Our roo flew the coop.....

[FowlFriend]

I put him in the play pen and before I could get the top on, he took off like a shot! I had never seen him fly that high or far before. We all looked in the field for over an hour and couldn't find him. My kids are very upset and I cried, too.

This is the poor fella who got pecked on the head last week. His head wound was all healed, though.

Any chance of him hearing the hens coo and coming back?

 

[J3172]

what kind of quail is he?

 

[jen5680]

Mine got out and didn't go far at all. I think there is a good chance he will come back. Especially for his girls!!
good luck and don't give up hope yet!!

 

[FowlFriend]

Thanks. He's a Coturnix quail. We just went back out to the field and looked again, no luck. We'll leave the girls outside tonight (in their pen) and hope he returns!

 

[JJMR794]

thats why i pinion mine

Sorry about the misfortune. If he hears the girls he will likely come back if physically able. If you have any cats or dogs i suggest confining them until he is apprehended or given up on, as when he comes back he will loiter around the pen and if not recaptured and replaced will quickly be predator bait.

Hope all works out well for you.

 

[FowlFriend]

I'm aware that he is now predator bait.

I'm not into pinioning because these birds are pets and I don't want to hurt them. However, I now realize I need to perhaps clip their wings. Does anyone know if this hurts the bird? Do the feathers grow back, requiring more clipping later?

 

[NurseNettie]

One doesn't clip wings, they clip feathers. If you've never done it, PLEASE watch a tutorial or have someone show you the first time. Clipping anything but feathers, or clipping a blood feather could be harmful or fatal.

They will molt out like other feathers, and regrow periodically, and will need to be done again in time.

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[crash0330]

He will most like return, last week for of my bobwhites got away, I let the backdoor of my house open and 2 of them came back and the other 2 they got captured by the neighbors, I offer hear it in the morning singing. They usually come back either for the girls or the feed, don't lose hope just yet.

 

[JJMR794]

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FATAL FROM CLIPPING A BLOOD FEATHER? QUAIL? NOT LIKELY.... THIS MAY WELL BE TRUE FOR OTHER SPECES OF BIRD, BUT NOT ANY QUAIL THAT I KNOW OF. IF THAT WAS THE CASE MY PINIONING WOULD CERTAINLY KILL THEM AS IT IS A DISTAL AMPUTATION OF THE WING TIP.

 

[FowlFriend]

"Clipping wings" is a common term for clipping the flight feathers of pet birds. My neighbor clips her parakeet and cockatiel bird's flight feathers, I'll ask her to do my quail. We did find a video on this site of a woman clipping a Coturnix quail's flight feathers.