buckaroo
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Ordered eggs, incubator, sorghum, millet seeds. I have chicken pen divided in 2 , hoping to plant the seeds and eventually releasing birds, anyone have advise?
Quail, raising, releasing?
- Thread starter buckaroo
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I'm interested in your success. I know nothing about quail, other than I like to eat them. I'd love to see more of them on our place. We already raise chickens, so I have a pen, incubators, etc.
fairchaser
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Best of luck! I know Ames Plantation plants quail and provides habitat. They have more than normal but not as many as you would think. Some will survive but seems like very few will reproduce. There are too many things going against them even with the ideal habitat, there are nesting predators, hawks and owls. It seems like quail don't have much of a chance to get back like they were in the 70's. This is not scientific just my limited observations.
Jim Fred
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I would love to see more quail in the wild. Nothing like rabbit hunting and getting the bejezus scared out you by a covey of quail.
WestTn Huntin man
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Start Yote hunting HARD if you want to protect your investment. Let the Briars grow ' don't cut anything much more than you need to get around.
WestTn Huntin man
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Very interesting article In The new Tennessee Wildlife magazine that came in the mail today. Talks about TWRA's new plan for Quail.
I looked for the antenna at bear hollow… didn't see
I doubt that it will have any effect on the population. There was a sportsman's club bac k home that raised thousands a year and gave out to members to release. The land that I have was leased by the club and was their home base. There are still remnants of feeders and waters scattered throughout. I haven't seen or heard a quail there in 20+ years.
Popcorn
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domestic quail never learn to find water during dry spells and most die of dehydration or become listless and are hawk food. Find a release and shoot farm and learn how they set out brooders / low housing with water and feed, young birds will stay near that for a while and it must be kept . They use a call back bird (a caged rooster that will call to the others so they will find their way back to food and water. If you want wild quail create habitat, If you want to shoot quail buy them, its less expensive, If you want to eat quail courtunix are prolific, They start layin at 6 to 7 weeks, hatch in 17 days and grow at a very impressive rate reaching process weight in 8 weeks.
Unfortunately we cant repopulate quail from pen raised stock.
Unfortunately we cant repopulate quail from pen raised stock.
TheLBLman
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And wild quail may not come even when you build the most perfect habitat.
Popcorn
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I am certain its completely illegal but it is possible to catch and relocate wild stock. I have seen it done but there are no guarantees they will stay
TheLBLman
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That's a very intriguing idea!
Might be able to find a work-around via making the illegalities legalities,
but I'd think, unless the habit was almost identical, bird survival would still be very low.
Heck, bird survival (in terms of years) is normally counted on 2 or 3 years even in the best of circumstances?
Correct on being totally illegal.
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I plan to start raising coturnix quail in the spring. They will be raised to release and hunt with my brittanys. The building in the below photo was built from rough lumber in the mid 70's. I was probably 8yo at the time. My uncle was a Bantam breeder of several breeds and had many buildings on the property. I recently acquired the property and some of the buildings weren't worth saving. This one is still in good shape so I put new tin on it. When things start to warm up, I'll start cleaning it out and set up. My plan is to raise a population of approx 25 birds to begin hatching for hunting. I'd like to have 150 to 200 or more birds each fall to hunt and maintain the 25 or so after season thru winter for the next spring cycle.
I'm anxious to get started. We will see. I've had a lot more expensive money pit hobbies like dirt track racing.
I'm anxious to get started. We will see. I've had a lot more expensive money pit hobbies like dirt track racing.
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Popcorn
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I have raised courtunix quail for eggs to pickle and to eat the birds. They seemed very docile and were very easy to raise and were not nervouse like wild birds. I have my doubts they will flush well or never fly well enough that the dog would be clear of the shot. I may be wrong so look into that. I used to order 100 eggs on ebay as early as I could get them, incubate (17 days) raise for egg production (7 weeks) and by the time they were 10 to 12 weeks old they were in the freezer and I had hatched another round that were about to start laying. I killed all birds by October and wintered nothing. Keep the litter dry if on the ground, make sure hutch is well vented, keep the water fresh. Hope you do well.
Everything eats the quail and their eggs, all furred animals, hawks, owls, turkeys, house cats, you name it. Hawks will tear the roof off a johnny house and eat every bird in there. Tame birds don't fly much if any. They have no natural survival skills and are hard enough to keep alive in a pen. We raised birds for years and planted plots for quail habitat all over and ran dogs all over west tn. There are no fencerows, nobody traps, and if a spot is tillable a farmer is going to plant it and not let it grow wild. Dad used to raise dogs and puppies were always sold before they were born. By the end you almost had to give a bird dog puppy away. I wouldn't invest too much into it.
buckaroo
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I think I will raise the ones I got, let them brood, and eat some, and turn a few loose and repeat that way I will or only should have money in some feed
Headhunter
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Another sad thing from the TWRA. It has been 30 years of more since the quail population declined. So glad the TWRA got right on that issue
The TWRA is so sad it is not even funny anymore.
Name a government agency that HAS impressed you. They're all pathetic and arrogant.Another sad thing from the TWRA. It has been 30 years of more since the quail population declined. So glad the TWRA got right on that issue
always puzzled me how coturnix quail have been domesticated for thousands of years and their eggs are still camo but yet bobwhites haven't been domesticated but basically a hundred years or so and their eggs are as white as snow.
In my opinion, coturnix are good for nothing but meat, eggs and maybe starting a pointing breed puppy. They're proficient layers and delicious. Releasing bobs is useless as well but at least they'll flush/fly 1000 x's better than a coturnix.
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With mom passing in March, I almost gave up on the project for 2022. Ive been consumed by fencing in the property , building a gate, and some excavation. Until one day last month. I caught a Bantam pullet at my house in town. I didn't know where she came from but I knew that I have a good many pens at the property that haven't seen a bird in 12 years since my uncle died. My granddaughter named her Annie and she is at home now. Since that day, I now have 25 Rhode Island Red chick's, soon to be pullets and a RIR Cockrell named Roscoe. Lol. I've got 55 Red Bobwhite quail eggs in the incubators.
I've got 14 Jumbo Corturnix chick's in brooder #1 and 18 Jumbos in a grow out cage. Things have exploded. My aunt said " Your uncle Raymond is looking down on you laughing up a storm"
This will be a good retirement hobby for the Brittanys and I. I'm building grow out and breeding cages as we speak. I'll take more pics as things progress.
I've got 14 Jumbo Corturnix chick's in brooder #1 and 18 Jumbos in a grow out cage. Things have exploded. My aunt said " Your uncle Raymond is looking down on you laughing up a storm"
This will be a good retirement hobby for the Brittanys and I. I'm building grow out and breeding cages as we speak. I'll take more pics as things progress.
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Quail still use my place but you have to have briars and tall unsightly weeds in what used to be a farm. We never mow it all at once, sort of rotate it in sections. The other part is trap and remove all the predators you can.
Hopefully they continue to raise and some fly ya'lls way.
Hopefully they continue to raise and some fly ya'lls way.
Headhunter
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My issue is the TWRA are saying they are trying to help quail and acting like they are doing something when the "time to do something" is WAY PAST.
They've been saying that for years. They're all talk.
DoubleRidge
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SSlater & Headhunter.....I understand the frustration with quail numbers and I'm certainly not trying to argue....but I'm asking the question....what do we want TWRA to do? Or better yet....what should TWRA have done many years ago when quail numbers began to trend down?
I know what we are doing on our farm....allowing sections of it to return to old field growth, bush hogging strips, not hunting what few quail we have, etc.....and I know we need to be more aggressive with a trapping program.
And I have very fond memories of quail hunting as a kid behind some fine dogs....today that farm that we hunted often is a golf course....manicured and beutiful for the golfer.....but not very pretty for the bird hunter.
So what is or was TWRA to do specifically pertaining to the issues quail face in Tennessee? Again, not arguing...just asking? Honest question that I don't know the answer too?
For starters, they could keep the people that pay their way up to date on what they're doing. I personally don't see them doing much other than burning our gas and writing tickets. I saw them drive all the way across the lake to harass two people on kayaks.
