Sliver Pheasant

A Silver Pheasant has red face and red legs that like that of the chicken, however, its feathers make it one of the birds of beauty. Males has a distinctive feather color that of females. It has a white colored feathers on its wings and tail and black colored feathers on its breast. The females of this fowl also have a red face but the feathers are mainly colored brown. Males are larger than females, they can weigh up to 2 kilograms.

There are a several subspecies of the Silver Pheasant. The larger subspecie measures up to a 50 inches in body length with a tail of 28 inches. The smaller subspecies can only measure up to a 28 inches in body length with a tail of 12 inches.

 

A Female Silver Pheasant

Scientifically named Lophura nycthemera, the Silver pheasant  can  be found on the mountain forests of  Southeastern China, Southern Vietnam, Soutwestern Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and island of Hainan. On captivity, this fowl is considered to be an excellent pet to be kept in an Aviary.Several collectors and bird enthusiasts love to keep this bird as it does well with habitat that has a lot of plants as they will not eat newly grown ones.

 

The females can lay eggs at 2 years old but they are already fertile on the first year. They can lay up to 20 eggs per clutch and an incubation period which ranges from  25 to 27 days.In the wild, this fouls interbreed with other fouls resulting to the creation of other subspecies.


Cebu Zoo has a pair of this bird kept in a cage.They are rare in the Philippines, however if you want to raise one as a pet, you can find several websites tha sells this fowl with a price ranging from 60 to 85 US dollars per pair. You can check here.
 

A Male Silver Pheasant in Cebu Zoo