What's your opinion on free range quail

[John Sanders]

I think it's the natural thing to do but I'm not sure it's the best thing to do.

 

[RUNuts]

I think it's the natural thing to do but I'm not sure it's the best thing to do.

Bobwhite - refer to local regulations about game birds.
Coturnix won't survive long from what I've read.

Most people say if you free range, they are gone. Depending on predators, they don't last long due to cats, skunks, dogs, and birds of prey.

If you give more details, we might get better answers to what you are thinking. Quail won't return to the coop like a chicken will.

 

[Kaurana]

We have a coop low to the ground and an attached run - that's the closest to free range that I have managed. They do go into the "coop area" at night, but if they escape the run (they have a couple of times when I messed up), they are gone...! We wired the bottom of the run so that we move it around like a tractor. It has significantly helped with cleaning as now I only have to clean the inside of the coop instead of the whole area. They also lay most of their eggs in the inside/covered area (hurray!)

 

[mdees88]

I released a male and female bobwhite and they actually survived for a while. They stayed around the house for a couple weeks. I would see them occasionally. Then I guess the hen died because the male stayed near the pen I kept them in for quite sometime calling continuously and I never saw the hen again. I continued to hear and see the male occasionally for around a month or so and that was it.

After a coon killed several of my coturnix in a couple nights I decided to let the rest go the following morning. Better to let them have a chance to get away I thought, I left some food and water for them on the ground. I don't think many of them made it through the first night. A couple stayed around the second day but that was the last I saw of them. Pretty sure the coons had a feeding frenzy.

If I was going to keep them on the ground it would be in a rather large ground pen, partially or maybe totally covered, and it would have to be some kind of predator proof. The tractor idea is neat and having the wire floor would definitely help keep snakes out.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Courtinx won't last long in the wild.theyre too domestic now, they'll just be bait.

Bob whites might have a better chance but I'm not sure.

 

[Nabiki]

Coturnix quail and free ranging is a bad mix. They don't go home like chickens do and everything likes to eat them. If they get spooked and fly away, you're not likely to see them again.

 

[KansasCornCob]

Im a quail hunter, the lifespan of a wild bob white isn't but a year anyway. So the likely hood of a tame bird surviving in the wild is minimal to say the least. I have released some for training purposes and they didn't survive long if we didn't dispatch them during the training session.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Beside predators, quails can fly pretty well... The wild living Coturnix Quail (Coturnix Coturnix) is a migratory bird, flying across the middle sea to Egypt and other northern african countries from Europe to their winter camp.

Japanese Quails (Cotunix Japonica) does not have the instinc and endurance anymore, but they still will fly very good, if free ranged. In the german poultry forum a member reported, that one quail escaped him, while cleaning the coop and flew on the roof of his house, about 5m high.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine go the span of my basement easily if they get out of their cage, and that's about 20 feet

 

[Nabiki]

Beside predators, quails can fly pretty well... The wild living Coturnix Quail (Coturnix Coturnix) is a migratory bird, flying across the middle sea to Egypt and other northern african countries from Europe to their winter camp.

Japanese Quails (Cotunix Japonica) does not have the instinc and endurance anymore, but they still will fly very good, if free ranged. In the german poultry forum a member reported, that one quail escaped him, while cleaning the coop and flew on the roof of his house, about 5m high.

I've had one end up on the roof of my house and I had another one fly all the way across my yard and over a 10' (3m) sound wall.