free range quail management

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:welcome :frowYou have been given some good advice. Years ago when I had quail I just let them roam free. They did eventually all disappear but once they got out that was it. They stuck around for a long time. They are not like chickens. You could build them a covered pen. Good luck and have fun...
 
I’m running a free range experiment with bob white quails. I got 18 in April. Then ordered another 30 in May when six of the 18 died. The first quail were spooked by the little ones, so I put the April hatch into an old chicken trailer with a heat lamp in my back yard. After they hung there for two weeks I let six of them out and six stayed inside. All day they hung in the vicinity of the trailer. At around 5pm they wanted to return back to the trailer but I did not let them in, so they whent elsewhere. I was able to trace them around 7pm but they refused to follow me. I caught one and others hid from me. I decided to let them stay out to never see them again.

I added now almost three week old May hatch into the trailer and kept the remaining seven from the April hatch for a few days in the trailer. Then I started to let six to ten of the mix out after nine in the morning making sure there was at least one big chick was out. They also wanted back in by around 5pm. I made sure that I ushered them in.

After two weeks of such experiment of 34 quails I have 26 remaining. Two died by flying into my windows and six vanished with no trace.

Two days ago I let all of them roam at the same time. I got caught up with errands and was unable to heard them into the trailer before 8pm. When I arrived I saw about 8 quails playing in a mulch pile and others were not seen. The 8 wandered off refusing to go into trailer. I cried and left them alone.

The next day all 26 were bathing in the dust by the trailer. I put some feed for them in the trailer and left them alone. By around 5pm all 26 were in the trailer and I closed the door for the night.

I will see how it will go over the next two weeks and then will add the June hatch I am keeping in the brooder for now.

I have a half an acre property in a suburban area. My immediate neighbors do not have cats. My property is heavily vegetated with native plants and shrubs. We have a very small lawn area. The quail hate walking on the lawn and usually skirt the shrubs ducking in and out as they walk the property. I have deer fencing, but they were able to jump right through when they smaller. They fly as they wish.

Fingers crossed they will remain
 
Guinea Hens said:
Fingers crossed they will remain
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My experiment got interrupted twice.



First running off my success integrating six week old quail with two week old ones I assumed that the eight week old quail will be ok with a week old ones. It was a mistake. The two months old ones pecked and bullied the week old ones. So I opened the coop door after two or there hours of co-habitation and never saw the any of older quail again but one two month old female that returned and stayed with the little ones.



My neighbors report that they see 16 to 24 quail quite regularly in their yards. They even established new feeding stations. But after I put the new quail in the coop the older ones did not return.



Then I waited for the new quail to turn a month and started to let six to ten birds at a time while the rest stayed in. They were very good at returning back to the coop by the end of the day. There were a couple of days when one or two did not want to comeback. Those stayed out and returned to the coop in the morning.



It was all going really well, until this morning I woke up to a burglarized coop and a massacre scene in the yard. I suspect a raccoon got into the coop. I counted about a dozen mangled birds and multiple feet, wings and heads all over the place.



In the evening six birds came back. I repaired the coop and put better locks.



I am not sure how I will continue with the remaining six.
 

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