quail eintroduction

[muddywaterducks]

I may be getting some bobwhite quail soon. I also read online that quail populations in the USA are vanishing because of habitat lose and over hunting. I was thinking that if I breed by quail could I release them on my property that is ideal for quail. Its a lovely wooded area with a creek and about 20 acres and over 1000 pine and other trees. Would it be Ok to release them? Of course I would leave extra food in the woods but I think it could help the Wild quail population. Also I would periodically get new blood lines so there wouldnt be inbreeding. Good or bad idea? Also no one hunts on my land and there isnt many predators. just alot of deer.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings, muddywaterducks. Your question interested me so I typed in 'releasing quail' into the BYC search box. Looks like it's a pretty controversially topic. I'd suggest doing the same for additional research. Here's one link https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/591087/ethics-of-releasing-quail-into-the-wild
Good luck to you.

 

[dc3085]

It has been proven through time and trial that releasing birds doesn't do much for local populations. Some parts of the US have been releasing bobwhites for over 100 years, if it was going to work with any regular frequency, it would have.

There are several reasons why it doesn't work in most cases. Wild quail will not share food/water with released birds, nor will they breed with them. Cage raised quail of any sort lack basic survival instincts. A good example of this is hunting a shooting preserve where the dog will often retrieve a live terrified bird, that thought it could just hide and everything would be ok. Cage raised quail will not brood eggs with any reliable frequency so release birds basically won't reproduce either.

There are specific examples of specific populations benefiting from releasing birds but basically if you want to see more quail around your place, release more quail or build more habitat for the existing populations you have. Keep in mind it's easy for you to completely destroy a local population by releasing birds that are infected with any of our common poultry diseases so make good and sure you're releasing healthy birds.

 

[Fat Daddy]

I may be getting some bobwhite quail soon. I also read online that quail populations in the USA are vanishing because of habitat lose and over hunting. I was thinking that if I breed by quail could I release them on my property that is ideal for quail. Its a lovely wooded area with a creek and about 20 acres and over 1000 pine and other trees. Would it be Ok to release them? Of course I would leave extra food in the woods but I think it could help the Wild quail population. Also I would periodically get new blood lines so there wouldnt be inbreeding. Good or bad idea? Also no one hunts on my land and there isnt many predators. just alot of deer.

Hello, I have tried this several times myself, on my place. Mostly brome pasture and wooded fencelines... Iv also been involved with efforts by the state to release bobs on CRP ground that is quite common here. I also have tried using grown chukar that I raised with this in mind... In every case the end was the same.... The birds are easy to track on my farm as they can be seen daily, both wild and pen raised both know to come to my back fence line to find a meal... Knowing where to find water in a big open area is the biggest challenge to a pen raised bird. They are not used to ranging far and are not accepted by the wild birds... As to the predators... There are likely more than you think.... The biggest two killers of bobs are ferrel cats and raptors. I would venture to guess the Owls are number one by a wide margin.... If you have mice, you have owls..... They are high in numbers, great hunters and will even take birds from your pens.... Good luck, Bill