Brooding Space and Phase Feeding Strategies for White Pheasants

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted during a growout of male and female white pheasants to evaluate brooding space needed the first 6 wk and appropriate phase feeding strategies in the growing-finishing stages of growth. One-day-old chicks were placed into brooder pens with stocking rates of 150, 200 or 250 chicks/pen. Individual body weight and feed conversions for each pen were measured at 3 and 6 wk of age and litter moisture was measured at 3 wk. Birds were separated by gender at 6 wk and fed a common grower diet to 12 wk of age. At 12 wk, approximately half of the birds of each gender were fed either the grower diet or a finisher diet containing about 5 percentage units less crude protein than the grower diet. Body weight and feed conversion were measured on a pen basis at 12 wk for all birds, 17 wk for cockerels and 20 wk for hens. At market age, a sample of birds from each pen was selected to measure carcass yield and proximate analysis. There were no effects on body weight, coefficient of variation of body weight within pen, or feed conversion in the brooding period. High stocking density (250 chicks/pen) increased litter moisture at 3 wk. There were no dietary treatment effects on growth performance or carcass traits for either gender in the growing-finishing phases. The results showed that dietary protein could be reduced by 23% in a finisher diet fed after 12 wk of age to white pheasants.