Hello all, I am quite shocked at what I’ve found today! I was out side with my chickens when I came across this quail thing. I believe it’s a partridge? But I’m not sure what to do with it or how to care for it. I have never even seen this kind of bird before in my life! I’m not sure if it had an owner or not, but I will ask around. Poor thing is probably so scared but I have no idea where it came from or how it even got into my yard! Ill attach some pictures but it would be a great deal if help if someone could help me out on what to do with it.
I agree it looks like a Chukar Partridge, although it doesn't seem to have the red eye ring so I'm not too sure what's up with that, maybe it's just the lighting. Edit: I just saw the other photos and I also believe it is part of a breeding program, hence the loss of the red eye ring.
It is possible it's a male because of its blocky head-article on that here:
https://animals.mom.com/can-tell-sex-chukar-partridge-10172.html
( females usually have smaller rounder heads.)
Quail can be quite aggressive with each other, so it's your choice to get more quail or just raise him\her by themselves.
A flight pen is the best housing for most quail, and they are not that difficult to build :
https://uplanderlifestyle.com/blogs/uplander-chronicles/building-a-backyard-quail-flight-pen
you can do something like this on the small scale for one quail if you plan on keeping him, or you can use a rabbit hutch.
here is another article on caring for quail that may help:
https://www.roysfarm.com/caring-for-quail/
you can also buy game bird feed, preferably for turkeys or pheasants, just make sure that it has 30% protein.
Or as sourland has mentioned, you can just feed him whatever you give your hens