Courtesy of Alan Downie and Allandoo Pheasantry - Decorative Ornamental Farmer in Southwest Scotland
The tragopans are very unusua#rds with inflatable lappets and horns. The Satyr tragopan is quite heavy, the cock is around 4lbs in weight.
He has a dark brown back with a mostly black head and black on the end of his tail. However he also has a glorious deep red breast, the red stretches right up over the neck and the base of his wings and covers his belly. To add to this his body is covered with lots of white ocelli edged in black. There are some red feathers on the crown and a glimpse of bright blue can be seen on or around the face. It is here the tremendous transformation takes place. 
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As the mating season approaches the blue it will look more and more. Often the chicken will shake its head and the bib will "fall". 
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Her performance is certainly worth watching. He will nod and you may hear strange sounds like balloons or tires being pumped. His head nods will become faster and more like a bow over and over until he rushes to the chickens and pulls himself to the top full with his wings outstretched and the lappets and horns fully extended he stood slightly trembling until very suddenly the show was over and everything was back to normal. Lappets are blue with red / pink spots and extend to about 4 inches long.
Tragopans chickens are very similar and great attention should be taken not to mix them. The Satyr hen will start lying normally in early April. He can put about 12 eggs in season (about 4 eggs in clutch). Unlike many pheasants, he often lies in a tall nestbox. Incubation takes 28 days.
Proper Housing and Care:
The Satyr Tragopans live in a heavily wooded Himalayan area, because it's best if they can have some good shady areas in the birdcage.
All tragopans are great birds to keep as long as you have enough room for them. We store our Satyrs in 24 'X 18' pens. This is mainly to give them plenty to eat. They like to eat their vegetables and fruit and flowers. They are not excavators, however, plants have a good chance of surviving if they are planted.
Satyrs are birds that do not fly in fact they become very tame and will wait patiently at the gates every morning for you to come and feed them. They will carefully peck the food out of your hands and then proceed to swallow pieces of very large fruit that look like they may not fit into the bird's throat.
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Species Research by Sibylle Johnson
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