THE GAME BREEDER 



115 



At the Washington State Game Farm 



twenty-three days and then mothered 

 the chicks. It takes two days longer for 

 a Chinese pheasant to hatch out than a 

 •chicken. Only dark hens were selected 

 to be foster mothers, because the chicks 

 are dark and the acquaintance would be 

 more lasting. While the Rhode Island 

 Red is considered the best mother for 

 this particular case, she will kill a chick 

 if it is of a light color. Another thing — 

 a Rhode Island Red, or any other hen 

 won't do, is to feed her chicks maggots, 

 Tjecause they are not used to doing this. 

 The Chinese pheasant mother feeds her 

 young ones maggots from her beak for 

 she knows that this will sustain the life 

 in the youngsters. The managers of the 

 game farm also know this and as Mr. 

 Darwin is Fish Commissioner as well 

 as Game Commissioner, he was asked 

 to ship hundreds of pounds of dead fish 

 from the hatcheries for the purpose of 

 raising maggots. These maggots were 

 then placed before the chicklings, who 

 l)ecame interested in these wiggling lit- 

 tle mites and the chicks forgetting that 

 thev should be fed from the beak of their 



mother, began to pick at them. Since 

 their appetite was good and the mag- 

 gots tasted good, it was not long be- 

 fore they learned to eat them of their 

 own accord. 



When first born the chicks are set 

 aside with their foster mother in a nar- 

 row boxed pen where they can nestle 

 up to her nice warm body. The next 

 day. however, the closed trap is re- 

 removed and they can creep into a larger 

 pen and eat all the white clover they 

 wish to. The hen is kept in a cage, 

 which is so arranged that the young 

 pheasants may return to her whenever 

 they feel cold or lonesome. When nine 

 days old they are given still more free- 

 dom and a few days later are allowed to 

 have a runway of forty by eighty yards. 

 Here they were kept for six weeks and 

 then sent to their future homes, some 

 place in Washington's great forest, 

 where they are growing and replenish- 

 ing the wanning bird supply. They are 

 sent in a special shipi)ing coop which 

 holds sixteen baby chicks and the foster 

 Rhode Island Red mother, who stays 



