CHAPTER XXV 



The Feeding and Management of Pheasant Chicks 



The consideration of the rearing-field, as far as the best 

 sites for such are concerned and various other matters con- 

 nected therewith, have been dealt with in another chapter, 

 whilst the best means of protecting the young birds against 

 their multifarious enemies on the rearing-field has been dis- 

 cussed elsewhere in the work, so that, in the present chapter, 

 the author will mainly direct his remarks to the feeding of 

 the birds, together with the discussion of the most suitable 

 foods employed for such purposes. 



The coops must be so arranged that there is sufficient 

 between one and another to prevent intermingling of the 

 separate broods, whereas if they are close together, one hen 

 will sometimes get the chicks from other broods, and in this 

 way have a following of forty or fifty after her, which she 

 is quite incapable of sheltering. 



The presence of insect life and grit are indispensable for 

 the rearing of young Pheasants, and on rearing-fields that 

 are deficient in insectivora, it is necessary to supply the young 

 birds with some substitute, such as ants' eggs, supplies of 

 which can be obtained from dealers in game food requisites. 

 Each nest of chicks as soon as hatched should be noted in 

 the keeper's pocket-book, and its transference to the coops 

 on the rearing-field similarly noted, so that the keeper can 

 at once ascertain full particulars concerning any particular 

 brood, such as the number of chicks hatched, subsequent 

 deaths, etc. 



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