How to manage pheasants during the brooding period? Keep these precautions in mind

The pheasant, also known as the common pheasant, rainbow pheasant, mountain pheasant, etc., is a valuable wild game bird combining meat, ornamental and medicinal uses: Food value: pheasant meat is tender and delicious, with a strong game flavor; its protein content is as high as 40%, 2.5 times that of ordinary chicken and pork, and its fat content is only 0.9%, which is 1/45 of pork, 1/10 of beef, and 1/15 of chicken. It basically contains no cholesterol and is a high-protein, low-fat wild game food. The success of pheasant brooding is related to the breeding benefits of pheasants, so what needs attention in pheasant brooding?

From hatching to 4 weeks of age, pheasants are in the brooding period. To raise young pheasants well, you must first understand their characteristics, and then carry out feeding management according to those characteristics. Pheasants have the following characteristics.

First: Newly hatched pheasant chicks are small in size, with short and sparse down, low body temperature, and weak thermoregulatory function, making it difficult for them to adapt to changes in external temperature. They are afraid of both cold and heat, so heat preservation must be carried out during the brooding period.

Second: Pheasant chicks grow and develop rapidly, with body weight doubling every week within 4 weeks of age, so during the brooding period they must be supplied with sufficient high-quality high-protein feed.

Third: The crop and gizzard of pheasant chicks are very small in volume. They store very little food and have poor digestive function. The digestive system needs to gradually develop and mature, but mountain pheasant chicks grow extremely rapidly, and their metabolism and nutritional requirements per unit of body weight are relatively large. Therefore, management should ensure: feed with high nutritional content that is easy to digest, feed small amounts many times, and provide water continuously to meet their physiological needs and aid digestion. If feeding management is improper, pheasant chicks will develop intestinal diseases due to indigestion.

Fourth: Pheasant chicks are very timid and extremely sensitive to tiny changes in the external environment. Any external stimulus will cause mountain pheasant chicks to become nervous and run around, affecting feed intake and even causing death.

Fifth: Pheasant chicks have stronger disease resistance than domestic poultry chicks, but many diseases of poultry can be transmitted to mountain pheasants, especially gastrointestinal diseases and respiratory diseases. Therefore, pheasants cannot be raised mixed with other poultry. If technical handling can be carried out in the early stage of disease and appropriate drug treatment is given, recovery will be faster than that of other poultry.

Sixth: Pheasant chicks have no self-defense ability and are vulnerable to harm from rats, cats, dogs, snakes, and wild birds, so the brooding house must have anti-intrusion facilities.

Pheasants have a relatively poor ability to self-regulate temperature during brooding. Artificial brooding, whether on the ground or in cages, requires relatively high and stable temperatures. No matter the season, great attention must be paid to heat preservation in the chick house.

One: Underground flue brooding heat preservation: Building an underground flue in the brooding room is one of the most common brooding heat preservation methods used in rural areas of China. Method for building the underground flue: dig an inclined trench according to the designed flue route, 35 cm wide, 25 cm deep near the stove end, and 15 cm deep near the chimney end. In the trench, build a flue with bricks 11 cm high and 20 cm wide, lay bricks or double-layer tiles on top, and seal the joints of the flue tightly with cement mortar. Flames and smoke must not be allowed to escape from the joints, so as to avoid poisoning the mountain pheasants. Fill the trench level with coal cinders, river sand, etc., and lay a 5 cm thick layer of lime-sand mixture under the ground surface. Heat the flue at the inlet with a coal stove. Cover the coal stove tightly with stove ash, etc., leaving only a ventilation hole about the size of a finger, so that the coal burns slowly. Generally, coal only needs to be added once in the morning and once in the evening each day. Build a chimney outside the house at the outlet end of the flue.

To prevent the chicks from being unable to avoid the heat source when the temperature is too high, 1/3 of the ground indoors should be left without a flue. The flue should be inclined so that the stove is lower than the flue opening. The first 80 cm where the stove surface connects to the flue must be built with double layers or filled with soil to a depth of 10-15 cm, while the outlet end of the flue should be filled with soil only 3-5 cm. In this way, the temperature near where the flue connects to the coal stove will not be too high. The height of the chimney only needs to be 1/2 of the length of the flue. Around the flue, fill with materials that absorb heat quickly, store much heat, and release heat evenly, such as coal cinders, river sand, etc.

Two: Brooder: According to the heat source of the brooder, it can be divided into electric heating type and coal stove type, three types.

1) Electric heating brooder: The temperature of the electric heating brooder is easy to adjust, convenient to use, and clean. 

2) Coal stove brooder: The coal stove brooder is made by installing an umbrella-shaped or square cover made of galvanized iron sheet or wooden boards on the upper part of a coal stove. The size of the cover is similar to that of an electric heating brooder. In addition to requiring a smoke pipe to directly lead smoke outdoors, the coal stove also needs an air intake pipe leading to the lower part of the coal stove to provide oxygen. Adjust the ventilation volume according to the size of the opening of the air intake pipe to control the burning of the coal stove. Coal stove brooding has stable heat preservation performance and is economical and practical. When using it, pay attention to indoor ventilation to prevent gas poisoning.

3) Gas brooder: The gas brooder is made of single-layer alloy. At the top of the umbrella shape there is a protruding dish-shaped refractory ceramic plate covered with pointed protrusions. The flame burns toward the ceramic dish and spreads around. After the metal is heated, it radiates downward to provide heat preservation. The temperature level mainly depends on the size of the flame and the height adjustment of the brooder umbrella. In addition, there is automatic temperature control equipment. The metal surface also dissipates heat energy and at the same time can raise the room temperature.

Three: Infrared: Use the heat emitted by infrared lamps to brood chicks. The room is clean, installation is convenient, and the temperature is stable.