Establishing cover around tail water pits can also provide important winter cover. Pheasant Foods Sixty to 80 percent of the adult pheasants' diet is made up of agricultural grains like corn, oats, barley and wheat. This is usually provided by grain wasted in the harvest process. The remainder is usually weed seeds and insects. In the winter, fruits from woody plants are important.
Insects become a substantial part of the diet in spring, and decline through the summer into fall.
As previously mentioned, chicks survive the first weeks of their life almost entirely on insects. Weed seeds are generally five to 15 percent of the diet. Greens make up about 20 percent of the diet in May, and decline through the summer. The fruits of woody plants are used by pheasants when available. Buck brush, prairie rose and Russian olive are examples of these plants.