© Martin Clay
Pheasant chick behaviour and diet
KEY FINDINGS This PhD study looks at early learning by reared pheasants and how we can modify their behaviour to help them survive better in the wild. Giving chicks insects or wild seeds can improve foraging behaviour during the rearing and post-release periods.
Pheasant chicks destined for release-based shoots are usually reared in groups without adult birds, in a system of heated huts and outdoor pens, before being subjected to a ‘soft release’ into the wild at about seven weeks old. They are fed pelleted food and cereal grain plus water ad lib, a diet very different to what they would feed on in the wild. In this study Mark Whiteside, a PhD student from the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter, used this pheasant-rearing system to investigate whether simple changes to the chicks’ diet during early development affected behaviour both during the rearing process and post-release. This is the first year of his study and the provisional results presented here are a sample of what he found. For Mark and his supervisor at Exeter (Dr Joah Madden), pheasant rearing provides an excellent model system to test how artificial interventions may help correct the development of behavioural processes in hand-reared birds generally. This study also provides the opportunity to look at ways of improving the quality of released pheasants during rearing, to enable them to survive and thrive following release, and if not shot, to contribute to a breeding population.
Rufus Sage Mark Whiteside Joah Madden
**
160
NS 140
Figure 1
120 Foraging time (s) (+ 1 se)
Time taken for a chick reared under one of three diets to eat a live cricket once it had been detected (n=117) ** indicates a statistically significant difference at the 1% level. NS = not statistically significant
100
80
60
40
20
0 Crumb + mealworm
16 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2013
Crumb + mixed seed Rearing diet
Crumb only
www.gwct.org.uk