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| Saturday, 30-Sep-2006 08:44 |
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New grouse banner, new grouse website & downloads online
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displaying male Sharp-tailed grouse
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displaying male Prairiechicken
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female Willow Ptarmigan
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Displaying male Western Capercaillie
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frontal view of one male Siberian Capercaillie
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Displaying male Black grouse
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Displaying male Blue grouse
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male Rock Ptarmigan
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male Red grouse
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We are glad to announce our latest "grouse" developments on the internet, such as as the creation of a unique grouse website (Grouse fotopics) and new banner in the recent past.
It took us a lot of hard work and expenses to get more than 350 excellent photograhs of our grouses in Belgium online. Photographs of the aviaries for keeping and breeding grouse with us, have all been put on the internet so new grouse fanciers and lovers can get a better picture of the needs and requirements to raise these delicate birds to maturity. We hope to educate future grouse breeders showing our methods and system, our birds and their youngsters, so you can learn from us.
The new grouse banner can be viewed via the below mentioned link ; http://www.tragopan.be/downloads/grouse.swf which will direct each visitor to the Grouse fotopics at http://grouse.fotopic.net
Furthermore, downloads of the fantastic display postures of 5 different grouse species can be viewed on the internet via the below mentionet link ; http://www.tragopan.be/00000098300a92b11/00000098301496130/index.html
Last but not least, I want to thank Mr. François Bernar, Messelbroek, Belgium for making all photographic materials and video-tapes available and for all his help and contribution.
We hope you all enjoy these new grouse features.
Francy Hermans, Belgium
http://www.tragopan.be
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| Thursday, 1-Sep-2005 00:00 |
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The big relief after a successful grouse breeding season
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aerial view of some grouse pens
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lot's and lot's of grouse youngsters hatch 2005
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Mr. F. Bernar counting his young grouse hatch 2005
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location of some grouse pens in Messelbroek
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Most grouse pens are under or behind trees for cover and safety
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one small water pont between the aviaries
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Some of the most exciting months for a grouse breeder is in September and October, when the new youngsters have reached the stage where they are half grown. 
At this age, most of the birds have built up sufficient immunity response to cope with most of the pathogens which may kill them when they are younger. Their main killers are coccidia, worms and Histomonas meleagridis.
With best wishes and kind regards,
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Tuesday, 26-Jul-2005 00:00 |
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The moment of the truth ; the first hatches
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black grouse chicks just a few days old
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heating lamps provide the needed warmth the grow and survive
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young grouse chicks are quick growers
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June and July are the months of the truth for a grouse breeder. Egg laying starts at the end of April, and incubation is done in the month of May. Most of the grouse eggs are incubated using artificial incubators (Grumbac) with authomatic control of temperature, humidity and turning of the eggs.
The most happy moments for a breeder are on the day when the youngsters are hatching and being transferred from the hatcher to their first nursery box where they are given sufficient artificial heat to survive for the first week. Already at this stage, young plants are collected and cut, and fed to the chicks to familiarise the chicks with their normal diet.
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Tuesday, 17-May-2005 00:00 |
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Aviornis Youth on visit at the Grouse facility in Messelbroek
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Francois Bernar and several young members of Aviornis
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Having breakfest at Messelbroek in the morning of 15 May 2005
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The first contacts between young and old
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We want to thank all young members of AVIORNIS for visiting our grouse breeding facilities on 15 May 2005.
Most of the grouse species were at full dispaly, and many young members of Aviornis were under impression of the extreme beauty of the members of the grouse family kept and bred in Messelbroek.
More details of the trip and its people can be consulted at the Tragopan fotopages at http://tragopan.fotopages.com with date 17 May 2005.
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Wednesday, 11-May-2005 00:00 |
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Impressive display postures of the Sharptailed Grouse
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Lateral display by male Sharptailed Grouse
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Wing-circling by male Sharptailed Grouse
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Frontal display by male Sharp-Tailed Grouse
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Look at the fantastic display postures of the recently imported Sharptailed Grouses at Messelbroek.
April, May and June are the breeding months of the Sharptaileds, and it is during this time that the fantastic display postures of this species can be viewed from nearby.
With best wishes and kind regards,
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Thursday, 5-May-2005 00:00 |
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Some great photographs of the display of Dusky Blue Grouse
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Look at the wonderful displays of the Dusky blue grouse in Belgium. We do expect our first eggs within a next couple of days.
Other grouses, such as Hazel and Prairie Chicken have just started laying.
All the best for the on-going breeding season,
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Wednesday, 9-Mar-2005 00:00 |
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Display postures by the Blue Grouse in Messelbroek, Belgium
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One of the most impressive display and courtship performances is the one of the Blue and Srpuce Grouse, which do both occur in the wilds in Canada.
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Wednesday, 19-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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Grouse in quarantine winter 2004
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Sharptailed grouse in quarantine in Belgium
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Freshly imported Prairiechickens from Vancouver, Canada
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Grouses in quarantine do need a lot of natrual vegetation
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We are glad to announce that we have successfully imported several species of grouses native to North America. We have just imported via Belgium, something like 30 specimens of such birds, mainly, Sharptailed grouse, Prairie Chicken and Blue Grouse. All birds have been imported from a grouse breeder in Vancouver, BC, Canada. They are all doing well after they passed a period of 30 days in a Belgian quarantine. These new birds are unrelated stock birds, and much in need in Western Europe to revitalize the current inbred stock.
They all made the trip through quarantine so well, because we were allowed to add natural vegetational matters during their stay in quarantine.
With best wishes,
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Saturday, 16-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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Prairiechickens, Hazel and Siberian Capercaillie, Ptarmigans
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Four Prairiechicken youngsters hatch 2004
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female Hazel grouse hatch 2004
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Frontal view of one male Siberian Capercaillie hatch 2004
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We are extremely glad to mention that most of our young grouses have made it safe and well throughout the summer and are all doing well in their present premises in Belgium.
Especially, Prairiechicken, Hazel, Ptarmigans and last but not least our Siberian Capercaillies are doing great in their new aviaries. Luckily, we have managed to raise some more males, than in the previous years.
We hope to keep our Siberian Capercaillies going till the next breeding season, and to collect our first eggs from captive stock to get our first generation of captive-bred youngsters available.Not many people have succeeded in establishing a self-sustainable captive breeding stock of this hard to raise grouse species, which we hope to establish in the next coming years.
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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| Saturday, 24-Jul-2004 00:00 |
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Half-grown grouse ; Dusky Blue,Prairie,Spruce and Capercaillie
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Some Dusky Blue Grouse,Prairie,Spruce Grouse looking for food
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Four young Siberian Capercaillies
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One young male Dusky Blue Grouse
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Raising grouse chickens to maturity is a quite complicated business. Grouses are delicate birds in captivity.
Young chicks and half-grown grouses easily suffer from several nutritional deficiency diseases. These youngsters can not be kept and fed like young exotic pheasants.
It is especially their long digestive track which needs lots of vegetable food items such as cellulose, minerals and other vegetable matters to function properly and to avoid growth abnormalities during their first year of life.
As a result, we do almost not feed any pelleted food or granulates produced by the bio-industry meant for chickens, pheasants and/or turkeys, as these do not contain the correct feedformulations and sufficient digestible crude fiber contents. Instead of these, lots of natural plants are given to our youngsters to raise them to maturity.
With best wishes,
François Bernar, Begium
http://grouse.fotopic.net
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