Pheasant Fact Friday!đź’ˇ
The pheasant chick’s energy flow is like an engine running 100 mph compared to the adult’s engine plodding along at 41 mph. Of course the adult uses more energy than a chick because the adult has more body to maintain (1,000 grams compared to 25 grams). But based on per gram weight (comparing a 1,000-gm adult to a 1,000-gm chick), a chick consumes 2.4 times more food and energy than an adult. This high metabolic rate is necessary to provide the chick with the production energy needed for growth.
The amount of energy needed by the chick for growth, feather production, and maintenance is unknown. Using white leghorn chickens for comparison, and assuming pheasants use half of the energy used by chickens (based on size and volume differences), a 1-week old pheasant chick requires 12 kilocalories per day. A 10-week chick uses 80 kcal per day (about half a Snickers candy bar). As the chick grows so does its energy intake. In July (2 to 6 weeks old), the weight of food in the chick’s crop is 1.2 grams. In August (6 to 10 weeks old), the crop weights 4.3 grams.
📸: @steve_oehlenschlager
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