A Guide To Capercaillie

Capercaillie bird that is native to this country, although in the 1800's, late 1700's, they did become extinct and had to be re-introduced from Sweden, they are now suffering a bit, there are not many in the world up in Scotland any more, not definitely, not as many as they used to be. They say that deer fences, tall deer fences causing a lot of problems for the birds flying into them and generally the management of these birds in some states is very good, but in others, it is virtually non-existent. So, they have tended, have to fend for themselves really, as far as non-birds population is going.

And they are massive birds, they are part of the grouse family, but the largest of the grouse family that we have over here. If you are going to keep these birds in captivity, I'm keeping them to re-introduce back into Scotland. The birds have to be, as far as possible, keep the birds off the ground through the winter.

You put them on the ground to breed in the early spring, making sure that the cocks can't get to everywhere where the hens can get to, because they can sometimes be a bit aggressive with the hens, although, in my personal experience, the cock birds are being very well behaved. They'll lay probably two clutches, 8 to 9, 8 or 9 eggs per clutch. Big brown spotted egg.

I'd say, they lay 7 to 14 quite large brown eggs. Rearing of these birds as long as the right food stuff is provided, there is not a lot of problem. Good maintenance again, good husbandry keeping them warm and good brooding is always good.

The food for the adults needs a lot of roughage, a lot of high fibre food. So, you have to provide that for the birds in captivity. They will actually strip a part of bark off a pine branch and eat that.

So, they do need a lot of, a lot of roughage to aid their digestion. If they don't get enough roughage through the system, they do often have problems with the compact gizzards. There is bit more effort now in conservation of capercaillie and they are beginning to make a bit of a comeback.

But that is just a rough guide to capercaillie. .