Free range Quail?

[James the Bald]

One of the lessons that I took from the video about free ranging quail, is that it appears that they can be free ranged unil they fully mature, which the video maker tries to make clear by stating, "Once the quail become bolder and no longer respond to the mother hen, you will need to provide a safer area for them, such as a greenhouse, where they will continue to forage".
So they can free range, but once they learn to fly, that would be the end of that. When I open the door to my tractor, I will have one try to get away, but they normally don't make it more than 10 or 15 feet.
James

 

[Dylon]

I did have one get lose and it turns out he didn't leave. Found it two days later sitting under the quail cages... BUT I really think he only stayed for the food, or maybe cause the other quail were still there... Not because it was "home"

 

[cotekim]

In several threads I have read that whenever people's quail have "escaped" somehow, that many times they come back to the cage. You have to remember that there is easy food and water in there. Not to mention, the rest of their flock. And, if you keep both sexes in the same cage, then their mates are in there. It's hard for a wild animal to resist that.

 

[Dylon]

In several threads I have read that whenever people's quail have "escaped" somehow, that many times they come back to the cage. You have to remember that there is easy food and water in there. Not to mention, the rest of their flock. And, if you keep both sexes in the same cage, then their mates are in there. It's hard for a wild animal to resist that.

Thats what I was thinking!

 

[Weirdness555]

Well they may come back, still not something I would want to risk. You don't have the guarantee that you have with chickens. I mean if you're brave enough try by all means, but I've only ever heard bad things.

 

[cotekim]

Update: I was letting my flock "free range" in the garage with the door open. One of them flew away and has never come back! I guess that'll show me!!! I was keeping them in the basement before. In that enclosed space I could easily corner them and recapture them. Out in nature it turns out there are no corners to corner them into! Boo Hoo!!!

 

[jak2002003]

I know this is an old thread, but people may be interested to know my experience free ranging quail

My fist experience was with coturnix quail.... I had a medium sized back garden that was fenced in with now way of escape for my quail. I clipped one wing on each bird (I only had 5).. and let them out into the garden. They were coturnix quail.. and very tame. They lived in the aviary with my parakeets.

The really loved to be out in the garden.. loving to scratch about under the tall grasses and shrubs... and dust bath in the soil. They ate lots of insects and garden pests too. I would call them back and tap the side of the tin with their mealworms in it. Then they would come running back and I could usher them into the safety porch of the aviary.. before letting them back in.

I only ever let them out when I was there in the garden to watch them.. or when I was working in the garden. If I left them unsupervised I am sure the neighbours cat would get them.

My second experience was the button / Chinese painted quail. This was a disaster. I had moved house and they were housed in small pens.. kind of like mini chicken tractors. I had to keep them in pairs as they were always fighting in a group.

One day my dog decided to chew through the wire mesh of each cage and let all 15 of them out!!!!! They all flew away into the woodland at the back of my property. I could hear them calling to each other in the dense vegetation. I thought I lost the lot for ever.

At that time I also kept chickens in a coop at the back of my house. After a couple of days I was in the coop feeding the chickens when I saw a pair of the quail in there (they had squeezed in through the wooden wall). I was able to just pick them up and so re caged them.

After that this couple kept calling and calling to the ones in the woodland. And over several days they all returned.. I would spot one of 2 in the garden trying to get into the cage with the other 2.

The last couple stayed out for over 2 weeks... I kept seeing them walking up and down the grass verges of the street!!! In the end they came back too.

I would never intentionally free range these button quail.. They only came back as they wanted to fight each other. the ones in the cages lol.

I got to really dislike this quail species.. mine were so aggressive.. fighting through the wire mesh and causing serious injuries. I tried several housing options and each time it was a disaster. If the males could not get to each other they took it out on their mates.. pulling out their feathers and pecking them all the time on the head.

Despite this I had a few females actually go broody and hatch out their own eggs! In the end I sold the lot as I was just getting too stressed with them.

The coturnix are lovely and gently and the eggs are delicious... so I keep them again now.

 

[Ntsees]

I know this is an old thread, but people may be interested to know my experience free ranging quail

My fist experience was with coturnix quail.... I had a medium sized back garden that was fenced in with now way of escape for my quail. I clipped one wing on each bird (I only had 5).. and let them out into the garden. They were coturnix quail.. and very tame. They lived in the aviary with my parakeets.

The really loved to be out in the garden.. loving to scratch about under the tall grasses and shrubs... and dust bath in the soil. They ate lots of insects and garden pests too. I would call them back and tap the side of the tin with their mealworms in it. Then they would come running back and I could usher them into the safety porch of the aviary.. before letting them back in.

I only ever let them out when I was there in the garden to watch them.. or when I was working in the garden. If I left them unsupervised I am sure the neighbours cat would get them.

My second experience was the button / Chinese painted quail. This was a disaster. I had moved house and they were housed in small pens.. kind of like mini chicken tractors. I had to keep them in pairs as they were always fighting in a group.

One day my dog decided to chew through the wire mesh of each cage and let all 15 of them out!!!!! They all flew away into the woodland at the back of my property. I could hear them calling to each other in the dense vegetation. I thought I lost the lot for ever.

At that time I also kept chickens in a coop at the back of my house. After a couple of days I was in the coop feeding the chickens when I saw a pair of the quail in there (they had squeezed in through the wooden wall). I was able to just pick them up and so re caged them.

After that this couple kept calling and calling to the ones in the woodland. And over several days they all returned.. I would spot one of 2 in the garden trying to get into the cage with the other 2.

The last couple stayed out for over 2 weeks... I kept seeing them walking up and down the grass verges of the street!!! In the end they came back too.

I would never intentionally free range these button quail.. They only came back as they wanted to fight each other. the ones in the cages lol.

I got to really dislike this quail species.. mine were so aggressive.. fighting through the wire mesh and causing serious injuries. I tried several housing options and each time it was a disaster. If the males could not get to each other they took it out on their mates.. pulling out their feathers and pecking them all the time on the head.

Despite this I had a few females actually go broody and hatch out their own eggs! In the end I sold the lot as I was just getting too stressed with them.

The coturnix are lovely and gently and the eggs are delicious... so I keep them again now.

I free range mines in a similar fashion like you too. They are all wing-clipped (primary feathers that is) and contained in my fenced yard. They are wild birds and they do pretty well evading birds of prey, but they are not too good with cats. Thank goodness there aren't too many cats in my neighborhood and that they tend to stay out of my yard during the day. I simply let my birds out in the morning and they go about their business during the day. At night, they return on their own to their sleeping roosts and I lock the doorway to prevent night predators going in. Similar to how yours called the escaped birds back, mines do too - well if they are bonded that is. When my quail have their own chicks, the chicks are bonded to their parents and so I found it unnecessary to clip all the chicks wing feathers. As long as I clip the parents wings to keep them in the yard, the chicks will come back even if they fly over the fence. After a hard days work, its refreshing to come home and relax in the yard watching them do their things. I raise Mountain and California quails.

 

[seth osborn]

I would not free rang quail because if they get loose there not coming back!

 

[Ntsees]

I would not free rang quail because if they get loose there not coming back!

True, they'll likely not come back (unless there are others to call it back). When the word "free range" is used, some may view as letting birds roam in an unenclosed environment. When I use the word free range in my above posts, it means free range within an enclosed backyard.