Johnny House Quail. How do you fly them

[mm]

I have a Johnny House and quail but the quail dont fly very good. I been letting a few out and they come back if I let them out close to the house but if more then about 50 feet they are lost. What do you do to get them to fly good. I have not been able to use these birds with dogs yet because they could be easily caught.

[Sharon]

I'm no expert , but it has been my experience to use pigeons rather than quail for early dog training ; quail are better for later dog training. Pigeons wings can be "adjusted" to stay still while you work your dog on steadying. They fly hard and they also return to the pen. I've never known quail to return to the pen. Many experts on here who will give you better advice.

[Idylwyld]

Bird suppliers are not created equally. If your quail do not fly well, they probably were not in a flight pen while being raised. Ive been there, its a grin and bear it thing.

I use a flight door on the front of my JH. I lower it with a piece of string tied to it from the back, I tied weight to the door so it would come down nicely. I Fly out what Im going to use through that door and raise it back up.

I go get my JH birds this coming weekend.


It takes me about 3-4 weeks to get them recalling well enough that I can work a dog on them. Push them too soon working dogs on them and they dont recall very well. Ive made that mistake. Another grin and bear it lesson learned thing.

One year most of my birds (chukars that year) wound up about 500 yards away in a farmers yard. Farmers wife was feeding them and enjoyed watching them. I knew I had lost that one.

I would not use that bird supplier again and would tell him why.

[mm]

I have a set up like that and I started letting some out everyday. How long do you keep new birds in the johnny house before you start letting them out?

[Idylwyld]

I have a set up like that and I started letting some out everyday. How long do you keep new birds in the johnny house before you start letting them out?

I go two weeks, but three weeks is not a bad thing. I started letting birds out Sunday morning. This morning found that 3 went in, one male stayed out all night, let out 6 this morning. I put a game camera up on the funnel. I swap the card out with a fresh one, bring it home and take a look. I discovered this morning that I need to set it to video, it is taking pics. I prefer 15-20 second videos.

I will gradually increase how many I let out. When I am satisfied they are recalling, I start working them lightly at first.

I put 50 birds in a JH, I expect to wind up with about 20-25 birds that recall real well and I can use pretty hard. Ive kept them as long as 6 months while they slowly dwindle down. hawks get some cats get some, lost a bunch one year to some coyote pups. Coyote pups developed lead poisoning. A few years ago I moved the JH to my front pasture to work a pair of GSP pups, birds never missed a lick. When I had 12 left. I turned them loose. Saw the little covey thru the summer, heard them call occasionally. Then they disappeared.

Ive had wild Scaled quail go in my JH a few times, I turn them out and work them.

One thing I do. I medicate their water. Enteritis is not joke and will wipe you out in a hurry. I use amprolium now, used to use a product called LS 50.

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