quail eggs in flight pen?

[steve&kris]

I have about 50 quail living in a very outdoorsy 30'x7'hx12w flight pen. They are currently about 12 weeks old or so. I have multiple questions....

1. When will they lay eggs?
2. Will they hatch their own eggs, or do I need to get them out and incubate them?
3. If I buy new chicks, Can I just mix them in once they're 2 or 3 weeks old, or will the existing quail hurt/kill them like my a-hole chickens do?
4. I live in western PA... we had quail around here historically, but none now. I'm on a farm that has decent habitat (though also bunches of predation). If I turned a couple hundred quail loose that are used to living in a remote flight pen (they are pretty wild as is), would they breed and live or just die off?

Thanks

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

I have about 50 quail living in a very outdoorsy 30'x7'hx12w flight pen. They are currently about 12 weeks old or so. I have multiple questions....

1. When will they lay eggs?
2. Will they hatch their own eggs, or do I need to get them out and incubate them?
3. If I buy new chicks, Can I just mix them in once they're 2 or 3 weeks old, or will the existing quail hurt/kill them like my a-hole chickens do?
4. I live in western PA... we had quail around here historically, but none now. I'm on a farm that has decent habitat (though also bunches of predation). If I turned a couple hundred quail loose that are used to living in a remote flight pen (they are pretty wild as is), would they breed and live or just die off?

Thanks

some will go broody and hatch their own chicks, some won't. do you feed them? (I am sure you do. you will probably have to intergrate new chicks. I would not let any pets loose, they will die off for sure, and may be a nusance, and cause problems.

 

[steve&kris]

These are bobwhites, for the record. I forgot to mention that in the initial post. These are for dog training and hunting purposes primarily. Some will be used for meat birds. If they would take I'd love to use them for repopulating (I don't consider them pets, I'm purposely trying to raise them as wild/natural as possible).

I do feed them, I keep a game bird feed container in the pen....but I also put out mixed bird foods scattered about the pen. The pen is on the ground and they have a pretty natural environment (brush piles, hollowed logs, grass and tall brush).
When you say "integrate new chicks", how do you mean?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

sure! you just set up a little area where they can see the other birds but not touch them. with a week or so they will be a part of the flock!... also for some reason I thought they were coturnix.... I have never seen a bobwhite go broody. sorry.

 

[steve&kris]

excellent.... that sounds easy enough. Bummer on the bobwhite broodiness though... I'd love it if they would raise their own young, and that would also be essential to helping them repopulate if I would release a couple hundred of them.

 

[DK newbie]

As far as I know, bobwhites are a fair bit more likely to go broody than coturnix.
On integrating new chicks - you might be able to do it outside of the breeding season/before the older ones mature, but I'm not sure I would risk it at all. Bobwhites are known for being aggressive. In the breeding season (next spring, I suppose - I also expect that's when you'll start getting eggs) your current birds might not even be able to live together in their enclosure - in general it's recommended to keep bobwhites in pairs only in the breeding season. I know some breeders keep them in groups very large flight pens during the breeding season though, so it's not impossible it could work, but I wouldn't attempt it with more birds than you already have in that amount of space.

If you want them to go broody though, your chances might be better if you pair them off in separate enclosures - I can imagine there will be a fair amount of traffic around their nests with 50 birds in there, that might well stop them from even trying. And should they manage to hatch chicks, I can't imagine any would survive with so many adults around..

On releasing them - people do it, but I do think the vast majority dies.

 

[007Sean]

@DK newbie has said it all, nothing to add!

 

[steve&kris]

Thanks DK...that was very informative. I don't know how to catch them in pairs, though.... when I go in the flight pen, they run around / fly around in one or two big bunches. If I'd put a bird box with a cone in the flight pen, would they likely go in in pairs? And, at this age (12ish weeks), have they even paired up yet? Does that happen prior to the first breeding?

 

[albinosilver]

Thanks DK...that was very informative. I don't know how to catch them in pairs, though.... when I go in the flight pen, they run around / fly around in one or two big bunches. If I'd put a bird box with a cone in the flight pen, would they likely go in in pairs? And, at this age (12ish weeks), have they even paired up yet? Does that happen prior to the first breeding?

They will not pair up until springtime. During the winter they will all be happy to stay together in a big group.

 

[Sara L]

You might also want to look into if your state allows human raised bobwhites to be released into the wild. It might be ok, might require a permit, or might be illegal.