494 ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF GROUSE 



III llie wild the young birds are paying less attention to insects and more to the leaves, 

 seeds and fruits which largely make up the diet of adult grouse at this period. Likewise in 

 the pens one finds an increasing tendency to eat more grain, in proportion to mash. The 

 actual change in feed at this time is, however, not so much in composition as in size. The 

 more coarsely-pelleted growing mash is substituted for starting mash, the intermediate-sized 

 grains for the finer chick grains and intermediate grit for the smaller size previously used, 

 as indicated in figure 41. 



By now the birds are also quite able to secure roughage by stripping apple leaves from 

 the limbs. Lettuce may accordingly be eliminated and whole branches of apple or other edi- 

 ble leaves placed in the pen. Beginning with the seventh week the birds will make increasing 

 use of apples cut in half and impaled on nails. Bunches of clover or alfalfa, tied together and 

 hung up or placed in a feeding rack from which thev may be pulled as needed, are also 

 relished, though they wilt and pack down easily. These, together with needles from the ever- 

 green boughs placed in a corner of the pen as shelter, not only offer the desired bulk to the 

 diet, but also serve to keep the birds occupied. 



All substitutions and changes should be carried out gradually over a period of a week to 

 cushion the shock possibly attendant upon sudden shifts in diet. 



To one who is raising grouse for the first time there comes an almost overpowering desire 

 to add wild delicacies such as berries and insects to the standard diet here recommended. 

 Yet sowbugs, for example, are known to be an intermediate host for the stomach worm 

 (Dispharnyx) and grasshoppers may carry the gizzard worm (Cheilospirura). After yield- 

 ing to this temptation for three years the Investigation discontinued the practice without any 

 apparent adverse effect upon either the physical development, feather growth or the rate of 

 survival among the growing birds. 



Little change in feeding or watering equipment is necessary at this time. Separate trough- 

 type feeders for mash, for grain and for grit may be used, or the last two items may be mixed 

 together. Small containers which require filling several times a week are preferable to the 

 large hopper-type feeders. In the sununer moist feed should not be allowed to remain long 

 in the feeders lest mold develop. 



Nor is it difTicult to supply the birds with water, reasonably fresh and cool. Feeling that 

 the mason jar type of water fountain might encourage the spread of disease, a simple arrange- 

 ment causing drops of water to form slowly at the ends of short glass tubes protruding into 

 each pen, was developed in 1934. But while the birds enjoyed picking at the drops thus 

 formed, the device required considerable servicing and was not easy to handle. Nor did it 

 apparently exert any influence on the incidence of disease; so it was abandoned. 



Disease Prevention and Control 



During the summer and early fall, properly reared young grouse present such pictures of 

 health as to lull the inexperienced breeder into a false sense of security. Early accounts 

 contain innumerable records of entire groups being wiped out at this time, usually by the 

 ever mysterious "grouse disease." The prevention and control of the diseases known to af- 

 fect grouse during this period are today, however, so well understood as to furnish little 

 cause for anxiety, providing a few important precautions are followed. 



Each pen should be thoroughly cleaned witli disinfcclant or firegunned in the fall in prep- 

 aration for the following season. All grass and debris under the pens should be removed or 



