golden/amherst pheasant for meat?

[animalzoo]

Do golden or lady amherst pheasants make somewhat decent meat birds? I know they don't have as much meat on them, but is it still okay to eat them?

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I have eaten a golden, and I love my pheasant meat, but he was disgusting. He tasted like dirty socks smell..... at least thats the only way I can discribe it.

 

[destinduck]

Welcome to BYC animalzoo.Thats interesting he wasnt good fancyfowl. I ate a red golden only once and it was as delicious as any ringneck..I fed him cracked corn a good month before I had him. I have talked to two other folks that ate them(one a yellow golden and the other a red golden) and they concurred. I also ate some peafowl once.That was better than any pheasant in my opinion.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Peafowl is delish. Dunno what was up with the red golden I had, he was absolutely inedible.

 

[deserthotwings]

Sounds like you guys are eating a little high on the hog. I get $40.00 each for my RG's and $50.00 for my Amherst. With about 2 lbs of meat on each bird, I believe that comes to about $20 or $25 a lb. Bon Appatite, but I'll stick with my barn yard leghorns.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Cant sell a male golden or amherst around here, everyone is short on hens. At auctions you get a buck or two, so I rather eat them and sell the hides for $20 to the taxidermist. Or part them out for fly tiers and make $20-$30 a bird.
So they are at least worth something.

 

[deserthotwings]

Yea, the same way here. I'm sold out of Red Goldens for the year. Everyone wants trios or excess hens, which left me with a bunch of left over male birds. RG hens round here are worth their weight in gold right now. I'm hoping for a good percentage of hens in this springs hatch.

 

[destinduck]

I have ate them because I too used to get so many. There are plenty locally. However if I wanted to ship I could sell them all. I can buy red/yellow goldens and amhearts here all day long for 30-40 a pair for either. I sold my last two amhearts males for 15 a piece. I dont do much breeding anymore. I just try to keep a pair or two of everything now. Right now I have 4 hens(two unrelated moms and a daughter from each.) and one boy( totally unrelated) in the red goldens. I want to swap a girl for a mature boy amhearts or red here locally.(For new blood)

 

[judithkorff]

Those of you with excess males to sell might want to list them in the classifieds of magazines that cater to the textile trade. I'd love a batch of fancy feathered pheasants and ducks to gather feathers for spinning into art yarn.