Getting Chukars- need some info(beginner)

[313759]

I am getting some chukar partridge soon, and would like some info on caring for them. Their behavior and feeding habits, stuff like that. Also could you post pictures of your pens and coops and feeders etc.

 

[QueenMisha]

I haven't had mine long - 32 of them for about 7 weeks - but these are the things I've noticed so far:

- The chicks are tiny, tiny, tiny. Never seen anything so small. They can jump and climb very well though - I lost one of my original 35 because it got out of my rabbit cage brooder and got lost in the house (we searched for it for an hour, I think maybe the German Shepherd gulped it down). So any brooders need to have fine wire mesh or towels or something near the bottom, about the lower 6 inches they can reach.

- They really are very cannibalistic. Don't put any other birds with them! It's not even aggression or boredom, they just like picking at things. They don't seem to pick each other, not to the point of bleeding, just a bit of baldness on the top of the head. I put two Cornish Cross out there with them... 1 day later, they had severely injured wings and rumps. They ate the oil glands right out of their tails! These guys were 3x the size of the Chukar, it didn't matter. Don't think I'd even put an adult bird with them...

- They don't eat a lot. They aren't that big, so of course they don't, but it's still lovely to have such thrifty birds when my main chicken/turkey/other flock is doing 1 bag every 2 days. I fill up the 11 pound feeder about once a week.

- They fly, and they hit like tiny feathered bullets. They will freak out and take off like crazy when you enter the pen, and will definitely hit you if you're in the way. They're small so it's mostly an annoyance, but then again mine are still young, maybe they'll hurt more when they're bigger.

- The current pen is a welded wire 10x5 dog run wrapped in 1 inch chicken wire. I've moving them into another soon, 2x4 garden fencing, wrapped in 2 inch chicken wire and covered with 1 inch chicken wire, total pen is maybe 15x25, 6 foot high in some places 8 in others. No pics right now, will post later if I can.

That's about what I've noticed.