Page 1 of 1

Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:01 pm
by desertcountrygsp
Trying to find out what would be better to raise here in northern arizona. We have temps in the winter ranging from 15 degrees and summer temps 105+. I already have a pigeon cage that I am going to convert to a quail/chukar pen with a fly cage. I can raise bob whites in arizona without a license. anyone had experience raising either bird type?

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:46 am
by quailrunner
I am doing the exact same thing, converting a pigeon coop to a setup for quail. I have had both bobwhites and chukars in the past and I don't think the weather will be your main concern since they have the coop to get out of the rain and snow (what little we get these days). I am in Central New Mexico and our temps. are about the same as yours.
Since pigeons carry all kinds of nasty little diseases and worms, I am going to move my coop to a new location in the yard, sterilize as best I can the coop with a diluted bleach, then start off with about 100 bobwhite. I like the bobs better because they recall so easily, and if you want to hatch your own eggs, to me they are easier. Cholera seems to be the disease to watch out for quail that are kept on the ground, so keeping the cage clean and I think the more southern the exposure the better. My last batch of bobs (which was a few years ago) died suddenly. About 30 birds were doing great one day and the next they were toast. I believe it was due to the cage being on the west side of a building and under a tree, so the ground didn't see much sun.

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:54 am
by snips
I have heard you cannot raise Chuker on the ground.

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:17 am
by Wildweeds
I'm really quite certain that this is horse feathers,I've raised them on the ground in three different locations over the course of the last 18 years, My soil at all three places was well drained however,Chukars are easier to raise than bobs IMO but they eat more feed.Fact is my buddy and I just started a business for the kids to run raising gamebirds for sale for training and selling to field trialers/hunt testers. We've got chukars,pheasants,bobwhites and Valley quail.Construction on a 100 foot by 50 foot by 17 foot tall flight pen is slated for later next month.

Pigeons are nasty things and before I was to try raising gamebirds I'd clean it out spotless and give it a bath in bleach or One Stroke Envirion which kills all bacteria that cause diesease.
snips wrote:I have heard you cannot raise Chuker on the ground.

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:49 am
by mcbosco
I may do this with someone. This weekend I bought three pathetic Coturnix for $20 only to have them grabbed by a Park Ranger even before I took them out of the box: "illegal to release game birds here" he told me and now I have a ticket to pay.

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:25 pm
by mm
Whats the fine on that. I was told here in my state non native game birds are ok to release and even shoot all year long. But for Bobwhites you need a license to own or breed.
mm

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:51 pm
by mcbosco
I am not sure what the fine is as I didn't call. There are 11 designated areas where dogs may be trained with live birds and the county park where I got nailed is not one. Even on those you need a special permit, well really its a receipt that you bought the birds from a licensed bird dealer. I didn't have that either.

Re: Raising quail/chukar

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:36 pm
by birddog1968
Northern bobs can be somewhat fragile....if you were set on using quail I would try and get my hands
on some Wisconsin Jumbo quail.

The chukar are pretty easy to raise, much more hardy than northern bobs. Wisconsin Jumbos are about
the same as Chukar. They are lively tough lil birds and work great for training purposes. They will only get to jumbo size if fed hard....otherwise just a little bigger than Northerns but about twice as hardy.

Any birds can be raised on the ground but disease will be a problem in wet climates....also best to salt the ground to keep capillary worms and other parasites down if raised on dirt.

I raised jumbos and chukar commercially by the thousands, and all my birds were on wire, but you can raise on dirt if you pay close attention to sanitation and disease prevention. Rock Salt helps alot raising birds on the ground...dissolve in warm water and spray with a backpack type sprayer. Make sure you rinse you sprayer well before and after. +1 on the bleach washdown before getting started as well.