THE INCUBATOR-BROODER METHOD OF RAISING GROUSE 457 



Danger from Disease 



Disease difficulties have caused the termination of many a grouse experiment, though, 

 contrary to general belief, grouse are probably no more susceptible to this trouble than are 

 bobwhite quail. As previously mentioned, to place grouse on the ground in confinement 

 is to invite disease. To keep this to a minimum, feed and water should be placed on wire- 

 covered frames and the surplus frequently removed. Any accumulations of droppings, par- 

 ticularly under shelters, should be regularly cleaned out. A wire bottom built to fit each 

 breeding or rearing pen is a wise precaution against a possible outbreak of disease. Pens 

 and birds should be placed thereon at the first sign of trouble. 



Though the records contain a few instances where broods of grouse were reared more 

 or less successfully with bantam hens, as Dr. Allen aptly put it. "One might almost believe 

 the successful grouse breeder should not eat poultry even on Sunday", so susceptible are the 

 birds to several of the more widely spread chicken ailments. 



Nor are fresh ground and seclusion guarantees against disease. As already mentioned, 

 birds both young and old died from blackhead or from ulcerative enteritis fquail disease) 

 in the large covered pens at the Catskill Station, even though great care was taken to avoid 

 contamination and no poultry had previously occupied the site. Another year, at the Research 

 Center, 75 breeders, all raised on wire, were divided among 15 pens placed on fresh ground. 

 Extreme care was taken not to introduce disease, yet 16 of these birds died from lilackhead 

 before the breeding experiments were concluded. These experiences, verified In those of 

 other breeders, point inescapably to the conclusion that no large number of grouse can be 

 raised or carried in ca|)tivily in contact with the ground without sooner or later suffering a 

 high loss of birds from disease. 



Vitality 



The question is often raised as to the vitality of generations of grouse raised on wire in 

 comparison with those reared and held on the ground. The situation is, in fact, purely aca- 

 demic, for few if any breeders have been able to avoid the pitfalls long enough to bring 

 captive grouse beyond the second generation on the ground. Neither do wild birds offer a 

 valid comparison. In contrast, grouse have been raised and maintained on wire at the Research 

 Center to the eleventh generation without experiencing any of the much feared degeneration 

 of stock. 



THE INCUBATOR-BROODER METHOD OF RAISING GROUSE 



Six thousand years ago an inventive Egyption modeled in mud and baked in the sun- 

 light a queer structure for the purpose of hatching out the eggs of the half-wild fowl that fre- 

 quented his dooryard. Perhaps his friends laughed at the contrivance but it worked and 

 eventually better ones were built. Thus out of an interest in the harnessing of nature's forces 

 to man's ends was born the artificial method of propagating the birds of field and forest. 



At first game breeders were much prejudiced against applying artificial methods to the 

 raising of game birds. But the comparative freedom from the destructive forces of weather, 

 predation and disease thus afforded has forced an increasing number to adopt them during 

 the past 25 years. Early results left much to be desired but refinements in methods and 

 techniques followed rapidly after the discovery that the new way was markedly less expensive 

 than the old. 



