A Detailed Guide to the Methods of Capturing and Taming Wild Hazel Grouse

The history of artificial breeding of wild hazel grouse is still less than 10 years, so capturing and taming are effective ways to solve the shortage of breeding stock.

1. The trapping time is best from September to November each year. They lay eggs in May and the chicks hatch in June; during this period the hazel grouse is in plump body condition, reaching its highest weight of the year. 2. Trapping methods: set up some homemade trapping tools in areas where hazel grouse are frequently active, such as snares, capture cages, etc. If conditions permit, you can make full use of the hazel grouse's flocking tendency by continuously imitating the hazel grouse's call to make the birds gather together, and then capture them with a net.

3. Taming of wild hazel grouse: wild hazel grouse captured in the field should immediately be placed in a soft net cage with ventilation openings that has been darkened with cloth or burlap and transported back. Practice has shown that from capture to the early stage of taming, the main cause of death of wild hazel grouse is continuous intense stimuli of fright. Therefore, newly captured wild hazel grouse must be kept in small groups (preferably 1 male and 1 female). Wild hazel grouse are afraid of people; when they see people they show fear or hostility, desperately trying to escape and constantly dashing against the cage net, so newly captured wild hazel grouse must be placed in a soft net cage. To ensure the survival of wild hazel grouse, in the early stage after capture you must do your best to imitate the wild environment, keep the cage house quiet, avoid sudden noise stimuli, avoid too many inspections, and reduce unnecessary disturbance. Place food that hazel grouse like to eat in the cage and provide clean drinking water. Once the hazel grouse are familiar with the environment, or when people approach and they no longer fly about and dash around, people can hold food the hazel grouse like in their hands to attract them to feed, and gradually increase the number of feeding sessions, so as to achieve harmony between people and birds.

The secret to taming wild adult hazel grouse is that, on the basis of mastering the habits of wild hazel grouse, people are required to be patient and persevering.

The most effective method for taming wild hazel grouse is to use the chicks obtained by artificially incubating the eggs laid by wild hazel grouse. This is because young hazel grouse are highly adaptable; under cage-rearing conditions, they come into contact with people from an early age and have no timid or fearful mentality, so they most easily accept the taming conditions provided by people, and the taming results are also the best.