Most husbands bring their wife home flowers…

Mine brings me a baby pheasant grouse partridge. I believe I’ve trained him well, haha.
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Except this is not a happy tale. Hubby accidently killed the mama with the haybine (he feels so awful) and before he was even out of the tractor, its nest-mates were taken by the circling hawks. He’s still not sure how he managed to catch this one, but catch it he did. Now this little fella is all alone in the world. I have it in my small plastic brooder in the warmest room in the house with chick starter and water with Poul-Vite to help combat stress. Also added a rolled up washcloth for it to snuggle into. Not sure what else I should do? It starts cheeping like crazy every time I leave the room. HELP?!!

Cute little fella. Maybe a mirror. A dollar store locker mirror is ideal, not too heavy. Do you have any day old chicks to keep it company?

Thanks for the mirror suggestion SLF. I'm gonna go see what I have...

Nope, no day olds here. The youngest chicks I have are 4 weeks, which definitely won't work. I'm going to try and find him some company though. Email has been sent.

Yeah, he is a cute little spazz ball all right. I'm thinking 2-3 days old at most? And I thought keets were zip-zip fast before, LoL.

I’m happy to report I found him a silkie friend thanks to Jayme.

Good to hear baby pheasant has a friend for company.

I would do the same thing as you Flicker Chick...raise that baby as best I could. But I think it may be technically illegal to have him without a permit? Maybe I am wrong, but you may want to look into it.

Cutest little speckled chick ever though!

Is it a ring-necked pheasant? They're not native so it might be legal.

We go to pick up the friend and ducks in alittle while.

Good point poplar girl. I will have to look into that. Don’t want to get in any trouble…

Yeah, once hubby brought him inside the house (in his lunch cooler of all things, lol) and I saw the little fella, there was no way I could just leave him to fend for himself. I know nature can be cruel, but I’m not. Sigh. All I can do is try.

Not sure Fowler. I had assumed hubby knew what he was taking about when he said pheasant (har-har), but after looking at wild pheasant chick pictures online we’re not so sure now. The mother was a solid bluish-grey colour and shaped more like a grouse or quail. But grouse babies don’t have spotted heads, at least not the ones I seen pictured. I’m now at a loss what he could be… any idea folks?

Pheasants are not native. You don't need a permit.
You should, however, do some research on pheasant rearing as its different from almost anything else. They are quite flighty, and very cannibalistic. That silkie could be in trouble at some point.

Mystery solved. We’ve identified the chick and mother as blue grouse. They don't appear to be on the endangered species list (thankfully, poor hubby feels bad enough) like cousin sage grouse, though I will be calling CWLF tomorrow to double check. Not sure if I will be able to keep him yet or not...

Yikes. Thank you for warning me Hillbilly. I will be keeping a very close eye on the chicks, as well as researching pheasant/grouse rearing (I believe they are the same species family?) and how to prevent cannibalism. I imagine, just like with chickens, having adequate space is extremely important.

For the cuteness factor, Baby grouse snuggling with Not the Momma silkie.

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Blue grouse don't occur in the wild in Saskatchewan, and it seems more likely that it would be a Gray partridge (also known as Hungarian partridge)the adults have a blue gray coloring to the head, chest and a bit on the back, these are not a native species but not sure if permits would be required to keep them.

I just finished goggling “gray partridge chicks” and by golly Red Willow, you’re right! Well that makes a lot more sense because we were wondering how the heck a blue grouse ended up here. Hubby swears the mom was a solid bluish-gray, but I think he may need glasses. Thanks for setting me straight!

Here’s a link to afew pictures of adults if anyone is interested. They sure are beautiful! And easy to tame according to feathersite.
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Glad I could help. Hope the little one is doing okay, he looks very happy snuggled up with that silky chick. So cute

Needy is doing great. They took to each other right away and almost immedinately he starting copying the silkie eating and drinking. No more hourly beak dipping, yay! And it's the sweetest thing how he sleeps leaning against the silkie and sings happily away. I wish I knew how to record it and play on here because I've never heard such neat chick sounds.