Quail Free range?

[007Sean]

Quail as with most gamebirds will not do well at free range, unless they are wild birds.
Most will not return to a pen once they escape it. And certainly won't return every evening to roost.
Some folks say they have free ranging birds but that's not a normal behavior of pen raised gamebirds.

 

[Fishkeeper]

A chicken won't teach the quail to come back, no. The problem is the instincts. Quail don't have the instincts to return to a place every night to roost, like chickens do, and nothing you can do (except maybe a very long and difficult project to breed for those instincts) would change that. Quail are not chickens, even if they're raised by one.

 

[rlchatham]

Go ahead and try it if you'd like. But i am afraid they will be gone. One way or another. Just trying to be more realistic. The lady in the video only takes one out at a time when she is working i the garden. She took two as an experiment. The video doesn't show them coning back willfully or otherwise. Just use caution and a little common sense before you throw away your time raising your quail. I had three escape a few days ago. Haven’t even seen or heard them since.

 

[el dorado quail]

This person says she free ranges hers.

I would be too afraid of losing mine to try.

I raised my California quail chicks indoors and would let them out of the brooder (in the bedroom) to eat/play several times per day. They always returned to the brooder voluntarily for naps or when they were afraid (and then I'd close it back up). When we moved them to the aviary, we left the brooder there in case, like a child's security blanket. They do go back inside it sometimes to rest or when nervous, but they've also found other spots they like to use, and they roost in tree branches at night. So they wouldn't go back to it to sleep if they were free range, and I'm not sure they'd stay nearby. In nature they have large territories, I think I read one acre per bird, so I don't think they'd naturally return to a specific spot each night if they were free range.

And of course, there's also the issue of predators.

I love that lady! She has basically trained her chickens to warch/guard the quail. She is also always with them. I don't think you can just start quail and expect to have the same results as Sue!

 

[ScoutingInTheWoods]

This person says she free ranges hers.

I would be too afraid of losing mine to try.

I raised my California quail chicks indoors and would let them out of the brooder (in the bedroom) to eat/play several times per day. They always returned to the brooder voluntarily for naps or when they were afraid (and then I'd close it back up). When we moved them to the aviary, we left the brooder there in case, like a child's security blanket. They do go back inside it sometimes to rest or when nervous, but they've also found other spots they like to use, and they roost in tree branches at night. So they wouldn't go back to it to sleep if they were free range, and I'm not sure they'd stay nearby. In nature they have large territories, I think I read one acre per bird, so I don't think they'd naturally return to a specific spot each night if they were free range.

And of course, there's also the issue of predators.

Thanks for the info

 

[ManitobaQuail]

We let some of our birds free range in the garden (6 ft fence) during the day, they don't fly away or hide somewhere. They are just excited to be out and forage during the day and when the weather is nice.

We do have to pick them up and put them back to the hutch by hand though. We have a raised hutch so they can't go back by themselves. And tbh, I really don't think they would go back on their own even if they can access their hutch w/o help.

 

[ManitobaQuail]

Oh and I just watched the video posted above. It's very true about only letting the "right"
quail free range.

I said that we only let "some" free range during the day - that's because the quail from one hutch (hatched from our own eggs) are socialized more with us, and seem to be genetically more tame (not sure if it's a thing). These birds don't mind being picked up at all and would not run away when we need to pick them up and put them back to the hutch. This hutch is the one with 3 broody hens (mentioned in my other posts).

The other hutch we don't interact as much, therefore they're not tame at all. They are scared of people basically. Even when we refill their food they'd run around and panic a bit.

 

[Fishkeeper]

"Genetically more tame" is a thing, but it's not tame. It's domesticated. That's what domestication is- you make an animal more prone to acting tame. Taming an animal is taking a wild animal and making it calmer/not afraid of you by teaching it, domestication is breeding animals to be like that from the start.
Coturnix quail are very heavily domesticated, which is why they don't have good survival or brooding instincts. They're slightly better for small outings, though I'd still be worried about them flying away if spooked. The domestication is also why they can be kept in such small cages without killing themselves or each other, they're more tolerant of it.

 

[ScoutingInTheWoods]

A chicken won't teach the quail to come back, no. The problem is the instincts. Quail don't have the instincts to return to a place every night to roost, like chickens do, and nothing you can do (except maybe a very long and difficult project to breed for those instincts) would change that. Quail are not chickens, even if they're raised by one.

would be a fun project

 

[ScoutingInTheWoods]

"Genetically more tame" is a thing, but it's not tame. It's domesticated. That's what domestication is- you make an animal more prone to acting tame. Taming an animal is taking a wild animal and making it calmer/not afraid of you by teaching it, domestication is breeding animals to be like that from the start.
Coturnix quail are very heavily domesticated, which is why they don't have good survival or brooding instincts. They're slightly better for small outings, though I'd still be worried about them flying away if spooked. The domestication is also why they can be kept in such small cages without killing themselves or each other, they're more tolerant of it.

could you clip a wing?