Found a Quail This Morning

[The Chickens' Maid]

Would he be likely to survive with predators around? There are a lot of woods behind our house for him to hide in. I'm asking, though, because we have hawks that nest on the property, coyotes that live in the woods, cats that live all over the neighborhood, and a fox who lives on our property. I think we have possums, too, but I'm not sure if they are predators.

 

[Stellar]

Alone, probably not. They are covey birds.

 

[renegaderidgefarm]

I had a male bobwhite get out the door on me last year and he hung around thru the winter and managed to evade any and all predators for months and months. I realized he was gone one day and thought something had finally gotten him but now that I think about it, he disappeared in the spring. Now, I think a female from the wild turned his head and took him away! Atleast, that's what I'm hoping for.

The quail had slowly disappeared from my dads farm so I've been setting some free on his farm. My son tells me that he has seen several coveys develop on the farm while he's out on his 4 wheeler. So, I feel some of the quail that I set free last year have multiplied this year. I hope they continue to thrive.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

How do you think he would do with our chickens? As far a compatability goes, we have a flock of older hens who probably wouldn't care about him being in their coop, especially if he had somewhere to go to get away from them. They get a lot of birds that live in their coop already. However, I'm not sure if he would be carrying anything that the chickens could be suceptable to, or vice versa.

If we don't put him in with the chickens, we'll try to release him at the field trial area. There are other quail there, and he would have a much better chance to survive than he would if we released him in our back yard.

Thanks!

 

[Denninmi]

You probably shouldn't let the quail anywhere near your chickens. It is my understanding that chickens and other domestic poultry carry a lot of viruses that don't harm them, but are very dangerous to wild game birds.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Amen. And not even just wild gamebirds, all gamebirds. The disease can get pretty nasty, too.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Sorry, I guess I should try to be more precise in my terminology. I guess I wrongly labeled all quail to be "wild" even though many are man-made distinct breeds.

 

[warmfuzzyfeeling]

I lost a quail a few days ago. Mine was a male Button quail though.

(When I opened the door to feed him, he flew out into the sunrise, never looking back!)


I would try and get an idea of whether the quail is wild or domestically raised by offering a familiar and an unfamiliar food. A bowl of chicken/gamebird feed should be readily accepted if the Bobwhite came from a farm. If he ignores the crumbles and goes after insects with gusto (most pet shops sell crickets by the dozen), he's probably a wild or feral bird in need of help. I'm new to quail, but I have known wild animals--in general--to loose their fear of humans if they are exhausted, hungry, sick, injured, etc.