Partridge farming at home as a business is a wonderful idea, especially interesting for beginning businessmen living in rural areas and without start-up capital and other income opportunities. Why?
Business for Beginners
Partridge farming is fascinating in itself, but it also makes a profit. What are the partridges interesting in this regard? Breeding and keeping this bird at home has not yet become widespread, but there is a demand for it. This means that competition will be low, and there will be no problems with sales. This is the first advantage. From it follows the following - the price of poultry and meat cannot be low in any way, which means income is secured. The third advantage is low costs and the absence of initial investments, which is very important in a nascent business. And if expenses are low and incomes are high, then profits ... That's right - big, but not right away.
Details of the gray partridge
Gray partridge is a settled bird common in the wild. In Russia, it lives in Altai, the Urals, the Caucasus, western Siberia, Karelia, the steppe and forest-steppe zone of the center and the west of the country.
This is a small bird with a body length of about 30 cm, rounded in shape. The mottled color is visible only near and helps the bird to be invisible against the background of vegetation and land.
Partridge lives in an open area, in a field or steppe, nests on the ground, in well-protected places. Females cluck almost like chickens, males utter a cry akin to a cockerel.
By winter, partridges move closer to people and often spend the night in farm buildings.
Partridges can move fairly quickly even in dense grass and, if necessary, fly high with noise and screams.
They live in flocks of dozens of birds, but diverge in pairs during the mating season and live as a family, raising chicks on equal terms, to the cold.
Partridge lays an average of 25 eggs per season.
The enemies of partridges in nature are birds of prey, animals, harsh winters and, of course, hunters.
These birds are so similar to ordinary chickens that it becomes unclear what problems breeding and keeping partridges at home can cause.
Partridge room
Partridges do not need a large barn and a purpose-built room. The main thing is that it is dry, warm and without drafts. Since the partridge is a wild bird, it needs an enclosure with a high fence for walking. In the walking area, tall grass and prickly bushes of blackthorn or wild rose must necessarily grow, which in the natural habitat they prefer to protect partridges. Breeding and keeping wild little birds at home is not so difficult. Tall grass, spiky bushes, warm straw litter - nothing unusual or expensive.
Partridge is still not a chicken, it takes off quite high, so many farmers install cages with a roof in a fenced aviary. True, many experts agree that in an open area, the bird grows better and gains weight. Partridges spend the night in a barn, the floor of which must be covered with straw or hay, changing the litter every other day. Dry grass protects partridges from low temperatures. Therefore, it is necessary to stock up on it in the summer so that it lasts until next summer.
Partridges are afraid of drafts, in the house you need to carefully close all the cracks. They also do not tolerate loud sounds, so the walls of the barn from the inside can be sheathed with soundproofing material, which at the same time and a little insulate it.
Three pairs of partridges can be kept in one cage measuring 35 × 25 × 20 cm. Artificial light is quite enough in the house, but it must be necessary.
Nutrition
Partridges are not capricious and do not get sick. Therefore, there are no problems with nutrition. In nature, the bird eats grass, various bugs and their larvae. Partridges whose breeding and keeping at home are not yet so widespread that a special compound feed has been developed for them, they are happy to eat chicken or turkey mixed feed, any grain or cereals.
They need calcium gluconate in sufficient quantities, so there should always be chalk or crushed shells near the feeder. When feeding poultry with roughage to improve digestion, it needs coarse sand. The water in the drinker must be clean and fresh.
Partridge breeding at home
The advice of specialists and farmers begins with the acquisition of several pairs of partridges. But in principle, for a start, one single-sex couple is enough. And the cells need less, and the males do not fight, and the costs are lower. And it’s not so insulting if the experiment is unsuccessful.
There are three ways to acquire birds. The most expensive, but also the easiest way - to buy partridges on a specialized farm. There you can get professional advice, which will require breeding and keeping partridges at home. The cheapest but not always feasible way is to catch wild partridges in the field. The most time-consuming, but requiring special equipment and long enough - to remove the chicks from the eggs in the incubator.
Growing partridge chicks
Breeding and keeping partridges at home is not as complex and time-consuming as it seems. Only rearing of young animals will require attention, but it is no different from rearing chicks of any other poultry.
Partridge eggs begin to lay at the end of April; this period lasts twenty-six days. All this time, the male must be in the same cage with the female in order to fertilize the eggs. Males and females are planted in different cells around the middle of summer.
During a season, one partridge produces about sixty eggs, and only fifteen are able to sit in one clutch. You can either sell surplus eggs or use an incubator.
In the early days, hatched chicks should be with their mother, they need to be placed in a separate cage after about a week. For a walk, they begin to release them at the age of one month. Fresh air and warm sun, dry land covered with grass are the main conditions for the rapid growth and normal development of partridge chicks.
Breeding and keeping at home young animals does not require special knowledge on its feeding. In the early days, it is fed with mashed yolks of hard-boiled eggs and finely chopped greens of dandelions and yarrow, growing almost everywhere at this time. Already on the third day you can give crumbs of white bread, after five days - boiled meat or ant eggs, twice a day, gradually increasing the amount of food.
Partridge breeding benefits
So, returning to the beginning, now it is already possible to answer the question of why it is beneficial to breed partridges at home. Business ideas in rural areas and suburban villages are not so diverse. This is mainly the breeding and sale of domestic animals and birds.
Partridges in this regard have some advantages. In the market today, the meat of this bird is not represented in sufficient quantity, and there is a demand for it. All more or less expensive restaurants have rare bird species on the menu and are ready to purchase them from trusted suppliers. And on your own table, this dietary, environmentally friendly meat without additives is a big plus.
Partridge eggs have a unique chemical composition, they are rich in vitamins, and in cooking they can completely replace chicken. There is only one requirement - they must be subjected to heat treatment, fry, bake or cook. They are also in demand in cosmetology.
The birds are unpretentious in maintenance, do not require special care, they are very rarely ill. Particulars of breeding partridges at home are not so complicated and impossible, even a novice farmer who has a private house and farm buildings can cope with breeding.
True, there is still difficulty, but not with the breeding itself, but with the tax office. Business must be registered in the direction of "Breeding poultry."
Of course, you should not expect profits from the first year, but already the second year can bring some income. In addition, word of mouth is triggered, which greatly facilitates the implementation of partridges, their eggs and meat.