- a rather profitable business, since recently the most natural food grown not in industrial conditions, but within a farm or a private courtyard has become more and more popular. A particular advantage of partridges is that while the breeding of these birds has not become rampant, but the demand for their meat is very high. Accordingly, it is possible with peace of mind to set not the lowest prices for products, despite the fact that it does not require so much expenses. That is why you can get a good profit with a fairly low competition.

If you decide to breed these birds at home, then for sure there are a lot of questions about breeding partridges at home and about taking proper care of her. In this article, we will try to answer these questions.

Breeding and keeping partridge at home

– small bird, the size of a hazel grouse and weighing about half a kilogram. Males are slightly larger - about six hundred grams and look like an ordinary chicken. At home, the weight of a bird can reach eight hundred to nine hundred grams. The bird is very prolific - a full clutch is at least twelve eggs, and sometimes reaches twenty-five pieces. Thanks to this, partridge breeding is carried out not only for the sake of obtaining meat, but also for the purpose of collecting and selling healthy eggs. A feature of keeping these birds is the creation of the most free conditions close to nature. And this means that an aviary in the form of a small cage will not work.

Where to begin?

Since there are no strong differences between partridges and black grouse, further information will do. for both types of birds. If this is your first experience in raising birds, then you should not immediately get inflamed with a large number of individuals. Ten birds are enough to understand whether there is enough strength and skill to grow and breed them at home. There are several ways to acquire partridges:

Breeding black grouse at home has been practiced for a long time. The first experiences of keeping birds in captivity date back to around 1860. Recently, relevant and valuable research on black grouse breeding methods has been carried out in the Darwin Reserve. The scientists of this institution proved that the process of keeping adult black grouse in enclosures, as well as the regular collection of their fertilized eggs, along with the subsequent cultivation and breeding of normal, well-developed young black grouse, is a completely affordable and implementable measure that can be successfully implemented at home.

Although, as we said, experiments on breeding these birds in captivity have been carried out for about 150 years, it can be said that the methodology for breeding, feeding and keeping black grouse is still not well developed. The methods that are currently being worked on need to be supplemented, significantly corrected and clarified.

Note that the initial breeding of the main herd of black grouse in captivity is realized in two main ways. The first way is to capture birds in their places of residence - hunting grounds, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries - with subsequent taming and organizing their life in a specially prepared aviary. The second possible way to form a population of black grouse is to breed grouse chicks from eggs collected in the places of wild living of birds and the subsequent rearing of these chicks.

The first and second methods, of course, have both their advantages and disadvantages. Because in the process of catching a wild bird, it is not always possible to accustom a black grouse to the conditions that exist in the aviary. This applies in particular to poultry diseases. But you don’t have to worry too much about adults, but young animals are extremely susceptible to various infectious diseases. In the case of obtaining offspring from eggs collected in the hunting grounds, the chances for the successful formation and development of black grouse are much greater. This method is very popular with farmers who practice mass breeding of black grouse at home.

Directly, the methods of keeping the livestock of black grouse are most fully reflected in the works of the employees of the Darwin Reserve V. Nemtsov and V. Krinitsky. Wild birds that enter the nursery of the reserve are first kept in large aviaries, in which the conditions of existence are as close as possible to the conditions familiar to birds. In the future, as the birds get used and mastered, the farm staff transfers them to less spacious enclosures.

Regarding the nutrition of black grouse. The food of adult birds in winter is grain: oats, corn, wheat; birch branches with catkins and cranberries. By spring, willow flowers are gradually added to complementary foods. In summer, the food includes grains of cereals, aspen leaves, cranberries, soft grasses such as clover, and insects. Already at the beginning of autumn, a certain number of birch branches are added to this diet. Throughout the year, grouse are also fed a variety of mineral-based foods such as small pebbles, shells, and egg shells.

During the study of breeding methods for black grouse, scientists used such methods of collecting, incubating and breeding offspring as:

Collection of eggs from the nests of wild birds with their subsequent lining under the chicken;

Collection of eggs in the natural habitats of black grouse (hunting grounds, reserves) and further incubation in various systems;

Grouse eggs laid in an artificial aviary, where the birds were placed after capture, are left for natural hatching;

Collection of those eggs that were obtained from hens from aviaries with their further lining under the brood hen;

Collection of eggs laid by grouse from enclosures and their further incubation in special incubators;

The first few methods can be recommended with confidence only when setting up a nursery, when it is planned to create a whole herd of breeding birds that have grown directly on the farm. But the other three methods of collecting eggs with incubation, perhaps, will achieve a really good effect in the case of breeding birds in aviaries. Thus, breeding black grouse at home is best done using the example of the last three options.

The next stage that we will consider is the appearance of grouse chicks. In the very first days of life, when babies are barely trying to peck at random insects and still feed on the yolk sac located in the body cavity, their development is still quite slow. After some time, the stage “up to 60 days of age” follows, at which there is a uniform and qualitatively rapid growth in the number of chicks. At around 70 days, during the change of the primary feather cover of babies, their growth rate slows down again and increases again after the end of the molt.

During development, young black grouse go through several stages of changing the feather cover. The embryonic down is replaced by the original plumage already on the third day of the life of the chicks. At the same time, the first flight feathers break through. Following this, the plumage of the tail begins to develop, then the feathers of the body break through and grow. First on the sides of the goiter and on the shoulders, then on the back, tail, chest and sides of the body. Eventually, when the birds reach the size of a dove, plumage grows on the neck and head. The initial feather cover of the male grouse and the female is practically indistinguishable, and resembles the cover of adult females, but with more pronounced light shades of transverse striping. The coloration of males is darker and browner than that of females, and the streaks are smaller.

Breeding black grouse at home is a wonderful event that, if the process is properly organized, will bring good benefits to any farmer. The black grouse is in no way inferior, for example, to the chicken or duck familiar to most, and often even surpasses them in nutritional value, unpretentiousness in keeping conditions and many other indicators.

All of our quail egg incubators are ideal for incubating grouse eggs!!!

Capercaillie meat is a very rare product that is found on the tables of only avid hunters. Finding it for sale is not always the case.

Due to such a rarity, not every good cook knows how to properly cook capercaillie meat, and this process differs significantly from that of, for example, the same chicken.

So what are the features of this, one might say, exotic bird?

Taste features of capercaillie

In most representatives of birds, whose meat is regularly eaten, it is soft, tender and often light. But the capercaillie is dark and tough, but at the same time very juicy, and with proper preparation it is also incredibly tasty.

An interesting feature of the bird is that it tends to change its taste. It depends on each season and on the food that the capercaillie used. For example, in the autumn, lingonberries are food. From it, the meat acquires a characteristic flavoring addition, which completely excludes the addition of any other sauces.

With the onset of winter, when there is already snow, needles serve as the main source of food for birds. It does not affect the taste in any way, so in winter and early spring, you can try capercaillie in its natural form.

Capercaillie meat is very useful. It has a high content of vitamins A, B, E, PP, minerals of various groups.

The nuances of cooking

When cooking poultry meat, you will have to deal with its rigidity, which must be neutralized during the cooking process.

Those who have cooked this product more than once know how to make meat soft. This can be achieved before the start of cooking, when the capercaillie carcass has not yet been plucked and gutted. To do this, it is hung by the head in a cool place and left for 2 days. The method may be somewhat barbaric, but, nevertheless, stiffness will disappear, the meat will become more tender.

The ideal time for eating capercaillie is autumn, since meat does not require preliminary preparation, in the form of soaking. But in the spring, in order to get rid of the rancid taste, the bird carcass is marinated in vinegar for 2 days.

For the forest species of capercaillie, unlike their domestic relatives, it is characteristic that they are absolutely devoid of fat. This gives it some dryness, which you can get rid of by adding finely chopped lard.

Since the meat of this bird is tough, then it needs to be cooked longer than the usual representatives of birds. It will take at least 3 hours to cook.

Recipes

Capercaillie, with proper preparation, can become a favorite family dish that will delight the household during the holidays. But so that the joy is not overshadowed, you need to choose the right ingredients and measure the cooking time, then the taste will be excellent.

In the conditions of home cooking, capercaillie meat can be cooked in different ways. Here are some recipes.

Capercaillie meat in tomato paste

Cooking steps:

1. The carcass of a bird is cut into pieces of medium size;
2. Oil is poured into a hot frying pan and meat is sent there;
3. In another pan or slow cooker, onions and carrots are fried;
4. Tomato paste, a small amount of water, salt and seasonings are added to the fried vegetables. Everything is thoroughly mixed;
5. Pieces of capercaillie are transferred to the hot sauce and put on stew: if cooked using a slow cooker, then set the “Stew” mode; if in a frying pan, then cover with a lid, reduce the fire. Leave until fully prepared;
6. The cooked dish goes well with mashed potatoes.

Roasting a bird in a pan

Fried meat lovers will appreciate this way of making capercaillie dishes. And the use of wine vinegar will give the meat juiciness and relieve stiffness.

Grocery set:

• bird carcass - 1 pc.;
• fat - 100 g;
• butter - 2 tbsp. l.;
• wine vinegar - 200 ml;
• herbs, spices and salt;
• breadcrumbs.

The amount of time spent: 1-2 days for marinating, for cooking 1 hour 15 minutes.

The calorie content of the dish is 256 kcal.

Cooking:

1. First, the bird carcass must be well marinated for 1-2 days. To do this, the meat is poured with vinegar and left for the allotted time in a cool place;
2. The pickled bird is cut into pieces and each portion is stuffed with bacon;
3. Each piece is rolled in breadcrumbs (you can flour) and fried in butter;
4. Add salt, spices. The fried pieces of capercaillie are transferred to another deep frying pan or pan, poured with roast from the pan and stewed;
5. Before the end of the process, somewhere in 15 minutes, a glass of dry white wine is poured into the dish;
6. The finished dish is perfectly complemented by fried potatoes, sauerkraut or fresh vegetables.

Capercaillie stuffed with liver

Capercaillie stuffed with liver will become an exquisite dish. And to appreciate the taste of this dish, you will need:

• bird carcass - 1 piece, weighing 3 kg;
• wheat flour bread - 200 g;
• chicken liver - 100 g;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• butter - 100 g;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• milk - 100 g;
• salt, spices for poultry.

Cooking time - 4 hours.

Calorie content - 277 kcal.

Step by step preparation:

1. The capercaillie carcass is well washed, the remaining moisture is blotted and rubbed with salt, after cutting off the wings and legs;
2. Pieces of bread are soaked in milk;
3. They make minced meat from bread, liver and onions, add eggs and butter;
4. The carcass of the capercaillie is stuffed with minced meat and sent to bake for 4 hours at a set temperature of 180 ° C. Periodically, the meat should be watered with the secreted juice.

How to bake game in the oven

Oven cooking is a common way of preparing poultry meat. Of course, capercaillie is also cooked in the oven with the addition of various components. Below are recipes for roasting poultry.

Capercaillie with mushrooms under cheese

What you need:

• capercaillie - 1 carcass;
• any mushrooms - 0.5 kg;
• butter - 250 g;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• sour cream - 5 tbsp. l.;
• cognac - 1 tbsp. l.;
• spices.

Cooking time - 4 hours 15 minutes.

Calorie content - 254 kcal.

1. The meat is washed, rubbed with oil on all sides and put in a preheated oven for 4 hours. The set temperature is 180°C;
2. Whole mushrooms are boiled, washed and cut;
3. When the capercaillie is ready, it is taken out of the oven and cut into portions;
4. Chopped mushrooms are added to the dishes that were used for roasting poultry and in which the secreted juice remains, seasoned with sour cream, cognac and sprinkled with grated cheese. Place the mold back in the oven for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted;
5. After 5 minutes, the mixture is taken out of the oven, a little oil is added to it (if necessary) and pieces of capercaillie are poured over.

This dish goes great with pasta and potatoes.

Capercaillie in the oven with an apple

We will consider another version of the festive dish from capercaillie below.

First you need to prepare the required products:

• capercaillie - 1 carcass;
• pork fat - 300 g;
• apples - 2 pcs.;
• onions - 1 pc.;
• sour cream - 200 g (can be replaced with mayonnaise);
• mustard - 1 tbsp. l.;
• sugar - 1 tsp;
• breadcrumbs for breading;
• seasonings.

Cooking time (including pickling) -15 hours 30 minutes.

Calorie content - 277 kcal.

Step by step preparation:

The finished dish is taken out of the oven and allowed to cool slightly. Unfold the foil, cut the meat into portions. It is preferable to serve with potatoes, spaghetti and vegetable salads.

How to cook in a slow cooker

Capercaillie can also be cooked in a slow cooker. The result will please with its juiciness and excellent taste, the main thing is to choose the right ingredients.

What you need:

• capercaillie carcass - 1 pc;
• onions - 3 pcs;
• cowberry berries - 500 g;
• sunflower oil - 100 g;
• lard - to taste;
• salt, seasonings;
• flour.

It will take 1 hour 20 minutes to prepare.

Calorie content of meat - 254 kcal.

What is the cooking process?

1. Rinse the bird carcass, cut off the wings, legs and cut the meat into pieces;
2. Put a frying pan on the burner to heat up;
3. Put the neck, legs and wings aside, and make punctures in the pieces of meat and fill them with lard. Grate the pieces with salt and spices, roll in vegetable oil;
4. Send everything to fry in a pan;
5. Now, the set aside parts of the carcass need to be boiled in a saucepan to make a broth. 10 minutes before the end of cooking, throw onions into the pan;
6. Fried pieces of meat are placed in a multicooker bowl and poured with ready-made broth, removing cooked offal from it;
7. The slow cooker is set to the "Extinguishing" mode for 60 minutes;
8. As soon as 25 minutes remain before the end of cooking, lingonberries and flour, diluted in water to a sauce state, are added to the slow cooker, and mix everything well;

A suitable side dish for ready-made capercaillie meat will be potatoes in any version, buckwheat, rice.

1. To give the dish a richer taste, already in the process of cooking, a little dry red wine is poured, to taste;
2. Lingonberry juice is an excellent addition to the meat of this forest bird, especially if it is obtained in the spring;
3. To cook capercaillie meat, you will need lard to remove stiffness. Salo is better to choose fatter. The alternative would be fat.

Enjoy your meal!

Capercaillie breeding in our country began as early as 1860-1861, but most widely in the last 30 years. Capercaillie are characterized by precocity, good quality meat, they are not whimsical and quickly gain weight.

Of great importance is the cheapness of basic feed. To form a domestic herd, birds can be caught, but it is better to collect eggs and put them under a hen (chicken, turkey, dove). You can carry out artificial incubation.

It is advisable for newly caught chicks to put a “hood” on their eyes, and a “vest” on their wings so that they do not fight. If capercaillie refuse food, they must be force-fed: pine needles, cedar with an admixture of pine nut kernels, spruce seeds, catkins of willow and aspen. Moistened with water, lumps of this food are pushed into the esophagus with the index finger, and then, massaging the neck, to the goiter. Feed the bird twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Drink from a rubber pear. After 2-3 days, capercaillie themselves begin to peck at the food offered to them. Easier and faster accustomed to the conditions of aviary keeping of birds at the age of 3-15 days.

In the first days of the captured capercaillie, it is necessary to disturb as little as possible. After they get used to life in captivity, they are transferred to cheaper and more easily obtained food.

Contains capercaillie in sheds, which are adjoined by a covered aviary and paddock, fenced with a frame and covered with a seine or net.

In the cold season (December to April), the bird lives in sheds and aviaries, and the rest of the year (May - November) - on paddocks, where it spends mating, nesting, hatching and raising chicks. In the shed, it is advisable to stretch the net under the ceiling so that the birds taking off do not hit the ceiling. In open-air cages or on paddocks - to make artificial nests. You can put a box partially filled with sand, cover with moss or straw. You can simply put a turf with a recess in the center on gravel or a layer of brushwood. 2-3 chicken eggs are laid in the nest, which stimulates the capercaillie to lay eggs, but when the capercaillie begins to lay, the eggs are removed. In February - March, roosters begin to sing, and females make an alluring cackle.

In winter, it is better to keep the birds separately, as the males drive the females away from the feeders. Since mid-April, manholes are opened, which allows females to go to males. At the same time, the manholes should be of such size that the males could not get to the females. This allows the latter to calmly prepare for nesting. In the spring, males are best kept isolated from each other so that there are no fights.

Food for adult capercaillie is changed according to the seasons of the year. Grain is fed to the birds throughout the year. Capercaillie willingly eat oats, barley, wheat, buckwheat, millet, corn. From October to April, the diet includes shoots and needles of pine, cedar, fir, spruce and psi run birch. In winter, they give various berries (cranberries, lingonberries, etc.). In summer, in addition to cereals, birds are given juicy and green food, shoots of various trees, bushes, animal food (insects and earthworms). In a word, everything goes into food: finely chopped cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, annual bluegrass, plantain, willow catkins; alder shoots, various berries, etc.

Growing capercaillie is best with capercaillie. Depending on the age of the females, hatching of chicks begins on the 23rd-26th day, hatching - a day earlier. Newborn capercaillie weigh 34-38 g. They spend the first day under the wings of their mother. When growing capercaillie with their mother, they find part of the food themselves, pecking at small invertebrates, as well as shoots and grass leaves. Capercaillie should receive the other part of food in the form of top dressing. Feeding usually begins at the age of five with animal feed, and then millet, buckwheat, crushed pine nuts are added.

The disadvantage of the method is that the capercaillie, having laid no more than 13 eggs (as in the wild), begins to incubate them, while when removing them for artificial incubation, up to 60 eggs can be obtained from the uterus.

When grown with chickens or turkeys, up to 60% of chicks die. The reason is that "mother sha" incorrectly responds to their calls. For example, the squeak of wood grouse, calling to take them under the wing for warmth, often encourages the chicken to vigorously search for food. And if there is still no warm, bright and spacious room where the chicks could hide from bad weather at any time, they, as a rule, die from systematic hypothermia. When growing chicks obtained by artificial incubation, the difficulties lie in regulating the temperature regime of the premises and providing animal feed in the first days after hatching. Capercaillie eggs are incubated with ordinary

In the first 15 days of life, capercaillie are fed with egg omelet, mixing small insects into it.

From 15 to 45 days of age, chicks are fed with a mixture that includes scrambled eggs, porridge, steamed wheat, meat, fish, cottage cheese, chopped carrots, cabbage, onions, clover, cereal sprouts, wood lice, dill, yeast, fish oil. Flour worms and other insects must be mixed into this mixture. When capercaillie reach 45-60 days, they begin to add cranberries, and at 60-90 days - aspen leaves on the branches. At the age of three months, a young bird is transferred to the diet of adult capercaillie. During the entire rearing period, the chicks should receive crushed eggshells and then crushed shells. From the diet of capercaillie who have reached 45 days of age, small insects are excluded.

Coarse sand is poured into separate feeders, which is later replaced with gravel.

Growth rates are high. The live weight of three-month-old males reaches 3-3.5 kg, females - about 2 kg.

March 11, 2012 | Game breeding: breeding capercaillie and black grouse

Capercaillie breeding

In our country, there are two types of capercaillie: ordinary and stone, or long-tailed.

The common capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) weighs 3.5 to 6.5 kg (male) and 1.7 to 3 kg (female). The length of the tail of males ranges from 37 to 37, females - from 17 to 22 cm.

The coloration of the plumage of an adult rooster is quite beautiful. The forehead and chin with a beard are black with a metallic sheen. The rest of the head and neck are gray with thin, striated dark transverse stripes. The back is black. The dark uppertail feathers have white terminal stripes. The wing coverts and shoulder feathers are chestnut with a thin streaked darker pattern. The flight feathers are dark brown: the primary ones have light edges of the outer webs, and the secondary ones have whitish apical edges. The goiter and chest are blackish with a greenish metallic sheen. The belly is black-brown, usually with whitish spots. The tail is black with whitish spots.

Adult females are variegated. Their back is dark brown with yellow transverse stripes, on the back of the back these stripes become whitish. Goiter yellowish-orange with narrow greenish-black transverse stripes. The chest and belly are light buffy with dark stripes that are more rare, but wider than on the crop. Undertail is white. Flight feathers are dark brown with reddish streaks. The tail is chestnut in color with dark brown transverse stripes. Young birds are colored similarly to females, but the black stripes on the crop do not have a greenish metallic sheen.

The stone, or long-tailed, wood grouse (Tetrao parvirostris Bon.) is similar to the common wood grouse, but differs from it in a lighter build, a longer tail, a black beak and a slightly different plumage color.

The weight of the male usually ranges from 3 to 4 kg, females - from 2 to 2.8 kg. The length of the tail of males is 29-40 cm, females - 16-30 cm.

In an adult male, the head and neck are black with a lilac or bluish (greenish on the throat) metallic tint. The back and wings are dark brown or blackish with rounded white speckles along the shoulders and on the wings. The tail coverts are dark brown with large white spots on the tops. The tail is blackish. Goiter and chest with a strong green metallic sheen. The underside of the body is black-brown. The coloration of an adult female is darker than that of a female common capercaillie. Its main background is brownish, darker on the back and goiter. It is covered with a pattern of rusty ocher and white transverse stripes. There are white spots on the shoulders and rump. The tail is brown with reddish stripes. All young birds look like adult females.

Possibilities and tasks of capercaillie breeding

Capercaillie shooting on spring currents is undoubtedly one of the most interesting types of sport hunting. But in recent years, information has been received about a reduction in the number of capercaillie, about the disappearance of the currents of these birds. The decline in the number of capercaillie is associated with changes in the landscape under the influence of human activities: with the cutting down of centuries-old forests, the drainage of forest swamps, the appearance of vast burnt areas, etc. In many places, it is caused by excessively intensive hunting for these birds.

The experience of many hunting farms has shown that capercaillie stocks can be restored if the correct exploitation of local forests is introduced, taking into account the interests of the hunting economy, rational regulation of the size and timing of bird hunting, and a number of biotechnical measures. A certain role in increasing the number of capercaillie can be played by the release of young animals grown in wild nurseries into suitable hunting grounds.

Attempts to breed capercaillie in captivity have been made in our country for a long time. Back in 1860-1861. A. A. Khvatov published the results of his experiments on breeding capercaillie in captivity. He kept capercaillie, bred from eggs collected in the forest, in a barn. In March, young cockerels began to lek, and in early May, two capercaillie made nests in the earthen floor and laid eggs in them. One of them hatched 8, the other 6 chicks, which were fed in the first week of life with small insects, and then were transferred to mixed food.

In 1905, V. Klemenets, in his essay "Capercaillie", spoke about an attempt to breed capercaillie chicks and their cultivation in captivity. E. I. Lukashevich (1908, 1912) also cites interesting data on this subject. But extensive experiments aimed at developing methods and techniques for growing capercaillie in enclosures have unfolded in our country in the last 30 years. They were started by S. A. Larin (1941 and 1954). He conducted experiments on the incubation of capercaillie eggs, established patterns of growth and development of capercaillie, collected material on the methods of their cultivation and feeding.

In the early 50s, interesting studies on captive breeding of capercaillie were carried out by E.A. and E.V. Krutovsky in the Krasnoyarsk reserve "Pillars". In their experiments, capercaillie were bred by placing capercaillie eggs under chickens and pigeons, or the eggs were incubated by capercaillie. Young animals were raised either in brooders or with the help of a female chicken or capercaillie. The researchers concluded that "easiness of habituation, normal development under conditions of domestication, precocity, large size and good quality of meat, cheapness of basic feed, unpretentiousness in relation to nesting - all this makes the capercaillie extremely suitable for domestication." But, unfortunately, due to unfavorable conditions for the life of young animals during these studies, many capercaillie died from various diseases.

In the period from 1960 to 1964, S. Kirpichev was fruitfully engaged in the study of the possibilities of breeding capercaillie in the Barguzinsky Reserve. Capercaillie were kept in large enclosures, the frame of which was covered with a thread delyu. Both from birds caught in the wild and from birds grown in a nursery, it was possible to obtain eggs that incubated the queens (they also successfully raised hatched chicks).

Since 1963, V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsev have been conducting successful research on growing capercaillie in enclosures in the Darwin Reserve, where a special nursery for these birds has been created. In 1968, about 40 adult capercaillie of both sexes were kept in the enclosures of the nursery. Studies have shown that "the maintenance of adult capercaillie in enclosures, the regular receipt of fertilized eggs and normal chicks from them is quite possible and affordable." These studies made it possible to identify methods for the formation of the main herd.

Formation of the main herd

Breeding birds for the organized capercaillie nursery can be obtained either by catching them in natural lands, or by incubating eggs collected in the forest.

The catching of wood grouses is carried out either by traps of various designs, or by nets. Of the self-traps for capercaillie, the most convenient trap proposed by A. Romanov (Fig. 26). At the place of its installation, the soil is somewhat loosened and sprinkled with small pebbles, which serve as a kind of bait for birds. Then two rows of pegs are driven in at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other so that they form a corridor 53-55 cm long, 45-47 cm internal width and 45-50 cm high. From above this corridor is covered with a piece of cloth about 2 m long and 50 cm wide. The middle part of this piece, 55 mm long, is nailed along the edges to the tops of the stakes of the corridor, and both side parts of it should hang down, closing the entrances to the trap. Then two ridges about 4 m long and 8-12 cm thick are placed on both sides of the trap and their ends are connected with a plank. The edges of both side parts of the canvas are nailed to the ends of these ridges. The ridges connected by a bar are lifted and fixed in this position with a guard. The side parts of the canvas are placed on the roof of the trap.

Rice. Fig. 26. Construction for catching capercaillie and black grouse: 1 - general view; 2 - alert; 3 - checkmate

When a bird, having entered the trap to peck pebbles, touches a horizontally located guard twig, its guard is released, both ridges fall and pull the side parts of a piece of canvas along with them. As a result, the side walls of the trap are formed, closing the exit from it. The caught bird can remain in the trap without harm to it for 4-5 days. The trap is very effective and does not harm the caught birds.

Capercaillie are caught with nets. But the disadvantage of such fishing is that mainly roosters are caught. B. Golodushko recommends catching capercaillie with nets 25-35 m long and 2.5 m high, knitted from cotton twine about 1.5 m thick with a mesh of 14x14 cm. The net must be painted in a protective gray-green color. On currents, near the most "squat" trees, 10-15 nets are placed at the same time, placing them in a zigzag or the letter T. The links of the nets are hung on bipods or on trees so that they easily fall when flying birds hit them. Nets are hung during the current period, at night.

S. Kirpichev (1962) considers it more expedient to use strong nylon nets with a mesh of 8x8 cm for catching wood grouse. A separate link of such a net should have a length of 20 m, a height of 1 m. The net is fixed on top with a twisted nylon cord, which is stretched between the trees. The net itself should hang freely down without touching the bottom edge of the ground. A flying capercaillie hits the web of the net, it slides along the cord and entangles the bird.

Caught birds are advised to wear a “hood” over their eyes so that they fight less. It is best to carry them to the base one by one in baskets with a diameter of 55-60 cm for capercaillie, and 60-70 cm for roosters, tightening them with burlap on top.

At the bases for trapping, caught birds should be kept either in some kind of enclosed space (non-residential hut, barn, etc.), or in special log cabins made of poles or logs. S. Kirpichev advises making a log house 3x1.5 m in size and 80 cm high. Its floor is covered with moss or hay. Six or seven birds are placed in such a log house. So that capercaillie in log cabins do not beat against the walls, they need to wear special “vests” that hold their wings. At first, capercaillie caught often refuse food and they have to be force-fed with pine and cedar needles mixed with pine nut kernels, spruce seeds, catkins of willow and aspen, oat grains, buckwheat and various berries. Lumps of this food moistened with water are pushed into the esophagus with the index finger, and then, massaging the neck, to the goiter. You need to feed the birds in the morning and in the evening. They are watered at this time from a rubber pear. Later, capercaillie usually begin to peck at the food offered to them. Birds should be kept at the base for at least 3 days so that they get used to captivity a little. Then they are transported to the nursery. You can transport them in baskets or boxes. Females should be placed in pairs in boxes measuring 60x60x30 cm, and males - one by one in boxes 80x30x50 cm (put the boxes vertically).

Another way of forming the main herd of capercaillie is also known - capturing chicks and grown birds in the hunting grounds with their subsequent rearing in aviaries. Krutovskie (1953) believe that young birds aged 3-15 days are the most valuable for this purpose. They quickly and easily become accustomed to the conditions of captive keeping, give a relatively small waste. You can find broods of capercaillie for their capture with the help of a dog.

Capercaillie capercaillie caught in the wild should first be placed in fairly large enclosures, fed with natural food and disturbed as little as possible. As they become accustomed to life in captivity, they can be moved to smaller enclosures and to cheaper and more easily obtained food.

The capercaillie and black grouse nursery in the Darwin Reserve, designed for the simultaneous keeping of about 100 birds, is a complex of structures with a total area of ​​450 m 2 . It consists of two chopped sheds, between which there are covered enclosures. On the other side of each barn there are extensive pastures with meadow vegetation. The paddocks have a wooden frame and are covered with a fishing net on top. Capercaillie are kept in sheds and covered enclosures located between them during the cold season (from December to April), finding shelter under the roof in bad weather and severe frosts. The rest of the year (May-November) they are kept on paddocks, where mating, nesting, hatching and rearing of chicks take place.

Food for adult capercaillie is changed according to the seasons of the year. Throughout the year they are given grain (oats, wheat, corn) and cranberries. From October to April, pine shoots with needles are included in the diet. From April to October, they are fed various green foods (soft cereals, clover, willow flowers, aspen leaves, etc.). In the summer, various invertebrates are given. There are pebbles in the enclosures throughout the year. Mineral feed is fed in spring and summer. The average daily feed consumption for adult capercaillie is given in Table. 27.

	Average daily feed consumption by periods of the year, g
		preparation to reproduction III-V	reproduction V-VIII	foraging VIII-XI
cranberries
oat grain, wheat, corn
pine shoots
soft cereals, clover etc.
willow flowers
aspen leaves

In the nursery of the Darwin Reserve, in spring, adult males and female capercaillie land in extensive meadow vegetation. Here males lek, in sheltered places females make nests where they lay their eggs. Already in the first year of the existence of the nursery, 40 eggs were obtained from five females caught in the wild in 1963. During the period from 1964 to 1966, 16 wood grouse participated in nesting, which laid 140 eggs.

In the nursery of the Barguzinsky Reserve (Kirpichev, 1965), breeding capercaillie were kept in spacious enclosures, the wooden frame of which was covered with a thread delya (with a mesh of 4x4 cm and a thread thickness of 2 mm). From below, the walls of the enclosure to a height of 40 cm were climbed with a rope to protect the chicks of different broods from contact with each other. On the one hand, the bottom of the enclosure was limited to a board hung on hinges about 15 cm wide (by lifting it, capercaillie chicks can be released from the enclosure to a neighboring meadow). A rooster and two or three females were seated in each enclosure. Adult birds were fed larch needles, aspen leaves, oats, corn, insects, pine nuts, willow inflorescences, and fresh herbs. Already in February-March, the roosters began to sing, and the females began to emit an alluring cackle. Artificial nests were made in the enclosures: turf with a depression in the center was placed on gravel or a layer of brushwood. 2-3 chicken eggs were placed in this recess (when the capercaillie began to lay, they were removed).

The clutches contained 9-13 eggs. During the laying season (61 days) in 1963, one capercaillie laid 57 eggs, and in 1964 - 20 eggs in 18 days. This proves the great potential for obtaining a large number of eggs from capercaillie, provided that they are regularly removed from the nest.

In the Stolby reserve, the capercaillie nursery had sections for keeping adult birds, brood hens, young animals and an isolation room. It was a log cabin surrounded by enclosures. The covered area had fine mesh suspended ceilings to prevent flying birds from hitting the main ceiling. The enclosures had a wooden frame, which was covered with an old net. From below, the enclosures were climbed to a height of 10-15 cm with boards. The height of the enclosure is about 2 m. In winter, males and females were kept separately because the males drove the females away from the feeders. From mid-April, manholes were opened, allowing females to enter the enclosures of males. The manholes were made of such a size that the roosters could not penetrate the pens of the females. This allowed the females to calmly prepare for nesting. In order to avoid fights in the spring, males were kept in enclosures singly. Females during the nesting period were also isolated from each other. Nest boxes were installed in the enclosures without a bottom or with a bottom, but partially filled with sand, covered with moss or straw.

All year the birds were fed grain. Especially willingly they ate oats, barley, wheat, buckwheat and millet (millet). They ate well hemp and sunflower. In winter, the basis of the diet of adult capercaillie in the nursery was shoots and needles of pine, cedar, fir, spruce (also larch in autumn) and birch shoots; In winter, they were given various berries (cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries, etc.). In summer, in addition to grain, the birds were given various green fodder, shoots of various trees and bushes, berries and animal fodder.

Of the herbs, capercaillie especially willingly ate annual bluegrass, plantain, creaker, rank, spreading pine forest, chickweed, bird buckwheat, and skerda. They ate grain sprouts well. From tree fodder in spring and summer, willow catkins, alder shoots, meadowsweet leaves were given. In autumn, finely chopped cabbage, cucumbers, carrots and various berries were fed. Animal feed consisted of various insects and earthworms.

N. Solomin (1967), on the basis of studies on capercaillie feeding in open-air cages conducted at the VNIIZhP biological station, recommends that each bird should be given 125 g of oatmeal, barley or wheat groats, or oats, 50 g of sunflower, 30-50 g of chopped carrots and 15 g of lingonberries, cranberries, mountain ash or rose hips, fresh branches of aspen, pine and juniper ad libitum.

Breeding chicks

Breeding chicks from eggs obtained from capercaillie when they are kept in enclosures or collected from capercaillie nests in forest lands is possible in three ways:

• leaving eggs laid by capercaillie in their nests for natural incubation;
• lining capercaillie eggs under the hen of another bird species (chickens, turkeys, pigeons, etc.);
• artificial incubation.

Studies on the breeding of capercaillie by natural incubation of eggs by capercaillie were carried out as early as 1860 by A. Khvatov. In the early 50s of the XX century. using this method, a certain number of capercaillie was obtained by E.A. and E.V. Krutovsky in the enclosures of the Stolby Reserve. S. Kirpichev widely practiced such obtaining of capercaillie chicks in the nursery of the Barguzinsky Reserve. On this occasion, he wrote: “During the laying of the penultimate egg, capercaillie began incubation, interrupted only by short feedings. The temperature regime of the clutch prior to incubation is characterized by even low, but positive and slight, up to -8 °, negative temperatures with sharp jumps during the laying of subsequent eggs. In the first five days of incubation, the eggs have a temperature of 36 to 38 °, and in the last, when the capercaillie almost do not turn them over, 40.8-41 °. At this time, the body temperature of the capercaillie reaches 42 °. Before the end of incubation, check the bottom of the nest and remove all foreign hard objects.

Depending on the age of the females, hatching of chicks began on the 23-26th day, hatching - a day earlier.

In the nursery of the Darwin Reserve, capercaillie are also often used to incubate their eggs. V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsev (1968) note that “the departure of eggs during their incubation was determined mainly by random reasons associated with the continuation of the construction of the nursery and various violations of nesting conditions. Waste due to unfertilized eggs was very insignificant and did not exceed 4-5%.

It can be assumed that the method of obtaining capercaillie chicks by hatching eggs by the capercaillie themselves will find application in the future when breeding capercaillie directly in hunting farms.

Breeding chicks from capercaillie eggs by laying them under birds of other species (chickens, turkeys, pigeons) is apparently less promising. Usually, the hatchability of chicks with this method of incubation of eggs is lower than when hatching them with capercaillie. Domestic birds often infect hatched capercaillie with various infectious and parasitic diseases.

The most promising method for obtaining chicks from capercaillie eggs is artificial incubation. At the same time, it is possible to almost completely eliminate the contact of eggs and hatched chicks with an infected environment, to avoid infection of chicks with parasitic diseases in the first days of life, and to create optimal environmental conditions.

Interesting studies of the incubation of capercaillie eggs were carried out in 1950 by SA Larin (1954) in the Kharovsky district of the Vologda region. For this purpose, a small cupboard incubator of the “Hirson” system with water heating was used (heating was carried out by the fire of a kerosene lamp). The temperature in the incubator was maintained at 37-37.5°. At the height of the upper level of the eggs placed in the incubator, the temperature was 0.5-0.6° higher, and the temperature of the lower level of the eggs was kept at an average of 35°. Every 3 hours the egg box was pulled out and the eggs were turned over. In the morning and evening, the eggs were cooled for 20–30 min at an ambient temperature of 7–10°C. In the last days of incubation, the temperature in the incubator was maintained at 34-35°.

8 capercaillie eggs taken from nests in the forest were subjected to incubation. The incubation lasted 28-29 days. The period from the moment of pecking to the release of the chick from the shell ranged from 3 to 13 hours. All eggs gave birth to chicks.

Artificial incubation of capercaillie eggs is also used in the Darwin Reserve. It is likely that in the future it will become the main method of removing capercaillie from eggs.

Growth and development of young animals

When weighing 10 wood grouse during the first 100 days, S. A. Larin determined the indicators of their weight gain, given in Table. 28.

Table 28

Age of chicks, days
	minimum		maximum

The weight of capercaillie on the day of hatching from the egg is 35-38 g. Using the above indicators, it is possible to determine the amount of daily weight gain of capercaillie at different stages of their development:

Age of chicks, days
Age of chicks, days

Consequently, the average daily weight gain of capercaillie increases until the age of 60 days, then gradually decreases, and then increases again. The decrease in growth rates at the age of 60-90 days coincides with the period of active feathering change.

The relative gains in wood grouse for the same time are as follows:

Age of chicks, days Gain, g
Age of chicks, days Gain, g

As can be seen from the above indicators, in the first days of life of capercaillie relative gains gradually increase, but then they begin to fall until the age of 70 days, when they are almost equal to zero; then they rise again.

Newborn capercaillie, regardless of gender, weigh 34-38 g. Their length ranges from 10 to 12 cm, wing length - from 3 to 4 cm, tarsus length - from 2.6 to 3.1 cm. varies from ash and yellow to orange with a camouflage pattern of blackish specks and stripes above. The crown is yellow with speckles. The legs are yellow with a dark stripe in front. Rear metatarsus bare. Under the lower eyelid, all capercaillie have a dark dot on both sides of the head. There are no tail feathers at all. Flight feathers are still in stumps and hidden under the fold of the wing.

The first day when growing capercaillie under the uterus, they usually spend hiding under the wings of the mother, but sometimes they run out.

On the second day, the flight feathers noticeably grow, reaching 15 mm in length. They come out of the stumps, their color is brown with a white border. By the end of the day, the “chick tooth” disappears. The chicks are already firmly on their feet, run well, and hide in danger. They feed almost exclusively on animal feed, willingly pecking at small insects.

On the third day, secondary flight feathers of brown color with two white transverse stripes grow and become visible.

By the fifth day of life, sexual dimorphism of chicks begins to appear. Males become slightly larger, more massive, have a thicker beak. Their average weight reaches 48 g, and the weight of females is 46 g. Tail feathers quickly grow in chicks. Wing coverts appear. Flight feathers acquire a fan, become elastic. The chicks are starting to fly. At this age, they already peck food not only from grass stalks, but also from the ground.

On the sixth or seventh day of life, the first row of shoulder feathers appears in capercaillie with dark drop-shaped spots at the top and a white border. The weight of males reaches an average of 50, and females - 48 g.

Ten-day cockerels weigh an average of about 100 g, hens - up to 80 g. The length of the wing reaches 95 mm, the tail - 20 mm. The wings already reach their ends to the base of the tail. The second and subsequent rows of shoulder feathers unfold. Red contour feathers of the primary feather cover appear on the chest. Frightened chicks are able to fly 20-40 m. The instinct to hide gradually disappears.

By the age of 15 days, the weight of young males reaches approximately 150, females - 120 g. The length of the wing of the first is on average 120, the tail is 35 mm. The ends of the wings extend beyond the base of the tail. Tail feathers appear. Bunches of “ears” feathers are formed, ash-gray in males and red in females. Stumps of contour feathers are found almost all over the body, except for the head. Young birds are able to fly from place to place.

In 20-day-old males, the average weight is 265 g, females - 180 g. Individual males can weigh up to 400 g. The length of the wing of males is about 145, the tail is 50 mm. Almost the entire body of the bird is already covered with primary feathers, only down with its camouflage pattern is preserved on the head. The belly is also not yet feathered.

By the age of 30 days, the change of embryonic down to the primary feather cover ends. Its coloration is similar to the plumage of adult females. In males at this time, a transitional feather develops on the head, neck and chest - on the head and neck it is ash-brown with white spots at the end and brown on the chest. The weight of males reaches an average of 470 g (up to 700 g), females - 360 g. The length of the wing of males is about 200, the tail is 75 mm. Young birds can fly well and perch on trees. Vegetable foods predominate in the diet. Cockerels change their voice.

At the age of 40 days, males already weigh about 750 g (up to 900 g), hens - 500-550 g. The length of the first wing is 26, the tail is 9 cm. An active change from the primary feather cover to the secondary begins. New plumage first appears on the rump.

When the capercaillie reach the age of 50 days, the weight of the males is already equal to an average of 1 kg (sometimes up to 1.5 kg), and the females are about 800 g. The length of the wing of the roosters is on average 30, the tail is 12 cm. change of primary feather cover to secondary. Flight and tail feathers and contour feathers on the chest are replaced. In cockerels, “eyebrows” begin to turn red. Young birds feed on the same food as adults.

At the age of 2 months, the weight of males is almost 1.5 kg, but some males already weigh more than 2 kg. The average weight of females is close to 1 kg. Moulting plumage spreads throughout the body. The plumage of males at this time is very colorful, its color is composed of black, red and brown, they begin to grow a "beard".

At 80 days of age, the weight of males reaches 2.3 kg (up to 3 kg), females - 1.6 kg. The length of the wing of the first is 30, the tail is 25 cm. The plumage molting is almost over (the old feathers remain in the undertail, on the back of the back and in some other places). The new plumage of birds is already similar to that of adults, but their tail feathers are much narrower.

By the 100th day of life, males weigh 3-3.5, females - about 2 kg.

All birds are covered with new secondary plumage, without remnants of old feathers. In captivity, males begin mating in autumn.

E.A. and E.V. The Krutovskys consider it possible to distinguish the following three periods of development of capercaillie, each of which is distinguished by certain needs of a growing organism:

• up to 20-25 days - the time of development of the primary feather cover; in the life of chicks, the ambient temperature is of particular importance, which should be within 15-25 ° and not experience sharp fluctuations; up to 95% of food is animal feed;
• from 20-25 to 45-50 days - molting of plumage begins, chicks gradually master the ability to fly, the thermal factor ceases to play a decisive role, up to 30% of food is green grassy food;
• from 45-50 to 120-150 days - the growth rate gradually slows down and by the end of the period, growth in females ends, and in males it stops until spring; there is a gradual puberty - cockerels begin to play in the fall; the change of primary plumage to secondary ends; Animal feeds lose their importance and birds switch to eating berries, and by autumn - woody feeds.

Growing Capercaillie

Growing chicks, no doubt, should be considered the most difficult task of capercaillie capercaillie breeding. Experiments on growing young of these birds in aviaries carried out by various researchers, as a rule, were accompanied by a large waste of capercaillie. The death of young animals is usually observed either in the first days after the chicks hatch from eggs, or during the first molt, that is, at about three months of age. V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsev rightly believe that the departure of young capercaillie during their cultivation in open-air cages is largely related to the regime of their maintenance and feeding in the first days of life. They point out that "the development of infectious diseases is rather a secondary process and a consequence of the weakening of the body's resistance" in young birds.

Hence, the importance of developing rational methods of keeping and especially feeding rations for capercaillie is obvious. The works of a number of researchers who have studied the issues of capercaillie breeding show that there are three main ways to raise their chicks:

• keeping broods of chicks with capercaillie mothers in fairly large enclosures with natural grassy vegetation;
• the maintenance of broods of capercaillie with hens or turkeys that brought them out - in similar enclosures;
• brooding growing method.

Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each of them is largely due to the method of incubation of eggs used to produce chicks.

To assess the method of rearing broods of capercaillie with capercaillie, one must add the consideration that when using it, the uterus produces no more than 13 eggs (as in the wild), while when removing eggs from the nest for artificial incubation, you can get up to 60 eggs from one capercaillie.

When growing capercaillie in large enclosures, together with their mother, the chicks find part of the food themselves, pecking at insects, worms and other small invertebrates, as well as shoots and leaves of various herbs, and the other is received in the form of top dressing. In the Barguzinsky Reserve, from the age of 5 days, capercaillie were fed with small insects, later millet, buckwheat and crushed pine nuts were added. Top dressing is especially needed on days of inclement weather, when it is difficult for chicks to catch sedentary and lurking insects.

In the nursery of the Stolby Reserve, in the first month, capercaillie were fed with animal feed, and in the second month of their life they began to give grain - barley, oats, wheat, millet, buckwheat.

The enclosures of both reserves, where broods of wood grouse were kept, had boards near the ground, the rise of which allowed the chicks to go out into the meadow, and the female to remain in the paddock. At the call of the female, they returned to the paddock. At the end of August, young birds began to fly to the forest, but always returned to the nursery. At this time, they were placed in an aviary to prevent the loss of young.

When growing capercaillie with the help of chickens and turkeys, a significant loss of chicks is usually observed. In the nursery of the Stolby Reserve, for example, out of 13 wood grouse reared by chickens, 8 chicks died at an early age. The Krutovskys note that “when raising capercaillie under chicken, the requirements (to the conditions of detention. - K,.) increase, since the chicken often reacts incorrectly to calls from capercaillie. For example, the squeak of wood grouse, calling to take them under the wing for warmth, often prompts the chicken to vigorously search for food. In this case, in the absence of a warm, bright and sufficiently spacious room where capercaillie could hide from bad weather at any time, they can die from systematic hypothermia.

Quite often, the mother hen serves as a source of infection for wood grouse with various parasitic diseases. There are cases when the chicken trampled the chicks. The methods of keeping and feeding chicks when growing them with chicken are the same as when growing them with capercaillie.

Brooding should be considered the most promising method of growing capercaillie. V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsev give the following assessment to this method: “For this, eggs laid by capercaillie are removed from nesting sites, which are incubated in the usual way, or even chicks at the time of their hatching from eggs; chicks are placed in special heating devices and grown on prepared feed mixtures. In this case, the main difficulties are expressed in the regulation of the temperature regime of brooders and the provision of chicks with animal feed in the first days after hatching them from eggs. It should be noted that with the brooding of capercaillie, the likelihood of an epizootic among them is sharply reduced. With this method of growing capercaillie from one capercaillie, you can get many times more young than when growing them under the uterus. For growing capercaillie, the same brooders can be used as for breeding pheasants.

In the Darwin Reserve, the following feeding regime for capercaillie has been developed. In the first 15 days of life, they are fed an egg omelette mixed with small insects caught by automatic traps in bright light. From 15 to 45 days of age, the chicks are fed a special mixture with an increase in flour worms and other insects. The composition of the feed mixture includes scrambled eggs, porridge, steamed wheat, meat, fish, cottage cheese, chopped carrots, cabbage, onions, clover, cereal sprouts, wood lice, dill, yeast, fish oil. At the age of 45-60 days, capercaillie receive the same feed mixture with the addition of mealworms and cranberries, small insects are excluded from the diet. At the age of 60-90 days, the chicks are kept on the same feed mixture, to which milky ripeness oats, aspen leaves on branches and cranberries are added. Then young birds are transferred to the diet of adult capercaillie. During the entire growing period, capercaillie receive first egg shells, and then crushed shells. In addition, they are given coarse sand, which is later replaced with gravel.

Capercaillie diseases

Of the diseases that affect capercaillie bred in hunting farms, the following are known.

Qatar goiter. Catarrh of goiter and stomach. The exacerbation of the disease usually lasts 3-4 days. The bird becomes lethargic and loses its appetite. Then the goiter begins to grow. There is a strong thirst. The pen rises. The litter becomes liquid, green or brown. The bird is rapidly weakening. Movement becomes unsteady. There is gurgling in the throat. An unpleasant odor is ejected from the goiter. The disease ends with the fall of the bird.

An autopsy of dead birds reveals catarrhal inflammation of the entire digestive tract. In the goiter - rotten food and liquid. The death of birds comes, apparently, from the general intoxication of the organism. Treatment for this disease has not been developed.

Scabies of the legs. The disease leads to the loss of feathers on the legs and the formation of scabs on the bare parts of the paws. It is difficult for birds with this disease to walk.

Defeat by lice. Feathers fall out, bare skin areas are formed, the epidermis of which is often inflamed.

Black grouse breeding

Black grouse is one of the most important objects of sport hunting. There is evidence that in recent years in various regions of the Soviet Union the number of black grouse has been declining, grouse leks are disappearing, and the number of birds being shot is decreasing.

A. Nikultsev writes that the reduction in the area of ​​protective and fodder stations in densely populated areas of Europe, the forest-steppe part of Siberia and Kazakhstan, accompanied by an increase in hunting, led to a long-term depression (fall) in the number and reduction in the range of black grouse in this territory.

Since the main reason for the decline in the stocks of black grouse in these areas is the fundamental changes in their landscapes under the influence of human economic activity, there is no reason to expect a sharp increase in the number of these birds in the near future. In modern conditions, research aimed at developing methods for breeding black grouse in artificial conditions, for reproducing its population using game breeding methods, is of particular importance.

Experiments on breeding black grouse in captivity were started a long time ago. In 1860, A. A. Khvatov in the journal. "Acclimatization" placed an article under the heading "18 years of experience in accustoming and domesticating birch grouse." In 1908, in the journal. "Hunting Bulletin" published an article by E. I. Lukashevich "Artificial breeding in captivity of wild chickens", where there is data on the breeding of black grouse. Both authors bred chicks of birds from the order of hens under brood hens. The hatched young usually died from various diseases.

In the period from 1940 to 1954, SA Larin conducted interesting experiments on the incubation of black grouse eggs and the rearing of grouse. Some valuable materials on keeping and breeding black grouse can also be found in Markhlevsky's works.

In recent years, V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsov have carried out valuable research into the methods of breeding black grouse in the Darwin Reserve. They proved that keeping adult black grouse in enclosures, regularly receiving fertilized eggs from them, breeding and rearing normally developed young birds are quite possible and affordable.

But although experiments on breeding black grouse in captivity have been going on for more than 100 years, the methods of keeping, feeding and breeding these birds have not yet been developed enough and need to be significantly refined and, probably, even corrected.

Initially, black grouse from the main herd for captive breeding can be obtained in two ways:

• catching birds in hunting grounds with their subsequent accustoming to life in aviaries;
• breeding black grouse chicks from eggs collected in the hunting grounds with their subsequent cultivation.

Both of these paths have advantages and disadvantages. When capturing wild birds, it is not always possible to accustom them to living conditions in aviaries. But the susceptibility of adult black grouse to infectious diseases is not as great as the susceptibility of young animals to them. The second way - obtaining breeding birds through the incubation of grouse eggs and rearing the resulting young - seems to us preferable.

The methods of keeping the breeding stock of black grouse (as well as capercaillie) are most fully developed by the employees of the Darwin Reserve V. Krinitsky and V. Nemtsov. Wild birds entering the nursery of this reserve are first kept in large aviaries, in which conditions close to natural are created. As the birds get used to the new conditions, they are transferred to smaller enclosures.

The diet of adult black grouse in winter includes cranberries, grains (oats, wheat, corn) and birch branches with catkins. In the spring, willow flowers are added to these feeds. The composition of summer feeds includes cranberries, cereal grains, aspen leaves, soft grass (clover, cereals, etc.), as well as insects. In autumn, birch branches are added to these feeds. Throughout the year, birds are given mineral feed - shells, shells and small pebbles.

Collection and incubation of eggs

Researchers who have studied black grouse breeding methods have used the following methods for collecting and incubating the eggs of these birds:

• collection of eggs in the nests of wild black grouse with their subsequent lining under the mother hen;
• collection of eggs in natural areas and their incubation in incubators of various systems;
• leaving eggs in a grouse's nest arranged in an aviary for natural hatching;
• collection of eggs laid by grouse kept in enclosures, and lining them under the mother hen;
• collection of eggs laid by grouse in enclosures for their artificial incubation in incubators.

The first two methods, obviously, can be recommended only when organizing a black grouse nursery, when it is necessary to create a herd of breeding birds grown on the farm itself. The other three ways of obtaining eggs and their incubation can be used in the subsequent breeding of black grouse in enclosures.

Natural incubation of eggs by grouse in enclosures is now used in the nursery of grouse birds of the Darwin Reserve. During the first 3 years of work, 18 eggs were obtained from two nesting females, of which 5 chicks hatched. Consequently, the hatching of chicks in the aviary of the mother hen is only 28%.

The experiments of S. A. Larin showed that “the use of various birds as brood hens when incubating eggs of capercaillie and black grouse very often led to infection of the chicks with various diseases through the brood hen, and this in some cases caused failures. This circumstance indicates the need to switch to the incubation of wild grouse eggs, i.e., to the use of an incubator ”(Larin, 1954).

Therefore, in 1950, S. A. Larin conducted interesting experiments on the artificial incubation of black grouse eggs. In the forest tracts of the Kharovsky district of the Vologda region, two nests of grouse were found, from which 8 and 4 (incomplete clutch) eggs were extracted. They were subjected to incubation in the Hirson incubator with water heating according to the same regime as when incubating capercaillie eggs.

Out of 12 eggs, 11 chicks were obtained: one turned out to be fat. During incubation, the average weight of eggs decreased from 36.4 to 30.3 g, i.e. by 6.1 g or 16.8%. The weight of the grouse at the time of release from the egg averaged 63.1% of the weight of fresh eggs. The eggs were hatched on the 24th, and the chicks were hatched on the 25th day from the beginning of incubation.

Breeding grouse in incubators is also practiced by employees of the Darwin Reserve. They write: “In hatchery brooding, contact with an infected environment can be almost completely eliminated. To do this, laid eggs are removed from nesting sites, which are incubated in the usual way.

Rearing of young animals

Young black grouse grow and develop quite quickly, but unevenly. Indicators of changes in the weight of grouse chicks when kept in enclosures (according to S. A. Larin) are given in Table. 29.

Table 29

The daily gain with the age of the chicks changes as follows:

Age of chicks, days
Gain, g

Relative gains per day of chicks in different periods of their development are far from being the same:

Age of chicks, days

Thus, in the first days of the life of the chicks, when they are just beginning to peck at insects and continue to use the yolk of the yolk sac remaining in the body cavity to maintain their vital activity, their growth rate is relatively low. Then, up to the age of 60 days, there is a rapid and relatively uniform growth of the chicks. But at the age of 55-70 days, when their primary feather cover is replaced by a secondary one, the growth rate of birds slows down sharply so that after the end of the molt it will increase again.

During its development, a young black grouse undergoes several changes in feather cover. The change of embryonic down to primary plumage usually begins on the 3rd-4th day of the chick's life, when the flight feathers break through. Shortly after, tail feathers appear. After that, the body of the bird begins to grow with feathers. First of all, feathers appear on the shoulders and sides of the goiter, then on the back and tail, then on the chest, sides of the body, and finally, when the young bird reaches the size of a dove, the head and neck are covered with feathers.

The primary feather cover of males and females is colored almost the same and is similar to the plumage of an adult female, but with a lighter transverse striping. In males, the color is darker and browner than in females, the streaks are smaller.

Already at the end of July, in young males, it begins to be replaced by the first adult plumage. Black feathers first appear on the sides of the crop and on the shoulders, then gradually spread to the middle of the crop, along the chest, neck and belly, and from the shoulders to the wing, back, rump and back of the neck to the head, which sheds last. During the change of nesting cover, the legs and beak darken. The change of flight feathers occurs simultaneously with the molting of the head, when the chicks reach almost full growth. After the final change of flight feathers, the change of tail feathers begins and, finally, braids appear, on which the molt ends. In young females, molting proceeds in much the same way. In the middle lane, feather molting usually ends in September-October.

But the feather cover formed after molting differs in color from the plumage of adult birds. In males, reddish feathers with transverse dark stripes appear on the sides of the head and on the neck, and a small buffy spot with small dark speckles appears at the back corner of the eye. Reddish feathers of the primary cover often remain on the back, goiter and neck. The metallic sheen of plumage is still poorly developed. Secondary flight feathers, upper wing coverts and tail coverts with fine rufous striation.

The secondary feather cover of a young female is colored similarly to the plumage of an adult grouse, but the streaks of young ones are lighter.

In the second year of life of roosters, from the end of June to the end of August, there is a complete change of plumage. The newly formed outfit is distinguished by the fact that the head becomes black, but the transverse reddish pattern on the back, neck, crop and wings is still preserved. In the third year of life, kosachs usually put on the final black coat, but sometimes they still retain a reddish pattern on the wing coverts.

The beginning of the book by A.B. Kuznetsova "Game breeding (artificial breeding of game birds)"