Lost 2 quail today....

[shelleyd2008]

You're right, it does. The first time it happened, the one they ate was my male. I had another all-white male and put him in with them. One of my females was all white as well. Of course the one that is gone was one of the all white ones, probably my male again....I don't think I have any other males that are all white, they've all got spots on them

And of course the brown that got loose was a tuxedo in the making. Her entire throat was white...that really sucks...

 

[JJMR794]

Shelly Move The Cans Where You Can Secure Them From Any And All Of Your Animals Then Start Doin The Feeding/ Aiting Thing--- Move Up To Poison (the Reason Why They Need To Be Secured From Your Animals)

As Far As The Escapee--- Start Watching The Pen 1st Light--- See If She Doesnt Come Back To The Other Birds! Most Of The Time They Do.
1 Thing You Can Do Is Place A Small Cage On The Ground By The Pens With The Other Coturnix In Them--- Leave Some Food And The Door Open--- Just Leave It And Try Not To Interfere With That Area Of The Farm As Much As Possible. Watch Or Keep Checkin The Cage Throughout The Day Quietly, But Other Than That And To Feed The Other Birds Stay Out Of The Area--- I'd Give Her Up To 3 Days Of This Starting Tomarrow Morning--- Often Times They Come Back To The Covey And Cant Get In, So They Will Hang Out In The Nearby Area And Hey, She'll Be Hungry After Layin Out And Partyin All Night..... If The Food Is In The Cage It Makes It A Lil Easier To Recapture Her--- She'll Thrash About In The Cage A Bit, But At Least She'll Be Back In Your Custody! The Most Common Times They Covey Up Into Groups Is 1st Thing In The Morning And Late Afternoon/ Early Evening Just Before Dark. If You Have A Roo That You Can Encourage To Be Vocal That Will Help To Call Her Back To The Flock---- Maybe Take 1 And Seperate Him From His Girls?

 

[QuailQT]

Quote:
If she doesn't come back on her own, I would recommend finding someone with a good bird dog (I recommend a pointer like mine so they point at the bird instead of rushing in on it and flushing it causing the bird to get scared and fly off). We are still working on that part.

He points when he can't see them, but he taps them with his foot and mouths them a bit if he can see them, though he's never hurt any of them. He's still a work in progress but he's doing really well for being 6 months. I love watching him work!

Anyone with a good bird dog would enjoy helping you out while getting a chance to work their dog at the same time. Someone who has one that's already trained would be best and it would be useful to know of someone just in case the birdies get loose again.

Someone with a bird dog who keeps birds may also have a "recall" pen where they keep 5 or so birds together then let 3 or 4 loose for training, then the others that are still in the pen will call the others back at night. This would be helpful if you took a roo (like someone else suggested) and place him in it.

Hope your bird comes back healthy )

Here's my puppy being goofy....

 

[Byrdj]

I had a rat problem until I put out that green colored pelletized rat poison. Just make sure no other animals can get to it!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Cute puppy

Two of my neighbors use bird dogs, but I believe they are some kind of spaniel? I think those are flushers, so that wouldn't work too well.

Just to clarify JJMR, I'm supposed to put the cage on the ground near where the others are, but not have others in the cage, right? And none of my outside quail are crowing right now, though I have some younger ones inside that have started. But the stupid guineas are bullies, I don't know if they'd let her come back into the barn

And we don't have any place we can put the feed that is inaccessable to the chickens, it's all open. But at least if they get stuck in the open barrel we can kill them with something

All my 'bigger' cages are being used, or I could put it in them. The only ones not being used only have 1' wire, and the bigger rats don't seem to be able to get in those. The quail mostly have 1 1/2" wire on their cages, except for the bottoms, so the rats had an easy time getting into those if they can get to them.

 

[JJMR794]

Thats Correct Shelly Just An Empty OpEn Cage With Food/ Water--- Placed Near The Pens And The Birds Still In Captivity Will Draw Her Back. (for The Record A Comeback Cage Is A Training Aid To Recover Trainer Birds Once Set Loose Afield)--- Since Your Other Birds Are Right There You Wont Need Anybody In Your Recovery Cage--- Just Give Her A Safe Place With Food And Water To Hang Out Near The Other Quail--- Once She's Doing That All You Have To Do Is Come In Carefully And Close The Cage--- She's Now Back In Your Custody

The Comeback Cage Is Used By Dog Trainers To Recapture Birds Set Loose While Training (helps To Retain Your Training Aids...) Its A 2 Section Cage --- 1 Is Simply A Cage. A "call" Or Decoy Bird Is Left In This Section--- The 2nd Part Looks Somewhat Like A Crab/ Crawfish Trap--- Has An Inwardly Funneled End That Allows The Released Birds To Enter As They Will Try To Flock Or Covey Up With The Remaining Call Birds --- Natural Instinct Is To Stay In A Covey... The Call Bird Sits In His Office Screaming Because He's The Only 1 Left--- Once The Dogs Have Been Secured And Wont Spook The Release Birds They Will Flock Or Covey Up Into A Group--- Thus They Are Attracted Back To The Call Bird And Recovered For Later Use Again... Recycled If You Will?

 

[JJMR794]

I Use The Labs To Retreive Any Jailbreakers--- If I Cant Snatch Them Up In The Net I Send My Chocolate After Them--- And Beleive Me, When He's Put Into The Equation--- Resistance Is Futile! As The Quail You Have 2 Options---you Can Either Come Back Peacefully Under Your Own Power, Or Be Physically Brought Back And Covered In Dog Spit--- This Decision Is Strictly Left Up To The Quail....


Then Again This Is Why Pinioning Is Soooooooo Handy!

 

[JJMR794]

So, Shelley, .......... Wanna Buy A Lab Puppy? Still Have A Few! Pop's Headin Up That Way The Day After Xmas! I Cld Just Have Him Bring It Up For Ya!:d

 

[shelleyd2008]

I usually have no problem catching them, she was actually the second one to get away from me when I was rearranging them. But I saw where the other one went, I was too far into the barn when this one took off. I saw which way she went, but didn't see where she landed.

I have a divided cage, I wonder if that would work? It has 2 sides to it with each having their own opening. I might try that if she's not in there tomorrow.

 

[95yj]

for the rats- take a big bucket/tub and fill it halfway w/ water, throw some sunflower seeds or bacon or sumthing at the bottom. i'm not possitive if it'll work for rats, their pretty smart, but it works on mice and chipmunks.