New to quail and I already made a stupid mistake... :(

[Woofless]

Just bought 15 adults and 100 baby bobwhites. Babies are fine so far. Adults....well, I screwed up. I am really ticked off at myself right now and am wondering if there is any chance of at least fixing my mistake?

I messed up, didn't think of the size difference when putting adult quail into a growout pen designed to hold pheasants....and I should have known better, I have seen/handled/fed mature penned bobwhites where I work for the past year. They got out through a gap I didn't notice in a gate. Didn't take them but 3 HOURS to make a break for it, either.

They DID escape into a fenced, 3 acre pheasant flight pen, I know that for certain. Chances are, most are still AROUND somewhere and won't go too far. There is flight netting overhead but the holes are too big to really hold a quail, I know at least one flew, got out of the netting & into the shelterbelt when I walked out there. I'm not going to mess around in the cover inside the pen too much for fear of flushing more out of there.

My question is....is there ANY chance of getting quail to recall on the first day they've been introduced to a new pen? Will they come back on their own at night if I leave the gate cracked and some feed set out in an obvious spot?

I MAY be able to borrow an electronic quail recall to set up near the pen, and I may also be able to borrow catch pens, at least for a few days. Will this help my chances any? I'll talk to the boss tomorrow, I don't know if he can spare any but he might. I know he releases quail into open fields for dog training & uses the recall to bring them back to feeding stations/johnny house, but he also leaves the quail IN the johnny house for the first couple of weeks so they can get used to living there. My quail are fresh from the breeder.

Thanks for any help you can offer.....I'm really taking this hard for some reason, this has just dampened my whole day

 

[underground chickenman]

I'm no expert, so you'll probably get better answers, but if they don't return to your pen, they might show up at your neighbors who has the other game birds.

UGCM

 

[shelleyd2008]

You should get (or make) a recall pen, feed them inside the pen for a few days, then you should be able to get them into it.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

You have 100 babies . . .
Why stress over 15 birds?

In a month or so, youll be asking yourself why you needed to get 100 . . .

If it were me, Id start putting feed in a certain spot and wait till the quail find it, then once they are eating it, put a drop-trap(box and stick) over the feed pile, try to catch at least 1 male, so it can call the others in.

Good luck man!

 

[aprophet]

I have only lost one hen so far I built a small recall trap I used a male for bait put him and the trap just far enough away from the rest of the covey he started calling to them took her 2 nights to find him and figure out how to get in the recall trap.

 

[JJMR794]

For The Record A Recall Trap Requires A Lone Male For The Actual Recall Part Of The Trap. If You Lost All Your Adults Do You Have A Source For Another Adult Male(preferably With A Good Singing Voice?

)

 

[Woofless]

Thanks....I'll be giving it a try today & tomorrow, will see if I can get any back, have my neighbor (also the man I work for) coming in the morning to help me get things set up right. Will let you all know what happens. I found 2 this morning out on the SIDE OF MY HOUSE of all places, they must be the couple who made it out of the flight netting. I set up an impromptu trap for them until I can make a couple of recall pens, will work on that today.

My neighbor with gamebirds is 3 miles away (other nearest neighbor is 2 miles away....I'm pretty rural....so hopefully they will stick around my place and not go migrating down to the neighbor's quail pen

Main reason I'm upset is because I bought the adults for dog training purposes. I have 2 dogs I'm working with NOW, I've got someone wanting to buy them hopefully in time for fall hunting season, and I can't wait 2-3 months for the baby quail to be old enough to use for dog training.

Thanks again for the advice! At least my babies appear to be doing well!! Trying to cheer up today, seems like yesterday was just one of those days where everything goes wrong.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Ahh, dog training . . .
Definately get your self a johnny house built up and get your 100 chicks in it.
Everything I have read about the Johnny has been saying its the easiest and best way.


I have a male valley quail that escaped from its pen about a week ago, it stays around all my quail pens and sleeps in the tree in my yard.
Hes out there everytime I go check, and he is calling right now cause I just flushed him to the other side of the fence.
He flushes if I get within 20 feet of him.
I finished a small recall trap and am going to try to get him with another of my males.
Good luck!