Bobwhite

Overall, bobwhites are great, I just would prefer more info on them (on the internet or books). I still would give them 5 stars, since in my opinion they are great.

I've only had my Bobwhites for a total of 27 weeks now. I am down to one male, one female. The female was hand raised by me, so she seems to really depend on me, and I sometimes think she is confused about the fact that I am human, and not her mate. She absolutely loves me and is so adorable!! The remaining male is sweet as can be and is learning from her to trust me as well, although he doesn't want to be held, he does come out to me to be pet. They are so cute and do the funniest things sometimes. I love my Bobwhites!!!

We raised Bobwhites for 2 years. We would get 500 day old chicks at a time. The chicks can be fragile just like anything, but once they are fully feathered they can be placed into a flight pen.

They are very flighty, which they are suppose to be. The eggs are absolutely adorable and make great boiled eggs for snacks. And the best part is the males call. I truly miss having them around. Maybe one day we'll get more, but it wont be 500 (that's a lot of work).

Bobwhites are great little birds, they look like obese falcons but are very timid birds. When you hold them they like being petted. Bobwhites are kinda ditzy but that's okay. They're eggs are very egg shaped if you know what I mean, tiny and white about the size of pigeon eggs. They're super shy and flighty like you're going to kill them even though they know you're gonna get your hands in their area to feed them and give them fresh water.

Let me say that first off, if you don't have these quail or have ugly japanese quail,
GET SOME!

Bob's are sooo much hardier than japanese and similar breeds, much prettier, and make for better meat birds as well. So here's my story with bobwhite quail!

One day I decided I wanted meat quail, so I did the usual and went out and got some nice wire that they could'nt break their necks on, and some baling wire as well to tie it all toghter. So I made a circular run about 4 feet wide and 3 feet long, with a hole cut out in the top to access feed/water, and bricks all around the inside and outside to make it both escape proof and predator proof. (wish I had a pic) In the inside the back had a small dog house, which I filled with hay for them to go into when it snowed. Outside of their "quail coop" was some natural brush, and logs and their feeder and waterer.

The next week I went out to a game farm in western PA and bought 6 mature flight birds and 4 ring neck phesants, (to release and then hunt with my bird dog) They peeped the whole way home, while the dumb phesants threw themselves about the cardboard box and they arrived bloody and battered but alive. First I released my pheasants, which took off flying across the corn field and made me smile. Then I got the quail and put them in a old dog crate, as it was raining out and did'nt want them soaked and cold on their first night. Then the struggle began.

I looked out through the light rain and noticed 6 little quail, (2 males 4 females) casually strolling about the yard eating grass and peeping nonstop. I stared in absolute HORROR as I see my lose quail run about.
You see, if a quail is lose their is close to no chance of re-capture, they are not like chickens or even pheasants, in fact hunters have a hard time hunting them with GUNS because of their agility. So naturally, I assumed all was lost but figured, hey why not give it a try?
a struggle insued.

I go out in the rain determained, with a butterfly net in hand. I rush them from behind, swinging my weapon wildy and see immidentially this is not the way to go. So they flush to all sides of the house and for the next half hour in almost dark conditions I try to corner them against trees and brushpiles, and long story short and after some wild escaped, I end up with two females and one male secured.

I am a agile person, and a hunter, which is the ONLY reason I was able to catch the buggers. I put them inside to prevent anymore escaped.

I had these darling animals for 5 months, in which time they layed no eggs and no, I did'nt eat them. They are truly awesome creatures which require close to no care, and sadly I have not been able to find any near me in florida sense moving. My little quail were killed by a weasel that found a weak spot and dug through it, it was truly a sad day.

That was my experience, I currently have dumb japanese quail now, It's just not the same.

I loved having my bobwhite quail I loved to walk outside and hear there call they were very pretty, but then I had to let them go they stayed around my house for a mouth or so but then they disapered and never came back. Over all I would love to have more of these birds!

I found a wild pair of these in my front yard, but they acted surprisingly tame and weren't too hard to catch. I have no experience with birds except for a couple of old hens somebody gave me some years ago and a pair of parakeets I had, but it wasn't at all hard to learn how to take care of these birds. I put them in my parakeet cage and they started laying eggs immediately, every day. They were wild but didn't mind being in a cage at all. Compared to my parakeets, they made much better pets. They didn't try to escape their cage, they don't bite or peck, and they love each other a lot and never wanted to be separate (my parakeets were always fighting). They don't make a lot of noise and have a relaxing call. They also are a nice size and have soft feathers. Compared to the chickens or parakeets, they are much more pleasant to have around. Three chicks have hatched. The first one was very flighty and anxious and scared of people, but the second was very sweet and wouldn't sleep unless it was in my hand. The first one did pick on the younger one for the first couple of days, but once he was big enough to peck back, they stopped fighting and became very close. The third one died within the first few hours of it hatching and I'm not sure why. But the other two are very strong and doing extremely well. For me these bobwhite quail are very nice to keep as pets and all around working out quite well. I'm a beginner at this, but it's going quite smoothly. Also, quail eggs taste quite good.

I haven't had many problems with these birds the only problems I have had a couple have ran away, a couple boinked and hurt themselves on the top of their hutch but all in all its a great bird to have if you want high protein eggs or some delicious meat!

I don't really see all this frailty everyone talks about. I hatched out 75 and at 3 weeks old I put them in a grow out pen. The temp is in the high 50's and 60's. I have a heat lamp on one end of the pen but they quit using it and just do what nature calls them to do, covey up. I lost 3 out of the hatch, from piling up on one another I suspect. This is the first time I have hatched bobwhites and the seem very hardy and active to me. I don't even go around them much except to give them clean water and feed. They do drink a great deal of water, I was kind of surprised they drank so much. I never gave them any sort of medications just an electrolyte additive in their water and 28% protein game bird feed.

I enjoy raising Bobwhites, while it can pose it's challenges (especially brooding young chicks), I have found the adults to be quite hardy and relatively low-maintenance, providing proper environmental conditions are maintained. Lots of work goes in to tending the birds while they are still young and fragile- temperature is checked several times a day, waterers cleaned daily & I medicate the water for the first 2 weeks- a step which reduced my losses by more than HALF when I first decided to try it. Chicks who are brooded together can be raised together in a mass colony, provided you have a large enough space. I have never had a problem with fighting or cannibalizing and I can keep anywhere from 200 to 1000 birds per pen, depending on the size of the pen.

There is a decent commercial market for these birds, which is why it's nice to be able to raise them in large numbers. With hard work and a little luck, it's possible to make a little extra money doing this, even as a smaller-scale hobby. And even if you have no desire to raise hundreds of birds, it can be plenty rewarding to bring a handful of chicks up to adulthood just to be able to watch them & enjoy their pretty little quail song. Even after being knee-deep in gamebirds all year, after all the hard work, dirt and bird poop, even when most of them are sold and we only have the 50 or so that we keep for ourselves left over in the winter, I still get a kick out of them every day

We used to raise bowhites. They are brutal to each other as chicks. They also are not very hardy. We still have a pair as pets- the female is handicapped. We definitely won't be raising any more.

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