Vol. 21, No. 3 
Page 3 
R esponses of P rairie Chickens to Habit at Manipulation 
R* L. Westemeier, 
D. R. Vance 
as early as IM™ i n' sotsfa s?e rn ’ fTfrno i s too for prairie chickens 
meadows are easily managed by seed harvetinn n P '! Y estab,,she d and the 
sufficient to offset the cost'- of romK- * g--prov1ded the market price is 
harvests can substantially defray the costs’of yearS ^ income from redtop 
importance is the timing of the redton h* ! * anctuar V management. Of vital 
the critica, nesting an? t^reaH™ season JU ' y) ' WhiCh iS aftar 
as the dominant grass in seedings for nest cover^ ' ^ C ° nt,nue to use redt °P 
sanctuaries at Bogota have y Ld Vtotai* of^lS^ 6 6660 Searched on the 
densities of 1.3 total nests anH n 7 h l ° f 38 prair,e chicken nests for 
has averaged 5^2 pe^enTIn redtop' ^ '° — Nest success 
redtop. A tot ( irfrlf^nests^we^e foundT^q? acC6pted b V nesting hens than 
yielding densities of 1.7 total nests and'o q^a^h^ dominated b V timothy, 
average nest success of 56.6 percent. However , P6r ,0 . acres ' a "d an 
seed usually does not provide sufficient i nmm* ° W market P r| ce of timothy 
redtop, unmanaged stands of timothy a?? „u??kT -° TUT 5eed harvesting. Like 
of timothy by haying during ttietlJe ZnUaJLLut * "l1 Weed5 ‘ Ma " a 9e?ent 
because of the danger to late nests y ? uallty is best is not feasible 
timothy after hayil is q^-ran* br °° d5 - Als0 > the growth of 
for the next spring 9 HaWnq a !o Zlet?" 6 "-, *2 pr ° Vide ada 9uate test cover 
we include timothy in new redtop seedino? S h°l fert 'l'ty. For these reasons 
dominant in the resulting sod tS make cLbining^or's'Ied'feasiblJ. r£dt ° P 5ufficie "t'y 
encouraging data on“^ir^ y J ffjYT7g’pe '/."’T' 51 ' '° datS ’ haS provided some 
been found in 1 9 2 acres of bmm? 9 f?r A t0tal ° f 48 ha ve 
per 10 acres-r,early twice as hi?h a- forIV 5 nests and 1,3 hatched nests 
percent in brome. Lag^e?? o^br^e ?n he ™ t"*" SU ‘ CeSS avera 9 ad 52 ‘ 3 
to periodic prescribed burninq. Brome ctuaries has been largely limited 
than redtop or timothy, wh icf^reduces the P /a T 0 '" 6 resi5tai ‘} f° invasion of weeds 
means of management. Thus we ir^ nit * ° 6 ° r Seed combining or haying as a 
brome on the sanctuaries. * 9 Vlng 9reater consideration to the use of 
that the es tab H shment n tlntncl of e * 0t ' ° 9rasse5 ' il 5eem5 axiomatic 
P'airie chicken management TL h^ vegetation should be emphasized 
have been disappointing 9 , n a tottf of’tnT ’ T U,t ? With native grasses 
were found--an average of 1 1 r-st- h, i- 3 n r ? S u° f pra,r,e grasses, 33 nests 
only 33.3 percent nett tuccets ftostVt Le " Mt PEr '° a " d 
grass (Parncum vjj^qatum), with lessej 1 tl " tands u f re dominated by switch 
and Indian grass ( Sorgha strum nutans) present ° Rurn^ U6Stem (Andjopogon £erardj) 
or seed, and more recently, mo^mTTn/h^ u * burning, mowing for weed control 
managing prairie grasses uThool t a? V6 beSn the P rimar V forms of 
' 978 . AI so, greater'^ersitictuon J thf" 16 . , '? it#d 9razi " 9 ‘his "st in 
and reduced emphasis on switch grass seem desTrablJ T® 9813110 " on the sanctuaries 
acceptance and success by nesting hens. desirable 1 r> order to achieve better 
