Unplanned ‘trial’ proves value of game bird supplement

A broken dosing port at a pheasant rearing unit unwittingly proved the value of treating birds from day old with Janssen® Game-Bird Tonic.

Pam Kelsey, who rears 50,000 pheasant poults a season at Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, explains: "I had two groups of 2,000 birds of the same age in buildings of the same design. Routinely, birds are given Tonic from day one after hatching for three to five days to reduce stress and provide essential ingredients for their development.

"Dosing ports are required because the birds' water comes direct from the mains, but the broken port meant birds in one house could not be given Tonic. "The results were astounding," she says. "Starve-out deaths in the treated house were 1.3 per cent. The figure for the untreated house was 2.8 per cent."

The difference would be an extra 750 starve-out deaths over a complete season if Tonic was not used. There would also be increased mortality at other times of stress for the birds, such as bitting and catching.

Pam has used Game-Bird Tonic since it was launched by Janssen Animal Health four years ago. The aniseed-flavoured 'all-in-one' supplement, given in water, contains specially selected vitamins, trace elements, electrolytes, and essential amino and fatty acids. It also contains nucleotides, used by the body in the production of cells that are involved in supporting the game birds' immune system.

Pam buys in eggs to hatch a rear birds to seven weeks old. They are sold to shoots within about 30 miles of Chipping Norton. The first eggs arrive in April, hatchings start in May and all birds are gone by mid-August.

As well as treatment in the first week of life, birds are put on Tonic the day before bitting and treated for two or three days. "This is another stress period where Tonic has reduced mortality significantly," she says. Birds also get Tonic in their water the day before catching, which helps to combat the effects of stress at delivery, she adds.