Tonic has put an extra spring in gamebirds’ step

Tim Griffiths has more than a million reasons to like the new liquid asset he invested in for the Bettws Hall game hatchery in Powys. In fact more than 1.2 million healthy pheasant and partridge chicks and about 800,000 robust poults.

The liquid asset that gave the birds the extra spring in their strut is Janssen® Gamebird-Tonic. Bettws Hall used Tonic last year, initially on layers on the advice of veterinary surgeon Ian Cameron, to lift fertility levels.

Across in East Anglia, gamekeeper Mark Watson had a very specific objective in mind when he switched to Tonic last year – to provide vitamins to pheasants via drinking water without the nipple drinkers becoming blocked.

Mark, in charge at Shotesham Park, Shotesham St Mary, in Norfolk, for three years, says use of Tonic has overcome the problem.”

Tim Griffiths, a director of Bettws Hall at Bettws Cedewain, near Newtown, and who runs the hatchery, says fertility levels were proving very slow to climb. “But they improved dramatically after putting Tonic in the birds’ drinking water every two weeks. This season fertility levels are up to 90 per cent – as good as the French are achieving.”

The results were so outstanding last season, he says, that customers asked how they were accomplished. “This year I’m putting details of Tonic in with delivery notes – I think it’s important for buyers of our stock to maintain good bird condition so that shoots get the high-performance birds they require.”

Janssen Gamebird-Tonic, an aniseed-flavoured liquid supplement, has been specially formulated to provide the essential ingredients birds need from day old to release – selected vitamins, trace elements, essential and fatty acids, and electrolytes.

Helping to make the product unique, it also contains nucleotides, used by the body in the construction of specific cells that can also help to support the birds’ immune system.

Tim and fellow director Anthony Price, who is in charge of rearing, say the size of the operation means it is important to keep abreast of improvements in breeding and rearing techniques and to harness the best in technological innovation.

Bettws Hall puts three million eggs to the hatchery every season, some bought from France. It also has a large number of laying pheasants and 3,000 partridge pairs. Most are sold as day-olds, with several thousand of the 0.8 million poults reared kept for the company’s own shoot.

The use of Janssen Gamebird-Tonic has also helped to encourage the birds’ water intake and, an important management factor, says Tim, it doesn’t block nipple lines.

Tonic is helping the company with successful gamebird production, he comments. “This starts with a healthy hen, which produces a good egg that hatches well to produce a strong chick that can fight any bacterial challenge. This produces a good poult and a strong, healthy bird of the type required for today’s shoots.”

Blocked nipple drinkers – the

bain of Mark’s life

Mark Watson, gamekeeper at Shotesham Park in Norfolk says nipple drinkers blocked by vitamins in the drinking water has been a frustration through his years in gamekeeping. I was a bit cynical about claims I heard that Tonic didn’t cause this problem, but it has lived up to its promise.

He was also pleasantly surprised by other benefits gained and is using the product again this year from breeding through to release. “All the breeding birds received Tonic for two days initially, and will receive it periodically throughout the laying season. This is helping us to achieve high numbers of good quality eggs.”

Last year, all the rearing birds looked strong, and any that looked to be in need of help perked up within 24 hours after treatment with Tonic, he says. “We had minimal starve-out losses, little more than a handful, whereas shoots can lose 10-15 per cent at this stage.”

It also helped considerably at bitting. “I don’t think we lost any birds at bitting. We also used it to overcome the effects of stress when moving birds to wood and, again, we noticed the difference in how quickly they settled and continued to feed.”

There was another major significant difference, says Mark. “We saved on medication costs – last year we didn’t use any medication at all.”