More Exotic Birds On The Farm

Although I don't have good original photos from back in the 60's, I still wanted to chronicle more of my Dad's hobby. His bird display brought joy to so many people.  Check out my previous post on his peafowl as well.

Here are examples of white and golden fantail pigeons.  We had several different colors. It was so cool watching them strut around with their tails spread.

I only had this one photo and it's of a white one.  It's hard to see but a black one is on it's left. 

Golden Chinese Pheasant. Beautiful.  
During mating season the male struts around and fluffs up his "ruff" or"cape" to attract the female. They are pretty friendly birds.

The Guinea fowl. They like to roam so ours were kept in pens. They roamed free on my grandmother's farm.  A fun fact: Guinea fowls have been used to alert chickens and other farm animals from hawk attacks. Believe me, they can be quite noisy.

Reeves pheasant. They are native of China. My mother and her friends made artwork out of their feathers. Their sound is most like a warble. Our Reeves was named "Rocky" because he was a fighter. This type of pheasant is known to be aggressive.

Ring necked pheasants are native of China and East Asia. It is the state bird of South Dakota even though it isn't native to the United States. Often interchangeable with the common pheasant.  Both are considered game fowl.

Silver Pheasant.  They are from Asia like so many of these beautiful birds. I have to say, this was probably my favorite pheasant on the farm.  They were so regal appearing.  Also they were larger than the other pheasants.

My dad may have had other species but these are the only ones that come to mind 

I just want to mention that the males are the ones who are so brightly colored and the ones I have spotlighted in the photos above.  The females (hens) are much smaller and lack the vibrant colors.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has ever raised or known anyone who has raised birds.  I'd be interested in hearing your stories.