Baby quail found--no sight of parents at all! -DEVESTATING UPDATES-

[Iluvmypeeps]

Everyone, I have a problem on my hands. I found about 7-8 baby Gambel's quail in my front yard, and no parents anywhere. I stayed outside for about 10-15 minutes straight; looking for their parents. No sight of them, it's getting late, and they would surely die if they were alone out there all night.

Not neccessarily an emergency yet, I have a heat lamp, and a box suitable as a place to keep them. They can stay here the night. I've read up on how to care for lost/injured birds, and how to care for quail in general.

Advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Rebel Rooster]

You're doing the right thing... they can't produce their own body heat for the first couple weeks of life,,, mom keeps em warm. If u don't put them under a heat lamp, they will probably die... I wish that I had those little guys!!

 

[Iluvmypeeps]

Thank you for the response, RR!

I have another question. If I feed and water them everyday until they are old enough to be called 'mature', won't they be babied too much and not know how to fend for themselves later in life? Won't they attach to me, or basically become pets?

 

[Iluvmypeeps]

Update:

The quail have been so much happier since I put up the heat lamp. They are already starting to eat, drink, and play. It's so cute watching them skitter about.

And boy are they small! I think they were born on Saturday, just the day before I found them.

I still have a question:
Quote:

 

[mmaddie's mom]

If you want to release them, then I would say not to handle them too much while you have them. We have raised and released quail before and they tend to be a bit wild all on their own. They stick around a bit for the first few days after they are released but shortly they get the hang of it and take off for a wonderful wild life. Good luck with the babies.

 

[sunflowerenvy]

if you are going to let them go i would throw their food on the ground so they will have to scatch for the food i would try to put a teenage or chick in with them so they could learn from them and dont go near the cage maybe once aday

 

[Iluvmypeeps]

Thank you both for the responses!

Mmaddie's mom, thank you. That's very reassuring. Part of me still wants to keep them. They're just so cute, and I read that they make excellent pets... it just makes it so tempting.

Sunflowerenvy, I'll try not to go close to them too much, but it's hard because like I said before; they're so darn cute! How could you not want to hold something so cute?

 

[Iluvmypeeps]

Everyone... as the title states, I have a very sad update.

We built a temporary quail run for the babies, and put them in yesterday. Unfotunately, four of them are completely gone. They just vanished. I looked all over the yard, front and back; and no sight of them. I started with ten, and ended up with only 6.

I tweaked the run to make it safer, and now the six remaining are pretty safe. The other four are on their own.

I plan on going out there to look again.

 

[Iluvmypeeps]

I think we've found out the problem.

The temporary run was linked to the chicken coop, but there was a wall separating them. I found a hole in that wall, and apparently that might be where the chicks went through. I honestly think the chickens ate them. Because, I looked all over the run and the only hole they could've gotten through was to the chicken coop.

I'm so angry, because we just lost three more.

We brought the rest in the house to prevent further damage.

Could it be, that the chickens really did eat them???

 

[mmaddie's mom]

I've know a full size chicken to eat a full size mouse... so I guess it's possible... sorry, I'm sure not what you wanted to hear.