French Partridges Continue to Thrive!

e have been raising French Partridges, also known as Red-legged Partridges, for several years now. We import the eggs directly from L’envol de Retz in France and we are the only commercial producer in the United States. These beautiful birds weigh between 19 and 25 ounces and are 13-15 inches in length. They have light brown backs, buff bellies and red legs.  They are also one of the most exciting birds to hunt because of their speed and wildness. Hunt clubs love these birds for their hardy nature and ability to withstand extreme climates.

Our ability to raise these partridges at MacFarlane Pheasants has continued to grow and improve over these past few years. For more information about our techniques you might want to look at, “The Secrets to Raising French Partridges” in our blog posts from 2015. The changes we made in rearing strategies over the past couple of years have continued to improve our mortality rate. This has been a great year for French Partridges on our farm!

The annual mortality rate for French Partridges used to fall in the 10%-15% mortality range. This season, we moved our last flock out at the end of August and the annual mortality rate is expected to be at about 4%. We raise an average of 3 hatches of 12,000 birds in each hatch, so using our mortality rate of 4%, we have increased our flock by an extra 2800 birds. That’s good news for our customers! If you want to know more about the French Partridges at MacFarlane Pheasants, Brian Klein at b.klein@pheasant.com is an excellent contact. Also, anytime you put your questions on our Facebook page we will be sure to respond!