Arabian partridge

[Alexander Howard Hattingh]

Hi all

I was hoping I could get some advice for care and breeding of Arabian partridge. Do any of you own some and what do I need to look out for when keeping them? Are they aggresive toward each other and other birds? Where do they prefer to nest? Are they cold hardy? What type of diet do they prefer? Etc etc. Any help would be appreciated as always.

Regards Alex

 

[007Sean]

Hi all

I was hoping I could get some advice for care and breeding of Arabian partridge. Do any of you own some and what do I need to look out for when keeping them? Are they aggresive toward each other and other birds? Where do they prefer to nest? Are they cold hardy? What type of diet do they prefer? Etc etc. Any help would be appreciated as always.

Regards Alex

Hi Alex,
I use to raise Corsican Red Legged partridges (Alectoris rufa hispanica) until they met their demise during a storm...a huge live oak tree fell on their enclosure and crushed them.
Anyway, they are fairly easy to raise. I fed mine a 24% protien crumble. The enclosure was 10' x 30' with shelter. I had 16 birds in this enclosure.
As far as aggressive, mine were not, they would get in arguments from time to time but nothing serious. Like any other bird, if you over crowd them, they will be aggressive toward eachother. A well landscaped enclosure goes a long way in preventing aggressiveness. As far as hardiness, they are very hardy. I didn't have to worry about cold weather here in South Texas but heat. As long as you provide a sheltered area where they can get out of the elements if they want to, free of drafts, they should do fine in cold weather. As with any ground dewellers, they can not tolerate damp, muddy conditions in confined spaces.
If your hatching them, you have to watch out for them piling up in the corners of the brooder. It's a habit they have and will smother eachother. Use a red heat lamp and not white....white lamps cause them to bunch up for some reason, I haven't been able to find out why. In short, Alectoris rufa melanocephala shouldn't be any harder to raise than other commonly kept partridges. HTH

 

[Alexander Howard Hattingh]

Thanks so much. Helped a lot!!! Some sound advice. Much appreciated