face, head, throat, & crest, white cheek patches, rust throat, chest, & belly, mostly grey back & wings with varying hues of brown and tan with dark "V" shaped barring, rusty-grey neck with same dark "V" barring, brown and cream tail, grey legs, and black beak

• Female - Creamish-brown body with dark markings, cream face, white cheek & throat patches, white tips on outside tail feathers, grey legs, & dark grey beak

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).

• 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 or trios.

• Koklass are first year birds meaning that the female will lay eggs the spring after she is hatched. The male is fertile the first year.

• They start laying eggs around mid April and will lay every second day until they lay approximately 15 eggs.

• They lay a small to medium sized creamy-tan egg with brown spots egg.

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 89 or 109 depending on the size of the egg or a Brinsea Ovation 56 with the standard egg carrier.

• Temperature 99.8°F, humidity-wet bulb 84 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 Koklass is 25 days.

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

Chicks

• Chicks look like small fuzzy versions of the female.

• They start out in our round 18" brooder pen with a mixed assortment of chicks. After a few days they are separated into a 2' x 4' baby pen for about a week. They are then transferred to a Koklass - Cheer - Impeyan 2’ x 6' pen for the next 7-9 weeks. They stay with this grouping until they go outside. 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 hey are blocked in for the night). At this point they are separated into an all Koklass pen. After they are toughened up, they are moved to an outside chick pen.

• Koklass chicks are on the mean side and need to be kept with their own kind or large sturdy chicks like Cheer & Impeyan.

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, which does not need to be mowed since Koklass will mow the grass down like sheep.

Behavior

• Are calm and showy birds. The females are quiet and will walk around the pen eating grass and looking for bugs. The males love to display for any one that will watch them they flare their crest, beat their wings, and hop up and down. Koklass males have a unique crow during mating season that is quite loud. They are easy to tame down, but are not overly hardy (see below).

• Since Koklass are not a true Pheasant, they are more susceptible to disease like Grouse, Quail, and Partridge are. If you do not live where there is well drained soil, they need to be wormed frequently.

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

Koklass Male

Koklass Male

Koklass Chick

Koklass Chick

Koklass Chick

Koklass Egg