The Crowing Post:  08/06/07

Where do hens take their chicks during the summer months?  First, she will find cover with adequate insects.  In Nebraska, she takes them into weeds, grass, sweet clover, and small grain stubble during July and August.  Many hens are also found near tree and shrub cover.  The hen finds more insects outside of tree cover, but woody cover is considered valuable to the chicks as shade in hot weather.  Illinois noted that the summer shade benefit offered by woody cover might be more important than its winter cover benefit.  The hotter the weather, the more pheasants will use woody cover.  Nebraska found that small trees and shrubs were utilized more frequently than tall trees or hedgerows.

 The summer shade that trees provide, as well as the accompanying cooler ground temperatures within woody cover, may be very important to pheasant chicks.  The chick's metabolic rate and heat production is 2.4 times that of an adult.  This makes keeping cool even more difficult for the chick.  Of the chicks hatched last spring, 33 to 48 percent are dead by late August.  The exact reasons for such high losses are unknown.   But these losses might be even higher in areas lacking good woody cover for shade.

 habitat today….pheasants forever!