URGENT: Cot Cock Escaped..... Dilemmas Galore!

[TehLizardKing]

Ok, so I came to put the quail to bed after a long day of foraging outside. After making sure all of them were safely in their ferplast cage in my shed, I took the water bowl out to refill. As I was doing that, Simon, the coturnix cock leaped out of the cage and onto the floor. Normally, this would be fine, but a particularly annoying gust of wind blew the door open at that moment. Simon, the devil that he is, skidded straight out and made no qualms about promptly flying over the barb wire fence into the field next door. I ran around to find him, but flattening all of the undergrowth was to no avail. I could not find him. It is 9:15 and almost twilight, and I don't know what to do! My quail don't live outside, so I can't leave them out and expect Simon to just return, I don't have a call cage, playing a quail call from the iPad didn't work, and I'm seriously scared that since quail can't see in the dark and roost on the ground, poor Simon will succumb to some sort of predator.

I would really appreciate some help ASAP guys, cos poor Simon will be all alone tonight if I can't find him. At the moment I'm sat almost out of view, watching the other quail that I will leave outside in the cage until dark, hoping Simon will hear them talking to each other.

Thanks guys....

 

[SavageChick]

Unfortunately, I know exactly what you are going through right now, as I recently had one of my quail fly off on me. One suggestion I was told to try was to leave a couple of quail outside overnight to see if the missing one might return to sleep next to them. I tried leaving out one of my females to see if the missing male would crow and try to communicate back and forth with the female, especially once morning came. Sadly, my little guy was never seen nor heard from again. Yet, hopefully if you try this with your bird, he may return to you. Really hope you find him.

 

[Julbrod]

I had this happen to one of my bob whites. The female was still in the outside coop. The male returned daily, sometimes sitting right on top of the coop and they called to each other until they were horse! I set a trap with a 10 gallon glass aquarium and two sticks. The one had peanut butter with seeds and crushed corn on it and I actually caught him. I found this trap on youtube made by a clever little guy. I'll see if I can find it for you. In the mean time, keep food out maybe near a protected spot near the female.

 

[Julbrod]

Here it is, this worked for me. Good luck.

 

[TehLizardKing]

Thanks loads guys. I tried the trap, but unfortunately, no cigar. I sat and waited for him, with the girls out in the open by the fence for hours, only stopping when it was too dark to see, but unfortunately, I don't think i'll see him again. There were some rustles in the wheat today, but that could be anything from a rat to a goose, so i'm not getting my hopes up. It's getting dark again and i'll have to put the girls back inside, and part of me is thinking they did this deliberately, as they absolutely HATED him lol. If any of them had to escape, i'm glad it was him. His survival instinct is off the chart, and he's been caught by everything from cats to sparrowhawks and managed to survive, so I just hope he enjoys his new life.

just so I know, what are his chances of survival? Not counting predators, I mean like finding food and water. I have a small pond in the garden, but I don't think he'll return that close, with eight acres and various woodlands to roam across. There is also a river a few hundred meters away.

thanks again guys, and Savage, I feel your pain. I hope your little guy is still out there somewhere.

 

[Julbrod]

Well, it was a valiant effort! He sounds like a tough little guy. I really don't know what his chances of survival are but he'll have a great time on 8 acres!

 

[TehLizardKing]

Thanks loads Julbrod. I still miss him, and everyday his crows get fainter as he goes further afield into the woodland. I hope he has a good time too!