Black Grouse And Capercaile Chicks Dying At Youg Age

[hollands hope 1,024]

Gentlemen need some advice, mate of mine has poultry, that is pheasants, partridge ,he has no problem raising them.the problem occurs with his Black Grouse and Capercailie chicks, they start dying off from day one to three weeks old. your thoughts please.

[MAACCY 105]

Thanks LP. Quick update i came home at 2am still no fox. Had a couple hours sleep now going back out

Theres a chap in scotland breeding them. type in grouse r us he breeds capercaile and varius differant types of grouse his name is alistar do a search on google you will find him he will give you all the info you need

[hollands hope 1,024]

 

Thanks LP. Quick update i came home at 2am still no fox. Had a couple hours sleep now going back out

Theres a chap in scotland breeding them. type in grouse r us he breeds capercaile and varius differant types of grouse his name is alistar do a search on google you will find him he will give you all the info you need

 

It says site is currently unavailble.

[MAACCY 105]

He may be updating it .if you ring this number gordan 01379 898215 he will help you out.he will also give you alistairs number all the best

[Alimac2 321]

Grouse be it red or black & the capper eat a very different diet from the pheasant partridge or chicken.. I'd say the crumb he's feeding is the source of his problems.

There's often a reason things aren't done these days & that because folk have been there & tried it already, with poor results.. Personally if I was him I'd give up.

[MIK 4,756]

We reared capper succesfully in 89 the first attempt failed due to a too high protien mix which caused the chicks to grow too fast too quick ....the following attempt worked we reared 1 cock and 5 hens with the lower protein mix

[hollands hope 1,024]

Grouse be it red or black & the capper eat a very different diet from the pheasant partridge or chicken.. I'd say the crumb he's feeding is the source of his problems.

There's often a reason things aren't done these days & that because folk have been there & tried it already, with poor results.. Personally if I was him I'd give up.

The birds are held under perfect conditions ,also he has contacts with various breeders in Holland, Belgium, Germany.He,s well aware that young grouse need a different dieet than the older birds and breeding pairs, he give,s them protein at young age( insects and such alike)also theire normal dieet like shoots from tree,s and whatever they need from mother nature , i know its also difficult to feed like birds would do when roaming in the wild.I dont think here in lies the problem as other breeders do the same regime with various outcome (good and bad).Also young chicks seem heahlty one moment and a hour later theire dead. Been to a vet with a dead chicks,no satifying outcome. it puzzles both him and me whats going on with these birds as older birds are not affected.It could be stress related as he keeps them in open runs and various bpr are circling over his avairy,s and are a constant source off stress to these birds wich will affect theire immune system. Anyway thanks for replying,yis HH

[Lab 10,979]

Could be anything really. You say there held under perfect conditions.....like what?

What is the heating system? How many drinkers do they have? what kind of feeding do they start on? what bedding are they on?

All things I'd want to see or hear of when discussing pheasants/ partridge. Different I know but it's a very specialist thing trying to do what your mate is trying to do.

[hollands hope 1,024]

He may be updating it .if you ring this number gordan 01379 898215 he will help you out.he will also give you alistairs number all the best

He already contacted with Alistairs and Gordan bowker in the past and talked the whole thing thru,one thing wich they differ was that the birds were kept on wiremesh instead of soil , woodchippings, straw or flax.

[hollands hope 1,024]

We reared capper succesfully in 89 the first attempt failed due to a too high protien mix which caused the chicks to grow too fast too quick ....the following attempt worked we reared 1 cock and 5 hens with the lower protein mix

How many birds survived from that batch did all or a certain percentage survived?

[hollands hope 1,024]

Could be anything really. You say there held under perfect conditions.....like what?

What is the heating system? How many drinkers do they have? what kind of feeding do they start on? what bedding are they on?

All things I'd want to see or hear of when discussing pheasants/ partridge. Different I know but it's a very specialist thing trying to do what your mate is trying to do.

Well he,s very hygienic with his stock and doesn,t do very different as what other folks do, i was wrong with the bpr thing his younger birds never went outside so it couldn,t be stress related.

[Lab 10,979]

Am I right in thinking he rears them on wire mesh floors from day old??

[hollands hope 1,024]

Am I right in thinking he rears them on wire mesh floors from day old??

No, the other way around, the fella he contacted in England or Scotland kept them on wiremesh ,problebly not when they hatched but later on.Could be misinformed.