What can I feed this stray pheasant?

[Blimeyitscold]

I live near a country house that hosts game shoots. A pheasant has been resident in my garden all week and I think it escaped the guns. However, it seems almost domesticated and keeps looking in at the windows and sitting on the door step.

I’m sure it’s hungry and doesn’t know how to grub for insects etc.

What can I feed it? I know I shouldn’t but I feel bad for this bird.

I’m vegetarian anyway so I don’t like any of it. I don’t see any harm in feeding an animal that was likely to be shot for fun.

I totlaly agree with you. My DH was aghast to be asked to go shooting by a work colleague when we moved to where we live now. The first time he said he was busy but the second time he was just honest and said it wasn’t for him as otherwise they were going to keep asking. He’s got a distant relative who’s a game keeper married to a vegan! My DH won’t let them come in our garden to shoot grey squirrels either (he says it’s not safe for our cats to our neighbours!)

Spot the townie.

I was going to say, feed it the sharp end of a carving knife and casserole with apples, cream and herbs!

Flavours the meat! Jumiper goes well with pheasant too!

murasaki · Yesterday 16:06
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I was going to say raisins filled with sleeping tablets, but that's not very helpful....do you have any pearl barley or similar it might like?

Love that book and the film is great.

Muesli, OP?

Eating or not eating the dead birds of whatever kind doesn't justify the cruelty involved when it's all completely unnecessary.

We don't need to eat pheasants
We don't need to eat chickens.

It's all both unnecessary and cruel.

(Bracing for predictable backlash).

It's a beautiful bird op, so glad you care about him. ♥️

I remember visiting family down south and seeing braces of pheasants hanging up outside a butchers shop in Cambridgeshire. I think there were other birds too, like pigeon and duck. All just hanging there ready to be bought. It was a bit surprising, as I could only presume the buyer was left to pluck the feathers.

@Blimeyitscold how's the pheasant doing today? 😀

I haven’t seen it as it’s been pouring with rain all day. I’ll look out for it tomorrow.

Terrible update as I think I ran it over this morning. I was coming back from the school run and was almost home when the car ahead swerved to the other side of the road. I then saw that a pheasant had been hit by the car but it was still alive and was on its back and flapping its wings. I made the decision to put the poor thing out of its misery and went over it. I feel so sad and yes, I had a weep. I think it’s because I’ve had such a crappy year and I really enjoyed watching it wander around my garden and perching on the fence. And now I’ve bloody killed it.

Happier days

Oh my God, that’s the worse update ever 😭

That's odd, all the pheasants round our way are raised in the woods. Much nicer life than the average chicken. As long as they're eaten then it's no different to any other farming really, probably a nicer end on the wing than in an abbatoir. Not that I would eat either!!

Hello. October 2025 here and we have a new pheasant.

it’s been living in the next door neighbour’s tree for the past few months. It has exactly the same habits as the previous pheasant and I saw it by the patio window of another neighbour yesterday having a good look inside.

Husband has been complaining that the grass isn’t growing despite all the lawnseed he has been putting down. Hmmmmn, I wonder why?

Does anyone want more Pheasant Updates?

Yes please!

I love pheasants, they're so dim though 😂

Please look after it and make sure it's loved 💚

Mixed corn