Influence of date of egg production and diet on pheasant chick development

Abstract

Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus cokhicus) chicks were hatched at weekly intervals for 14 weeks from eggs laid by hens fed two diets of different protein and energy levels. Chicks from each hatch were subjected to two different nutritional planes by feeding them a control diet yielding 2.91 kcal of metabolizable energy per gram and 23.7% protein, and an experimental diet yielding 1.88 kcal of metabolizable energy per gram and 14.3% protein. Weight of the chicks at hatching, and three indices of growth, increase in body weight, length of the tarsal bone, and length of the seventh primary feather, were taken during the first 3 weeks of life. Weights of day-old chicks and their rates of development were unrelated to the chronology of egg production, the sex of chicks, and the diets fed to the parent hen. Differences between rates of development of the chicks were attributed to differences between the amount of protein and energy metabolized from their diets.