I found a wild quail--if I keep it alive, can I release it?

[katie a]

We have a number of quail running in our neighborhood and one must have gotten separated from its mommy. We have it under a light in a bucket and I was surprised to see it's still alive today. My question is--will we be able to release it? And at what age?

We have some chickens, and to be honest, are not interested in raising quail, although this little one is awfully cute.

 

[Ntsees]

If it does feed on the food you provide it and does become an adult, release it then (~6 months).

 

[katie a]

Six months . . . oh my! I guess I'll start by seeing if it lives, but after reading through the various threads here, I'm thinking I could probably list it on craigslist rather than raise it for that length of time.

 

[Sycamore27]

If it is a wild quail and you intend to restore it to being a wild quail I would strongly advise finding a wildlife rehabber in your area willing to take it, especially if you're not keen on raising it yourself.
You can get into big legal trouble, depending where you are and your local laws, for keeping a wild "collected" bird without proper permits even if you didn't set out to keep it intentionally. And I would avoid the craigslist thing too, big legal issues possible there too.
This site http://wildliferehabinfo.org/ContactList_MnPg.htm will give you a list of licensed rehabbers in your state, if that isn't helpful try searching wildlife rehab in your state on google.
Good luck!
Jessie

 

[TwoCrows]

If it is a wild quail and you intend to restore it to being a wild quail I would strongly advise finding a wildlife rehabber in your area willing to take it, especially if you're not keen on raising it yourself.
You can get into big legal trouble, depending where you are and your local laws, for keeping a wild "collected" bird without proper permits even if you didn't set out to keep it intentionally. And I would avoid the craigslist thing too, big legal issues possible there too.
This site http://wildliferehabinfo.org/ContactList_MnPg.htm will give you a list of licensed rehabbers in your state, if that isn't helpful try searching wildlife rehab in your state on google.
Good luck!
Jessie

X2

This quail will not be suitable to survive after raising unless raised by proper wildlife facilities, and even then, it still may not survive.

It is illegal to endanger our wild populations of quail, so I do not recommend releasing it. Releasing pen raised quail are only being sent off to their deaths.

Follow the link provide above here and good luck with this tiny baby!

 

[Quailsong]

If it is a wild quail and you intend to restore it to being a wild quail I would strongly advise finding a wildlife rehabber in your area willing to take it, especially if you're not keen on raising it yourself.
You can get into big legal trouble, depending where you are and your local laws, for keeping a wild "collected" bird without proper permits even if you didn't set out to keep it intentionally. And I would avoid the craigslist thing too, big legal issues possible there too.
This site http://wildliferehabinfo.org/ContactList_MnPg.htm will give you a list of licensed rehabbers in your state, if that isn't helpful try searching wildlife rehab in your state on google.
Good luck!
Jessie

This^

By taking it in, you may have already made it impossible to rehabilitate into the wild. It's now used to humans and away from its mother so can't learn about dangers.

Get it to a certified wildlife rehabilitater, pronto. Not only will you give that chick a chance to survive, you may avoid getting a big fine...

 

[katie a]

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a wildlife rehabilitator. Thanks for the direction on that. I put in a call and will see what they say when they call back.

Thanks again.

 

[katie a]

I got a call right back. They gave me the number of the quail lady and we met on her way home. She had gotten another one at the end of her work day and she said it was about 4 days old and in bad condition. It was just lying there limply. She said the person who had found it didn't know how to take care of it. She said mine was probably 5 days old and I'll have to say that thanks to all the "taking care of a quail chick" info available on the Internet, we'd done a good job. Ours was lively and actually jumped out of my dd's hands and into the lady's box like a little jumping frog.

Thank you all for the information on how to take care of this situation.

 

[chiqita]

Good job!

 

[Quailsong]

I'm glad this turned into a happy ending. Great job finding a 'quail lady' to rehabilitate the little one.