Pheasant Egg Incubation Calculator

Pheasant eggs take approximately 24 days to hatch on average, with a range of 22–26 days depending on species — Golden and Lady Amherst pheasants hatch a bit faster at 23 days, while Silver pheasants can take up to 26 days.

Pheasant eggs incubate best at 99.5°F (37.5°C) in a forced-air incubator, with humidity held at 45–50% for days 1–22, then raised to 65% for the final lockdown period through hatch.

Not reliably — unlike many domestic poultry breeds, pheasant hens in captivity often have a poor or inconsistent brooding instinct, frequently abandoning nests or failing to sit consistently enough for natural incubation to succeed. This is a major reason most pheasant breeders rely on artificial incubators rather than hoping a hen will reliably hatch her own clutch.

Turning is critical — pheasant eggs should be turned at least 3–5 times daily (an odd number, so the egg doesn't rest on the same side two nights running) through day 21 or 22, since insufficient turning allows the embryo to stick to the shell membrane and significantly reduces hatch rates.

This depends entirely on your goals and local regulations. Game bird farms commonly raise Ring-necked Pheasants specifically for release onto hunting preserves or into managed wild populations, while ornamental species like Golden and Lady Amherst pheasants are almost always kept in captivity as aviary birds due to their reduced wild survival instincts after generations of captive breeding.

Game bird farming is the commercial raising of pheasants, quail, and similar species for hunting preserves, meat, and the ornamental bird trade. Pheasants are among the most commonly farmed game birds in North America and Europe, valued both for their meat and for stocking managed hunting grounds.

A pheasant clutch typically contains 8 to 15 eggs, though wild hens may lay smaller clutches and continue laying replacement eggs if an early clutch is lost to predators.

At 24 days, pheasant incubation is longer than quail (17 days) but shorter than guinea fowl (27 days) and turkey (28 days) — a pattern that roughly tracks adult body size among common game and poultry species.