Ice and his family

Ice and his family (Chrysolophus Amherstiae).

Ice is a Lady Amherst Pheasant male. He was purchased at a flea market in Texas, together with his two females of 2 years. I brought him home and slowly introduced him in the aviary. From the very beginning, Ice was very territorial. He loved to run around and spread his collar in front of his females. Since they were hand raised, they were extremely tame so I decided to move them in the back yard, in the open. They loved to sleep in trees and run around the yard the rest of the day. At the time, one of my neighbors had a very intrusive rooster that used to jump the fence with one of his chicken and eat with our birds. Ice was territorial and always chased the rooster. I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation. One day, Ice was preening his feathers while I was reading a book. Suddenly, the rooster attacked him from behind and shuffled with his spurs. Ice turn around and chased after the rooster who took off in a hurry but a few steps further, he fell to the ground. I ran over to him and picked him up to see that his right thigh was shattered to pieces. I called the vet and ran him to the clinic. They told me that the only chance he might have is to operate on the thigh. I agreed and three hours later the vet told me that the bird is done. His bone was broken in five places and he had to place two metal wires into it. I never realized that a surgery like that could run into the thousands. I took Ice home and slowly he recovered. He could never walk normal again... in fact he does this moon walk which made a lot of people start calling him Michael Jackson. His personality never changed and neither did his ability to run around impressing the girls. He is a true fighter and survivor. He was placed with Mr. and Mrs. Douglas in Laguna Hills and he, now, enjoys a stress-less life without roosters. His two females never cease to show how much they appreciate his show of color.