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The mountain partridge is practically unknown in the European part of Russia as poultry. This bird is kept in areas where it lives wild in the mountains. But they do not breed, but catch wild chicks in nature. Although in Western Asia the chukar is much more popular as poultry than quail. After the collapse of the Union in Russia, they are kept only in the Caucasus. At the same time, the content of chukar is not fundamentally different from quails or chickens. Due to their size, chukar need more space than quails, but less than chickens. Despite the fact that chukars belong to the pheasant family, which includes other representatives of domesticated chickens, that is, chickens, pheasants, turkeys and peacocks, there is no particular difference in the maintenance of mountain partridges and chickens.
Perhaps the low popularity of mountain partridges is explained by the fact that previously they could only be seen in zoos, where these birds lived in enclosures and led a lifestyle similar to their natural one. There is still a belief that the chukar needs an enclosure to live. In reality this is not the case. Partridges can easily live in a cage only twice the height of a chukar.
The only difficulty: when kept in a cage, the chukar, like quail, will not sit on the eggs and you will have to use an incubator to breed these partridges.Chukars living in enclosures can hatch their chicks themselves.
Types of chukars and their habitats
In nature, there are 7 species of mountain partridge, of which the Asian chukar has the largest range. It is this partridge that is kept in captivity in the Caucasus, Western Asia and Tajikistan.
Stone partridge or chukar:
The range of the Asian mountain partridge stretches from the Caucasus to the Pamirs, so it is highly likely that you will be able to find the Asian partridge to keep in a poultry house.
Asian chukar, photo.
In Tibet, the range of the Asian partridge is adjacent to the habitat of the Przewalski's partridge or the Tibetan mountain partridge.
In the west, the range of the Asian partridge borders on the range of the European partridge, which is distributed throughout southern Europe, excluding south-west France and the Iberian Peninsula.
All three species of birds are very similar to each other.
There is a fourth species of rock partridge living on the Iberian Peninsula: the red partridge.
She is already clearly different from the other three in feather color.
Across the Strait of Gibraltar in northwest Africa, the Barbary Rock Partridge can be spotted.
This species is also difficult to confuse with others.
The ranges of the other two chukar species border each other, but are cut off from the other five by the Arabian deserts. These two species live in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.
Arabian chukar
Very similar in color to the European and Asian partridges, but the black cheeks make no mistake.
Black-headed chukar
The black cap and the absence of “arrows” on the eyes also will not allow this species to be confused with any other.
Maintenance and care
From a biologist's point of view, the mountain ptarmigan is a chicken.True, a chicken with a cantankerous character. Therefore, chukars can be fed in the same way as ordinary chickens, but they cannot be kept together with other birds. When kept together with quails, partridges will beat the quails, and when kept with chickens, the chickens will begin to chase chukars, since the chickens are several times larger. In addition, chickens are also not known for their leniency towards a weaker opponent.
Although the partridge is little known in Russia, there are nevertheless enough lovers of these birds in the world for breeding work to be carried out on wild species. Not only mountain partridges, but also sand partridges are kept in captivity. Color variations of these species have already been developed. Sometimes a spontaneous mutation of the genes responsible for color occurs and then you can get white partridges.
The mutation that gives black color (melanism) is much less common.
Feeding is the same as for chickens, but taking into account the increased need for protein. Chukars can be given feed for broilers.
When kept in an enclosure in conditions close to natural, a female partridge can make a nest herself and hatch chicks. When kept in a cage, partridges do not hatch eggs, and in this case an incubator is used for breeding.
Female chukars begin laying eggs at 4 months. The weight of the egg is no more than 15 g. During the season, a partridge can lay from 40 to 60 eggs.
By manipulating the lighting, you can get a partridge to lay 3 eggs in 48 hours.
Incubation and rearing of chukar chicks
Chukar eggs can be stored for up to 3 weeks before incubation, provided that the temperature in the storage is kept in the range of 13 - 20 ° C and humidity at 60%.Such long-term storage will also make it possible to identify eggs that have microcracks and are unsuitable for incubation. Eggs of medium size and without visible defects on the shell are selected for incubation.
Incubation of chukar eggs lasts 23–25 days. At first, the temperature in the incubator is maintained at 37.6°C with a humidity of 60%. From the 22nd day, the temperature is reduced to 36.5°C, and the humidity is increased to 70%.
The chicks are very active, so after hatching they are caught and placed in brooders with a temperature of 31 to 35 ° C. But with temperature it is better to focus on the behavior of the chicks. If the chicks huddle together, they are cold. Even young chukars are quite conflict-prone and, in comfortable conditions, prefer to stay away from each other. If they clump together, it means you need to increase the temperature in the brooder.
Young partridges are very active and quickly become independent. Due to conflicts, it is necessary to strictly observe the norms of the required areas for each chick. No more than 10 freshly hatched chicks can be kept together in an area of 0.25 m². The birds must have enough space so that in the event of a conflict, the loser can escape. Although, with sufficient space in one room, even chicks of different ages can be kept together.
Feeding hatched partridges
In nature, young animals feed on insects, which they are quite capable of catching themselves. In the manuals that involve raising mountain partridges for subsequent resettlement in hunting grounds, it is proposed to feed the chicks with grasshoppers, flies, locusts, ants and other insects. Considering that each chick will need at least 30 insects per day, this type of food is unacceptable when breeding chukars in a backyard.
But you need to take into account the increased need of young partridges for animal protein. Therefore, the chicks are given starter feed for broiler chickens, which also need a large amount of protein during the growth period. You can add finely chopped boiled eggs, cottage cheese, blood and meat and bone meal to the feed.
If it is necessary for the chicks to grow up tame, they are fed by hand. In this case, it is more convenient to give insects to young partridges, having first removed the hard parts (legs of grasshoppers, elytra of beetles).
How to distinguish a male from a female
Up to 4 months, it is impossible to distinguish a male from a female in a chukar. At 4 months, males become clearly larger, and a pink spot appears on the metatarsus - the place where the spur will appear. At 5 months the color changes slightly. Males have 11 stripes on their sides, females have 9-10.
But it is guaranteed that the sex of the bird can be determined when the males begin to breed.
Results
Chukars, in addition to tasty meat and eggs, have a decorative appearance that can surprise neighbors and friends. An exotic bird will inevitably attract attention, and keeping and breeding these partridges is no more difficult than quails or guinea fowl. The fashion for quails is now on the decline; perhaps the chukar will be the next to win the sympathy of poultry farmers.
Good advice thanks. If possible, how else can you distinguish a male, thank you
I want to buy chukar eggs from you
Can you buy chukars?
Good afternoon Alena, I have another question for you: can a female chukar have a spur?
Feeding is the same as for chickens, but taking into account the increased need for protein. Chukars can be given feed for broilers.
tell me what should I feed?
Thank you so much again!
There is no such thing as a living being not getting sick. If there is a living organism, then its natural enemies necessarily exist in the microcosm. When quails began to be bred en masse, sellers claimed that quails did not suffer from common avian diseases. This helped sell the birds at a higher price. As time passed, it turned out that quails get sick no less than chickens.
The situation is similar with chukars. Partridges suffer from the same diseases as other pheasants. It is unlikely that the owners of chukars are deliberately deceiving. It’s just that with a small population there is less risk of infection of birds. During industrial cultivation, the same measures are applied to chukars as to chickens. That is, prevention of diseases such as pullorosis, heteracidosis, Newcastle disease and coccidiosis is carried out. All measures: deworming and prevention of infectious diseases are carried out in the same way as with chickens or quails, but taking into account the weight of the chukars.
In addition to infectious diseases, chukars may have calcium metabolism disorders: rickets.They are treated with fat-soluble vitamins, calcium supplements and walking in the sun.
When birds of different ages or different families are kept in a group enclosure, chukars may experience stress. Then fights begin, tearing out each other's feathers and self-pecking. Strictly speaking, this cannot be called a disease, but productivity decreases.
Sorry, I still have a question about veterinary care. They say that chukars do not get sick, but when kept in captivity they are given some kind of vaccination, deworming, etc.?
Alena thank you so much for the enlightenment.
Hello! Inbreeding affects chukars in the same way as any other animal. That is bad. Normally, inbreeding is acceptable to consolidate any desired trait. But this technique cannot be abused. Small populations that “simmer in their own juices” for a long time usually degenerate. In chukars, this can be expressed in the reduction of individuals (a striking example: island dwarf species of animals) or in the appearance of a large percentage of congenital deformities.
Whenever possible, a small population should be infused with fresh blood to minimize the unwanted accumulation of genetic changes. “Alien” chukars are usually difficult to get, since few people breed this bird. If you cannot get an “outside” chukar, you must conduct a strict selection among your breeding stock, strictly rejecting individuals with signs of degeneration. But this is only possible with a sufficiently large population of at least 300 individuals. With a smaller number, degeneration is inevitable, although it will come later.
The largest of the chukars is the black-headed one. Lives on the Arabian Peninsula.The weight of females is slightly more than 500 g, males 700 g. The weight of the Asian partridge, the most common in captivity, ranges from 350 to 800 g. You can try to select the largest population.
Tell me which of the varieties of chukars is the largest?
Thank you for the previous answer, I also have a question about the effect of closely related breeding on chukars？Is it necessary to infuse someone else’s blood？
Hello!
This question is best answered with the common phrase “you can’t, but if you really want to, then you can.”
In fact, keeping several female chukars with one male depends on what the bird owner wants to get.
All partridges are monogamous birds that form pairs. But practice shows that in artificial conditions, when kept in cages, it is possible to place one male with several females.
In partridges, intraspecific aggression is quite developed, so if several females are kept in one cage during the mating season, they will conflict with each other. The male doesn’t care, he will fertilize everyone if the number of females does not exceed 4. But due to stress and aggression from relatives, egg production in females will be reduced.
Chukars are no exception in this regard. They can also be kept in cages during the mating season at the rate of 2 – 4 females per 1 male. To prevent birds from breaking eggs with their claws in the heat of fights, the floor of the cage should be sloped so that the egg can roll out.
It is also very important what kind of bird you are going to mate. If these are chukars taken from the wild, then their intraspecific aggression can be very high.If this is a line bred in captivity for a long time, then such chukars have largely lost their fear of humans, do not “faint” when a person appears in the enclosure, and do not tend to kill themselves against the fence if you try to catch them. Guinea fowl are much more populous than domesticated chukars.
The tendency to interspecific and intraspecific aggression in domesticated chukars is also reduced. Moreover, interspecific aggression is reduced so much that even teenage chickens can intimidate them. But this only applies to lines bred in captivity for several decades.
In your case, you will have to decide what is simpler and cheaper: losing a certain number of eggs due to reduced egg production or feeding an additional number of male chukars.
Tell me, during the mating season, you can keep one male chukar and several females in one cage?