Key Characteristics

The Old English Pheasant Fowl is an excellent all-rounder, a good layer of white eggs and the male has a meaty breast.  This very active flighty bird needs extensive free-range conditions, being a forager by nature. It is an extremely hardy breed, tolerant of the cold and they can live for a long time. They are docile except at breeding time.

History

• A very old English breed, but only given its current name in 1914 as a revival of the original Gold Spangled Yorkshire Pheasant Fowl and Lancashire Mooney Fowls
• These breeds had existed for centuries, but had mostly been absorbed into the Hamburgh breed, and selected for exhibition points instead of utility qualities.
• A group of enthusiasts searched remote farms in the Yorkshire Dales and other Northern Counties to find surviving flocks of the old utility type for this revival.
• They were popular with smallholders until 1950s, although they were never kept by large scale commercial producers.

Appearance

• There are two colours Gold and Silver, although Silvers are very rare.
• At the end of the gold or silver feathers is a simple black crescent.
• Birds have a rose comb where the leader is quite long and follows the line of the skull, white oval earlobes and slate coloured legs and feet.

Uses

Depending on the strain they should lay about 160-200 white eggs per year. Males can have a good meaty breast.

Did you know?

The breed’s name is thought to come from the spangled plumage which looks similar to that of a pheasant.

Breed Societies

Rare Poultry Society