feeding quail in flight pen

[steve&kris]

I just finished my flight pen. I'll try to post some pics soon.... Once I move my quail (prop 8 weeks old now) to the pen, what and how do I feed them? I've been feeding them game bird chick feed in the coup (they have probably 100ft sq open coup area right now) but need to work out my watering and feeding in the flight pen. I want them to learn to live as close to wild as possible. The flight pen is on the ground, it has tall weed/cover and walking paths through it. I'm going to put a 55 gal drum with horizontal nipples for water.... but don't know about feed. Do I need to keep a covered feed bin in with them that they're used to from the coup, or can I just start throwing mixed bird food in with them at night so they peck around for it the next day? I also have a decent supply of meal worms & red worms I can throw in on a semi-regular basis. Any good advice would be appreciated.

These quail are to be used for dog training and hopefully some will also be let loose to see if they'll repopulate (I know it's a long shot...but I'll have more quail than I need so helping them repopulate on our farm would be great if it's possible). I may also used some for meat and would like to get eggs occasionally.....but I don't know how I get eggs out of the flight pen without the birds getting acclimated to being around people.

 

[steve&kris]

These are Bobwhite quail, btw.....

 

[feedman77]

I would toss feed into the flight pen if you want them to be as wild as possible.

Since you want eggs is it to eat or hatch. If you want them for hatching I would keep a separate pen that just housed quail for breeders then you wouldn't have to worry about getting eggs out of the flight pen routinely.

 

[feedman77]

If you figure out how to tame them down let me know. All the Bob's I've had in the past even on wire that got fed watered and were around people a lot were still total spazs and would freak out at just walking by or getting fed.

 

[steve&kris]

I would toss feed into the flight pen if you want them to be as wild as possible.

Since you want eggs is it to eat or hatch. If you want them for hatching I would keep a separate pen that just housed quail for breeders then you wouldn't have to worry about getting eggs out of the flight pen routinely.

I definitely like the idea of that...sounds easy and keeps me out of the pen. But, will they actually hatch their own eggs? I figured they were like my chickens and the hatching and raising instincts were essentially bred out of them. If I can keep them reproducing, that would be great.
If quail in the regular flight pen lay eggs....do I have to get them out to keep them from rotting or attracting predators?

 

[steve&kris]

If you figure out how to tame them down let me know. All the Bob's I've had in the past even on wire that got fed watered and were around people a lot were still total spazs and would freak out at just walking by or getting fed.

I've been told that quail in general aren't good for dog training bc they tend to not be flighty enough and untrained young dogs may catch them.