Will the Early Arrival of Spring Produce More Pheasants?
A hen pheasant and her brood.
I woke up this morning with one question in my mind: Will the early arrival of spring produce more pheasants? To help me answer this question, I reached out to Pheasants Forever biologists Aaron Kuehl from Illinois and Jim Wooley from Iowa. While the guys made it clear there is no simple answer to my question, they did provide a number of reasons for optimism.
Healthy Hens
The recent mild winter was advantageous for a variety of reasons when it comes to setting the stage for a productive nesting season, but at the top of their list was hen health. Egg laying, nesting, re-nesting and brood-rearing are very taxing on hens. Consequently, a mild winter allows hens to begin the spring reproduction season in top shape with the ability to produce the maximum number of eggs per clutch (the average clutch size of eggs is 12). The math is simple; more eggs equal more chances for chicks, which provide better odds of adding more adult birds to the autumn population.
If a hen loses her nest due to cold weather, predation, haying, flooding, or some other disturbance, she will attempt to re-nest up to two more times. Each subsequent re-nesting attempt leads to a drop in the average number of eggs a hen will lay. A second effort will average eight eggs in a clutch, while a third re-nesting generally produces four to six eggs. As a result, the healthier the hens are coming out of the winter, the better the chances for nest success during these re-nesting efforts as well.
Nesting Season
Let’s start with the basics of establishing a hen’s spring calendar:
Average Nest Initiation Date: May 1 (beginning as early as March 15 running through July 15)
Average Incubation Start: May 24 (beginning as early as April 1 running through August 1)
Average Hatch: June 15 (beginning as early as April 15 running through August 15)
So, if a hen begins laying eggs in a nest on May 12th, then incubation will start on May 24th if that hen stops egg production after the 12th egg drops. Then on June 15th, after 23 days of incubation without any complications, the chicks will hatch.
Pheasant chicks
Photo period is the top factor influencing when pheasants begin nesting. In other words, the length of light in the day determines the bird’s nest initiation. However, according to Wooley, temperature is an influencing factor moderating the hen’s “decision” when to initiate nesting. Consequently, both Wooley and Kuehl believe the early spring could accelerate the pheasant nesting season by a few days.
“If you think about the reproductive calendar visually as a bell curve with the peak of the hatch traditionally occurring on June 15th, this early spring will likely shift that bell curve to the left a few days,” explained Kuehl.
Best Case Scenario
If the weather through April, May and June continues to be warm and relatively dry, then hen pheasants will have a high probably of pulling off successful first nesting attempts prior to haying season.
Worst Case Scenario
If hens begin incubating eggs earlier than normal and our spring weather turns cold and wet, then those eggs stand an uphill battle. Cold and wet spring weather generally leads to multiple re-nesting attempts, smaller broods and less than ideal chick survival.
Exceptions in the South and West
In the western United States and southern Great Plains, a cold spring isn’t a common limiting factor for pheasants. In fact, most western biologists will point to the need for spring moisture to “green” things up for insect production as the more important factor influencing their pheasant recruitment success.
Mr. Mom: A male bobwhite quail
The Mr. Mom Advantage for Quail
One major difference between pheasants and quail is the role males may play in the reproductive cycle. In some years, perhaps particularly when the density of quail is low, a hen may lay a clutch of eggs, and then leave her male bobwhite mate in charge of incubation duties for the next 24 days. Hens may then take up with one or more additional males. The male also assumes brood rearing responsibility once the eggs hatch (he has to—Mom is down the road with another boyfriend). Think about that; a hen quail could theoretically produce two or three broods during one nesting season with the assistance of different males. Consequently, quail have an increased ability to rebound populations quickly given quality habitat and optimum weather conditions during nesting season. In contrast, rooster pheasants play no role in their reproductive cycle other than hen fertilization, so each hen can, at maximum, produce one brood.
Habitat is the Key
Ultimately, we can’t control the weather and it will always be a wild card in the equation. However, we can control the quantity and quality of habitat on the landscape. Habitat is the key to providing hens with the places they need to successfully nest and raise broods.
The Moral of the Story
Weather conditions are lining up well to produce a very good spring nesting season for pheasants that will likely begin earlier than normal. Keep your fingers crossed the warm conditions will extend a couple more months.
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
Tags: Aaron Kuehl, hens, Jim Wooley, nesting, Nesting Cover, nesting season, pheasant incubation, pheasant nesting habitat, pheasant nests, pheasant reproduction, quail reproduction
17 Responses to “Will the Early Arrival of Spring Produce More Pheasants?”
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now you really didn’t answer your own question [early spring arrival] my question is how do i get more pheasants in the fall
I’m I better off to release pen raised adult hens in the spring or just let nature take it’s course
from the article it is assumed that a spring released hen of course healthy [full feed all winter ] alive of course [free from preditors all winter ] if i release hens later in the spring and it is hopefully drier my results should be better so retocking does work ?
@Denny Rowly,
Thanks for reading the blog. Stocking isn’t the answer. Habitat is the key.
Stocking with pen-raised pheasants will not effectively increase wild pheasant populations. When habitat conditions improve, wild pheasant populations will increase in response to that habitat. Only by addressing the root problem suppressing populations –habitat – will you have a long term positive impact on pheasant numbers. Habitat is the key to healthy pheasant populations.
Studies have shown that stocked pheasants, no matter when they are released, have great difficulty maintaining self-sustaining populations. Predators take the main toll, accounting for 90 percent of the deaths and at the same time predators become conditioned to the idea that pheasants are an easy target. Pen-raised birds do provide shooting opportunities, a good way to introduce new hunters to hunting in a controlled situation and a chance to keep your dog in shape. Release birds as close to the time you want to hunt as possible, just keep in mind that these pen-raised birds are not going to produce a wild self-sustaining population in the area.
I know this is off the topic of the early spring production but…
When I’m hunting wild birds I come across pheasant droppings in decent size piles as if a lot of birds roosted together on the ground or one bird keeps coming back to the same spot (like raccoons). Could you please explain this phenomenom? Thanks.
@Jack Overton,
Thanks for reading the blog and the interesting question.
Jim Wooley, PF/QF biologist, offers up his theory for you:
“Pheasants are generally solitary roosting birds. I am not aware of any group roosting behavior by pheasants that would explain the phenomena the gentleman describes (unlike is the case for coveying game birds like quail that gather together in a roosting disk), so perhaps it is by virtue of birds using the same area for roosting over a period of time and multiple birds contributing to a “pile”. That could happen with either large numbers of birds in an area, limited roosting cover, or both.”
–Jim Wooley | Dir. Field Operations, Quail Forever
Early spring hatch will produce more pheasant chicks because if something happens to the chicks the mother hens will lay again, right? 2011 the hatch appeared to be OK but late May and June rains washed out alot of the eggs and or the baby chicks, followed by 3 months of drought. The mother hens probably tried to lay again in those dry months but the drought killed them. With last years estimates being down 40 to 50% the weather had its toll. South Dakota up to now still has the best wild pheasant hunting in the country. With the land being taken out of CRP and other incentives this will probably be another hit on wild pheasants! Just Saying….
In my mind the cause for optimism is relative to the cause for concern that last two years. We had harsh winters and coo wet springs. This year we had record dry fall, record warm winter, and now record dry and warm spring.
If the last two years was recipe for doom then this year should be recipe for boom.
The SD Game and Fish counts were pretty spot on in SD.
Yes habitat is key but I have come to conclusion last year that it is weather AND habitat that is the ultimate recipe for serious bird numbers.
Bob,
The early spring column was excellent! I had just started theorizing what might happen this year with such an early spring, especially after seeing tom turkey’s in strut over a month now here in southern Indiana. Thanks for answering a lot of my questions and we all need to keep our fingers crossed for a ‘nice’ spring for a best case scenario. The only other question I worry about is a very hot and dry summer like a few years back in SD where there was not enough dew to support the chicks daily needs and many died? Anyway….thanks for this great piece.
Jeff
This in response to the above comments about habitat and restocking, but as pertains to quail. Agreed that the proper amount of quality habitat is the key for maintaining and increasing wild bobwhite populations. But if one has created that on their farm, in a location where quail formerly were common but have now been absent for years, is there any way stocking might be used successfully to get birds back into the habitat to restore/jumpstart a new, reproducing wild population?
Is there any scenario where a hen will bring off two successful broods?
@Mark Fiegen
I don’t believe so. If a pheasant hen has a single chick hatch, then there will be no second nexting because their focus turns to brood-rearing.
I agree that the mild winter has set up the pheasant population for a healthy beginning to the nesting season and also that habitat is important to nesting success. However, the value of that habitat is much more than quantity alone. I have seen many acres of CRP that provide very little value to pheasant nesting because the vegetation is a poor mix and/or there’s not enough moisture to provide for ample plant growth.
In South Dakota, we have received above average precip the past couple of years, which has refilled the soil profile. Wetlands and stock dams have been refilled. I believe the added amount of surface water will provide more moisture to the air and dew for the chicks and also provide for increased plant growth.
On a side note, our farm has been harvesting wheat with stripper heads for more than 5 years now. These combine headers strip the seeds from the stem rather than cut the stem. This has left the wheat stubble 3 feet tall and seems to be providing some additional quality habitat to the birds. I have seen many pheasants nesting in this type of wheat stubble.
We have a game farm which releases pheasants, chukars, and quail during the fall and spring. We’ve noticed that quail succeed best since we release them as soon as they are adults early in the fall near other coveys. But the most interesting fact is that wild hen pheasants nest in our quail buffer. (We don’t release hens) And that they are with our released roosters (banded). So, I guess that the few that survive predation, contribute to the cause.
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I was just wondering, If alot of upland game hunters also waterfowl? I do my self but looking to give waterfowl up, I just rather spend my hunting rooters and quail, then spending all that money just to shoot a duck or goose.
@Tim Thanks for the comment. Yes, a lot of upland hunters also enjoy waterfowl hunting. Many find it enjoyable to spend the first few hours of the day hunting ducks/geese, then spend the rest of the day walking the uplands.
Someone made a statement that I don’t believe is true.
They said that because of the “great spring” pheasants will nest more than once and produce more than one brood this year.
I understand what happens when a hen loses her hatch but I question this logic. Would you clarify this for me and others. Thanks!!
Pheasants will renest if they lose a clutch, but pheasants will only produce one brood annually.