keeping quail

[jryan85]

I am new to this site and to bird dog ownership. My question is, I have access to quail from a friend at a very good price but he lives an hour away. I have a rabbit hutch that is 36'' × 26" × 24" tall how long could I keep some bobwhite quail in it before they lose alot of there ablity to fly. The quail he has are great flyers. And how many could I keep.I am not looking for long term housing just a couple to three weeks so I dont have to drive so much.

[DonF]

With your hutch I don't think your gonna get them to recall very well without modifying it. I have a large flight pen, but no game birds right now. My plan at some point is to pull out enough brush to make a few good brush piles on my place and then put something like your hutch in it. The plan, if it works, is to get them living in the "hutch" by night and roaming free during the day. If you don't have a place to do something like that, make the trip the day before you need the birds, use the birds over a period of several days then make another trip. The best training bird may be what you need, pigeons! Doesn't take much to make them happy and get them coming back. You can do everything with them you can do with a quail except point a quail. Not a problem because as I understand it, there's not a whole lot of wild Bob Whites to hunt any more anyway. So what is needed is no more than some bird that will fly away when you want, not many training birds do that as well as a pigeon!

[Sharon]

Pigeons I use only last a week in that size crate before they can't fly hardly at all. I assume quail would be the same. Try out a couple and see. I'd be interested in knowing if there is a difference

[ibbowhunting]

look up 55 gallon quail barrel, one of the articles claim strong flying quail 6 weeks later, they house around a dozen birds, I build 3 of them, some far so good

[jryan85]

I my try pigeons my wife just hates the idea of pigeons being around she finds quail easier to stomach. I thought about modifying it to sit vertical if I get pigeons. How many homers could I keep in a coup that size much larger and my neighbors might start to complain. I could fly them quite abite maybe 4-5 times a week.