Question of quail breeding

[grouselabmike]

I had built a quail pen a while ago, and had some issues with them dying on me. I believe that it was due to seasonably low temps and them not having enough feathers. I had put some hay and such in the pen with them but a lot of them had died. I have 1 male and 4 females left now. A friend has a decent amount of quail left that he was going to give me some.

I am wondering what the best ratio is to have the best breeding possible. Is a 1-4 ratio ok. I had let a few of the birds go to hang outside of the pen, but fox and owls had got them. I think it would be neat to let the remaining birds go until spring. They are not the best flyers and my Lab can easily catch them since my flight pen is not high enough, so the sort of turned into pets now.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[grouselabmike]

Also should I make smaller "nesting boxes" I did a search and saw a ratio of 1:1 produced the best results for them any thoughts?

 

[dc3085]

Quail are extremely hardy so unless they were feather picked really badly from you having an improper social structure temperatures shouldn't kill any of them.

What type of quail are they? This matters greatly to how you keep them (and thereby keep them alive)

Releasing or freeranging quail is considered release and requires a permit in every state that i'm aware of. Please don't let your quail run loose if you have any wild quail in your area. We don't need domestic quail passing off any parasites or diseases they may have. A disease like coryza could eliminate entire wild flocks so it really is best to take care with allowing domestic quail out of their cages. Not to mention as you've already found they are food for everything. Foxes, skunks, weasels, raccoons, black crows, ravens, hawks, falcons, and eagles, and even rats will cannibalize coturnix although rats usually only eat their toes through wire floored cages.

 

[grouselabmike]

They are bobwhites. They were about 6 weeks old when I got them, and they did not show any signs of being pecked or anything. Once they had all of their plumage they stopped dying, though.

Using birds for dog training does not require any permits in the state of PA. The only rule is that you can not hunt them, when they are out of season. EX. I could release and hunt chucker any day of the year in PA as they have no hunting season. In order for me to release the quail and hunt them, they would have to be within the designated quail hunting season.

 

[grouselabmike]

One of the quail hanging out on one of the branches I put in. It was cool to see how they align themselves when it is cold out. the bed up butt to butt in a circle. I really enjoy them, and doubt I will be hunting any of them to be honest, I cant wait to hear them calling in the spring.