DIY Recall pen

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natetnc
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DIY Recall pen

Post by natetnc » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:25 pm

hey guys, i was looking at recall pens in the LCS catalog and thought some of you may have built one for less $. i like the one which includes the partly sheltered top with food and water.

i will probably attempt to simulate it before paying nearly $100 for the one in the catalog. any advice will help as this will be my first attempt at building one.

i know nothing about caring for quail. i have jointly purchased some and the other party is taking care of them since he has the space and know how. i would like to have a pen big enough to keep approx 5 quail in for a weekend.

do you just leave a bob in the recall pen and he will call the others back to him? i don't know exactly how that works. how long will it take the others to get back to the recall pen?

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:17 pm

come on, someone has to have built one of these before or at least attempted. i have had 34 looks and no replies.

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sweetsong
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Post by sweetsong » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:55 pm

About 6-7 years ago I cut out the picture from the LCS for the recall pen and asked the High school shop teacher if he could have one or more of his kids in class build it for me. It did cost me, one case of beer for the shop teacher which we finished off together. The pen is 4x4x6 and I put the recall funnel in after I got it home.

Terry
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http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=160

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Don
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Post by Don » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:26 pm

I've built several. Nothing more than a box on the back with a lid that lifts to put in feed and take out birds and a 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth front for re-calling into. I had a photo of one here somewhere when I first started but don't have the photo anymore. Demintions were what ever wood I had? Poor people have poor ways! :D
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cancrkkennels

Post by cancrkkennels » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:25 pm

I just used an old pen and bought a recall funnel from lcs there only like 10 or 20 bucks

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:35 pm

how long does it take to get most of your birds back. i know it will vary so not looking for exacts. most flights are relatively short and in cover.

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Fair Fields
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Post by Fair Fields » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:11 pm

I use a 55 gallon barrel (Blue Plastic). Turn it upside down. I cut the bottom out and attached hardware cloth. I put a couple hard ware cloth windows. A door at the bottom to feed the birds. A door up high to free fly them out and a funnel at the bottom. I also screwd a couple 2x6 in the inside for the birds to sit up at the windows. Mounted a rabbit feeder and water - they can be accessed from the outside without disturbing the birds.


Biggest issues are connecting the hardware cloth. I found the easiest way is to drill holes and then cut a piece to fit. Then lace wire in and out of the cloth to attach it.

Works great. Easy to transport. With hinges for the door, cloth and feeders - my last one cost less than $20. Paint is camo it you don't want to see the barrel in the woods or field.

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:40 am

that sounds like a good idea Fair, where did you come up with that? so i am getting the impression that you leave a few birds in there all the time, since you have a fly out top, is that correct? if i had something like that where i could keep a few birds in it that would be great. do you have your barrel staked down or anything, i am thinking predators might find some way to tip it over.

what is hardware cloth?

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bobman
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Post by bobman » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:06 am

Nata where do you live? I have one I will give you, if you can come get it. It fits in the back of a pickup truck, needs a new top and new latches but other than that its in good shape.


The state of residence should be mandatory in profiles on this site
currently two shorthairs, four english pointers, one Brittany, one SPRINGER a chihuahua and a min pin lol

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:38 am

i live in central NC, don't get down to GA very often. thanks a lot for the offer.

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Fair Fields
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Post by Fair Fields » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:14 am

Hardware cloth is like chicken wire only in squares. In comes in different guages of thickness with different size holes. 1/2" x 1/2" is common for the bottom of rabbit pens and such.

Yes - I put a stake beside it and strap it to the stake.

Send me a PM with your email. I have pictures somewhere. Once you see pictures it will make a lot of sense.

I found the plans on another board 3 or 4 years ago.

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ACooper
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Post by ACooper » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:57 am

FF how many birds will this set up hold? sounds like a real good idea.

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Fair Fields
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Post by Fair Fields » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:17 am

I usually keep around 6-8 birds in it at a time. Not many,but enough. Anymore than that and the barrel needs moves all the time because it isn't raised off the ground and mess builds up.

I googled for the plans and can't find them.

I will try to get some pictures up.

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Post by Mark Payton » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:59 pm

Nate,

Here's something that I posted elsewhere that I entitled Pen Raised Quail Discoveries(?).


I've got a few things that I've learned this year about pen raised quail that some of you might find interesting:

- A friend raises some of the best pen raised quail that I've ever bought. I tease him by saying that he may have stumbled on something by accident. Others may be doing this to, but it was new to him and me. He has his quail in a pole barn. There's metal sheeting on all four walls, but the triangular gabled(?) section on the ends is made of chicken coop wire or hardware cloth. The birds choose to fly up to the gables (10' or maybe 12' up in the air) to see outside, and I believe that's why they fly so well. One friend and I were working a pup of his other day, and we got FOUR 100-150 yard flights from one quail! I suppose this might be considered a larger scale version of what Larry Mueller suggested in his "Speed Train Your Bird Dog" book.

- I buy my quail from the above friend, so I don't need a flight pen. Instead, I built a small holding pen. Mine is 3' x 3' x 15" tall. I'll usually buy 20 at a time, and these are all "shooters" and they last anywhere from one week to one month. These good flying birds fed good feed will continue to fly well even one month later after being "restrained" by the holding pen! I would have thought that their muscles would have atrophied, but that's not the case.

- I chose to build my holding pen about 3.5' off the ground. I thought that it might keep the coons from harassing my birds (right or wrong). I built it with a double bottom separated the width of a 2x4......hardware cloth on the top where the birds walk and chicken coop wire on the bottom to keep anything from trying to reach up and bite the birds. I occasionally (sometimes often ) will miss a bird. Well, not surprisingly, the birds in the holding pen will call the birds that get away. But with my pen 3.5' above the ground, I wondered how could I recapture these birds. Just on a whim, I put a small recall pen with funnel on the ground just under (actually, just in front of) the holding pen. I take bricks on one side of the funnel to help the birds find the funnel, and other than baiting the inside of the recall coop with feed or baiting the funnel with food, I don't do anything else (i.e., no "recall" bird required) and yet I continue to catch essentially EVERY bird that gets loose even with the recall pen on the ground and without a "call" bird. Tonight I caught two, but I can only recall one having gotten away recently.....hmmm? And they'll also recall birds that were released more than 250 yards away from the pen!


Perhaps this will get someone thinking of other ways to house/use quail on their grounds. I went out last night to feed my birds and had four "covied" up in my recall pen. It was like finding $16 :D

Mark

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:25 pm

thanks mark,

do you have a link to that thread so i can see the responses?

MIKE M

RECALL PEN

Post by MIKE M » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:54 pm

HERE IS A WEB PAGE OF PIC FOR THE 55 GALLON RECALL PEN
http://www.uplandbirddog.com/dogcamp/recall3.html

Mark Payton
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Post by Mark Payton » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:58 pm

Nate,

Unfortunately, there's was just one reply. I was hoping that it might be a springboard for a good exchange of ideas.

Regardless, I believe in it. I've been thinking to myself 'where can I build my Johnny House', but this small recall pen has been working so well when located underneath my "holding pen", that I may not build one.

The four birds that recently recalled were caught on Thursday, and the birds were released on Saturday and Sunday. What remains in my holding pen is just four birds, and I didn't hear any whistling....that's probably why it took so long for them to find their way back. I have an electronic call bird, and I might put it out there to see if the birds can consistently find their way back in just one day.

Mark

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Equismith
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Post by Equismith » Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:58 pm

Nate,

I'm in Asheboro.

Where are you? I have 25 quail I bought from Kennedy Game Farm in Robbins. I need help in this area also. Maybe we can put some ideas together...


Bud

http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:23 pm

bud,

i have all of my birds at a farm in asheboro, uncle-in-law. i frequent there often to train, he has a 3yo gsp. we are going to construct one of the recall pens mentioned above this weekend. if all goes well we should have birds in it by the end of the week. is that your small pup in your avtar? great to know there are more people in the area.

-nate

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jbr03
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Post by jbr03 » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:17 pm

my johnny house was pretty easy to build and i just used old plywood (hurricane shutters) and old fence railings to build it. i bought a few new 2x4 studs for the frame.
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v13/s ... nt=jh3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/strokin03/jh3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

i put that box in the front of it like that because i flush the birds up into there and just close the back off with another small piece of plywood. easier to grab the birds. i dont have a picture of the completed house or id put that in here too. but building the frame was the most difficult thing. if you can built a wood box you can build one of these. i think with all the material cost, it ran me about 50 bucks to build. but i also had old plywood for the sides and used some old 2x4s for bracing and such which cost me nothing but time searching thru piles of wood.

as for the quail. just give them food and water and theyll be pretty set.
Brian

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jbr03
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Post by jbr03 » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:20 pm

dont know why the picture didnt post. youre supposed to use HTML code right? the picture came up in the preview just not after i hit submit.
Brian

withheld

Post by withheld » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:31 am

Don't spend the money on the LCS cone either, make it yourself. You are already buying the hardware cloth. Why spend $10 on a dollars worth of material. Plus shipping.
The dimensions for the cone can be found in Delmar's book, or just about any birddog web site. the blue barrels can be gotten from car washes or if you can find a pop bottler around. I got some from Pepsi along time ago.
FREE is good.
You can also use a smaller dimension pipe for the feed and water if you want.
The pic of Lou's barrel uses 3" pipe. The capacity of 3" is about a gallon per 1 1/2 feet of pipe.
The other advantage to the barrel is you can move the whole thing yourself.
No trailer needed, no heavy lifting, no bribing your buddy to help you move it.

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:51 am

barrel is under construction, thanks. i part timed at a car wash during college and became friends with the owner, i remembered the barrels from there, free is good. hopefully will be recalling them by this weekend.

as far as keeping them alive, what do i need in the barrel? food and water of course but what about heat? around here looking at winter averages of 50s for highs 30s for lows, just guessing.

withheld

Post by withheld » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:03 am

Highs in the 50's ? I'll build it for you, I'll leave tomorrow :lol:
gonna be single digits here for highs all week.
They will be fine in those temps.

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natetnc
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Post by natetnc » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:04 am

Rocking C wrote:Highs in the 50's ? I'll build it for you, I'll leave tomorrow :lol:
gonna be single digits here for highs all week.
They will be fine in those temps.
those were avg temps, i guess the worst it gets here is 30s for the highs and 10s for the lows. should i do anything for them in that situation?

singles for the highs, that sounds pretty cold. i will trade you some of NCs warmth for some of IAs roosters :lol:

withheld

Post by withheld » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:05 pm

Deal.
Last weekend we saw 100-200 birds a day. Really wild though, even though it was in the teens. Only the hens sat tight, and not many of them did.

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briguyz71
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Temps

Post by briguyz71 » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:28 pm

I have quail outside in my Johnny House in below freezing temps with no problems. Just have to unfreeze the waterer. I had 3 or 4 in a recall pen when we got down into the teens-20's and all of them survived just fine. They like to covey up for warmth.
Bri

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bobman
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Post by bobman » Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:41 am

it takes about three weeks of releasing a few at a time to get them to reliably recall and while they will recall to a barrel they wont fly worth a darn, if you have a permanent spot build a johnny house.

Quail that wont flush are only good for pups to about 12 weeks old after that they cause more problems that they solve. No way I would work my dogs on them.

IMO you are totally wasting your time! If these dogs are older build a pigeon loft and forget the quail. Without flight pens or at minimum a johnny house you are going to end up with birds that will cause you dog to start breaking point and catching them.

I started training pointers in 1972 and have been doing it almost daily since so I am speaking from experience.

Just my 2 cents
currently two shorthairs, four english pointers, one Brittany, one SPRINGER a chihuahua and a min pin lol

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