Bob White Quail

[sgtmom52]

I just received a pair of quail from my sister. She got them from her club which trains dogs for Field Trial Competitions . She had them for 3 weeks and put them out in a small cage in the field to introduce her 6 month old Gordon Setter puppy to finding game.

My husband has always wanted quail so I told her I would take them off her hands before the dogs got them. We are new to quail (we do have 30+ chickens) and have them set up in an old parakeet flight cage in our unheated greenhouse for the winter. DH plans to build a nice outside coop and run for them (and more) in the spring.

I have no idea how old these birds are. I do know that they are a male and a female and they were raised specifically to train hunting dogs. Right now I have chick starter and scratch feed in for them, but will pick up some game bird feed after the holiday.

Any suggestions or hints on how to care for these little guys?

These are the quail in their winter home.



The temporary quail coop ~ the entire side is hinged for easy cleaning

 

[TwoCrows]

Wow, that looks like a great home for those two birds! They will no doubt enjoy these quarters. There is no way to tell how old they are. I know the older my Bobs get, the earlier they start laying and the later in the year they quit.

Yes, get them some gamebird food when you can, but for now the chick feed will work just fine. Quail love veggies, greens, peas in the pod, quartered apples or peaches, mealworms and seeds of all kinds. Give them time to relax and they will do fine. You can use mealworms to tame them up to feed from your hands once they get settled in.

 

[sgtmom52]

Thanks ~ they will be pampered for sure. I have some dried mealworms which I added to the cage this evening. We will give them some time to settle. They had a rough life so far, being bait for field training so they will need time to relax. They were the lucky ones ~ they made it out of training alive!

 

[Tony K T]

Throw some grapes in there and watch the weird things they do.Mine use to look at them from 17 different angles and is so funny.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[sgtmom52]

Throw some grapes in there and watch the weird things they do.Mine use to look at them from 17 different angles and is so funny.
In N.H.,Tony.

I'll have to pick up some grapes. I have a feeling these quail are going to be fun!

 

[bonnie in indiana]

Your quail are now in heaven-------now mine wanna come live at your house