(originally published in Q.U. Magazine March/April 2003)

When I was a youngster staying on “Uncle Jim’s” rural farm in Virginia, the Johnny House was a place you ran to answer the call of nature.  Back then we rated them as One Holers or Two Holers.  If you train your own bird dogs you are probably familiar with a different type of Johnny House, often referred to as a “Recall Pen”.
The most common structures used are about four feet square and about six to eight feet tall. (Of course, in Texas they are twice this size.) The house has a screened in top area and ledges for the quail to fly up and sit on.  Part of this screen area contains a door that can be lowered in order to let some or all of the birds out.  The floor can be either solid plywood or hardware cloth.  (I prefer a solid floor.  We’ll talk about this later.)  There is also a one way “catch funnel” located in the bottom of the house. This allows the quail to reenter the house but not leave again.
The typical structure will hold 15-25 quail and can be set up in a small field.  The objective is to keep the confined birds healthy and available until you are ready to work your dog.  After you pick up your dog and leave the training area, the quail are recalled back to the Johnny House by the birds that were not released or with the assistance of a digital recall device.
Inside, the quail find protection from predators and extreme weather conditions.  They also have feed and water to hold them over until you return again.
The ledges, located near the top of the house, help the birds maintain flight muscle strength as they fly from the floor up to the shelf.  (Many people don’t realize this but most of the wing exercise is generated on the rise.)  It is rare but if you should have a small varmint get into the house through the funnel, the birds can fly up to the ledge to get away.
If you don’t own a large piece of hunting land or the land you have access to is not close to where you live, then the Johnny House may be just what you need.  The most common use of the house is to provide quail for dog training purposes.  Training a dog to be steady on point or to honor another dog’s point by “backing” requires having birds with which to work.  The Johnny House becomes the ready source for such birds.  Quail can be manually caught and placed in a bird launcher or “dizzied” and placed in the field before the work begins.  As the dog’s training progresses, you can release all or part of the birds from the house by lowering the release door and letting them fly out into the field.  Once you have watched to see which cover patches the quail land in, you can then go get your dog and begin working the field.
Another use for the house is to train a young bird hunter how to work the dogs and be a safe hunter.  This is a more controlled setting that presents a youngster with enough action to keep him/her interested in learning the finer points of wing shooting.
If your quail hunting area is only large enough to have a few wild or early released coveys, then the Johnny House can be used to provide additional birds during hunts. These additional birds will take some of the hunting pressure off your “premium coveys”.

Getting Started
Of course, the first thing you need to do is build the Johnny House.  Plans are available from several catalogs that sell dog-training supplies.  The plans used in this article are available from Quality Wildlife Services, Inc.  (www.qualitywildlife.com)

Site Location
The field setting for the house should be good quail habitat.  A field of fescue or bermuda grass will not work.  Instead, find a field dominated by native grasses and weeds along with scattered small patches of “heavy cover” such as briars or small shrubs.  If you are able, it is also a good idea to add a few scattered food plots of Egyptian wheat or sorghum to the setting.  This gives the quail a visual target to fly to as they leave the house.
Place the Johnny House out in the field away from any rank or unhuntable thickets.  The goal here is to make sure when the birds are released, that they don’t peel off into the jungle but rather they fly out into the work area.
Once the house is set in position, you can place some light brush tops around the funnel entrance on the outside of the house.  This will give the returning quail some concealment cover as they mill around the funnel entrance.
Preparing for the Quail

First, you will need a way to feed and water the birds.  For many years I avoided using a Johnny House because of the time it took to keep the birds serviced.  The quail were constantly fouling up the feed and water with their droppings or the feed would get wet and nasty after rainstorms.  That’s why I developed the LessMess feed and water system.  The system holds enough feed and water to take care of 25 quail for two to three weeks and is designed to prevent any contamination from the droppings.  This feeding system also prevents you from taming down your birds because it is not necessary to enter the house as often.

http://www.qualitywildlife.com/less-mess-quail-feeder.aspx

LessMess Feeder and Nipple watering system takes care of 25 quail for about 3 weeks.

The kind of feed used is important.  Wild or early season released quail are free ranging so they do very well when supplemented with grains.  This is because they are able to pick up green forage and insects as they find them.  Since the Johnny House birds are only “free ranging” off and on, you need to provide a more complete diet.  I obtain commercial game bird feed from a local bird grower or a feed store and mix it about half and half with either sorghum or wheat.
I said earlier that I prefer a solid floor in my Johnny House.  Now let me explain why.  First, with a solid floor I can place about a one-inch thick layer of clean sand in the bottom of the house.  This gives the quail sand to preen and clean their feathers.  The sand also absorbs moisture from the droppings and makes for a more sanitary environment.  Secondly, I add a double handful of hay and place it in a corner of the house.  The hay, along with the sand floor, enables the birds to stay much warmer during extremely cold weather.

A happy bird is a healthy bird.
Managing the Quail
The first thing you need to do is to get the quail into the Johnny House.  I usually place the birds into the house one at a time by feeding them into the funnel. To do this, just open the door of the house and place the first bird inside.  Next, put the remaining quail in through the funnel.  As each bird gets started up the funnel it will see the remaining bird inside and not hesitate to go on in.  This allows the birds to get familiar with the funnel.

I like to leave all the birds in the house for about a week.  During this time they can begin to bond as a unit and get familiar with the surrounding landmarks and horizon.  After this, I return and let about one third of the birds out.  If you are using a Total Recall (digital recalling device) on the house, now is the time to turn it on.  The unit is designed to give a sequence of “covey-up” calls at various times of the day.  When the unit begins to call, the released birds begin to make their way back toward the house.  If you do not use the digital caller you will have to depend totally on the remaining birds to do the job.  I repeat this process several times until all the birds have made several trips in and out of the house.
When you go to release birds for working your dog you will notice that wherever the first bird goes, the rest want to follow.  This can work for you.  Let’s say that the first bird flies out straight to a briar patch about 50 yards out in the field.  I like to let four or five more follow him and pitch in while they can still see him in flight. Then I pull the release door shut to stop the flow.  Once all the first birds have set down, I reopen the door and see if the next batch will pick out a different spot.  This way I can often get a good spread without having them all   pitch into the same patch of cover.   If the first bird sails out of the house toward an undesirable place, just pull the release door shut until he is no longer visible and try it again.
I like to leave at least one or two birds in the house to give the returning birds a stronger desire to get back inside.
One last note.  All this is fine during the fall and winter months, but once the days get longer and spring approaches the hormones start flowing.  This means that the cock birds will begin to get feisty and the covey behavior breaks down.
At this point I empty out the house and get it clean for next season.

Maintenance
About half way through the season I perform a quick house cleaning.  To do this I take a flat point shovel with the handle cut off, and remove all the old sand and hay.  Then I replace it with clean sand and put a double handful of hay to one of the corners.

At the beginning of the season it is also a good idea to get a block of “bar bait” and place it underneath the house.  Bar bait is a waxy block that contains a grain treated with rat poison. This can be purchased from your local feed and seed store.  Repeat this when you perform your mid-season cleaning.
During this article I have used quail as the focus species. However, Hungarian partridge and Chukar partridge “recall” very well also.  In very harsh northern climates you may find it more to your benefit to use one of these species.  The only changes you would have to make on the house would be to increase the funnel dimensions accordingly.  For instance, the standard quail funnel is 14 inches long and is 4 inches in diameter at one end and 3 inches in diameter at the other.  For Huns and Chukars the funnel would be 6 inches in diameter at one end and 4 inches in diameter at the other.
The other equipment is easily adapted as well. If you use a LessMess feeding system the directions will tell you the proper height for each species of bird.  The Total Recall (electronic recall device) is also available in both the Hungarian and Chukar partridge.
Recall pens are not for everyone. However, if your time and space are limited, Johnny’s House may the way you can keep some birds Home On The Range.
____________________________________________________________
For more information about Johnny House plans or the equipment mentioned in this article, contact Quality Wildlife Services at 1-877-242-2482 or visit  the website at www.qualitywildlife.com
____________________________________________________________

GREAT HUNTING RETREAT
This 980 acres will make a great hunting area. Over 400 acres of mature pines, the rest in younger trees.
Abundant deer, quail, and turkey!

Are you scanning the classified ads and touring the countryside, in search of a piece of property to manage for quail?  If the answer is yes, then maybe you need to be thinking about what characteristics would make you want to purchase a particular tract of land and what would cause you to pass on it.  To help you with this process, let’s discuss some various scenarios you are likely to run across.
Forested Land

Quail are a species that prefer a  “early plant succession” habitat, better known to most of us as WEEDS and NATIVE GRASSES.  For quail, the best number of trees per acre is ZERO, but most of us in the southeast are going to find ourselves dealing with a woodland setting of some kind.
When considering a piece of forested land, you need to find out more than just the initial cost per acre. You should also  think about the answers to the following questions:
How much income can I generate by removing most of the timber and when?
How much will it cost me per acre to treat the cut-over areas with a forest herbicide to make sure the acreage becomes  quail habitat and not a jungle of hardwood brush?
Am I paying for existing “improvements” ( extra structures, ponds, improved pasture, planted pine stands, etc.) that I will have to spend money to remove or don’t need.

Asking yourself these questions as you look at different tracts, can help you zero in on your options.  For instance, if the  parcel of land has recently been cut- over,  you will not be able to generate any immediate income from timber sales to put back into the property for brush control.  If the seller  has conducted a “site-prep” herbicide treatment and replanted with Loblolly or Slash  pines, then you would be paying for the land, herbicide work,  plus the establishment of pines trees that are poised in a few years to eliminate your quail habitat options.
On the other hand, if the seller  has conducted a chemical site prep after the harvest, but not yet replanted the acreage with pines, then your timing would be great.  In this case the stage is set for your quail project to begin without having the additional cost of chemical work or paying for the planted pines “improvements” that you don’t want.
If you are looking at  land that was cut over several years ago and no effort was made to  follow  up with any brush control measures, then you should try to negotiate the price per acre down so that you can afford to do the application of forest herbicides ( about $90/acre) after the purchase.  If this is not possible then keep looking  for a tract that will cost less per acre to produce quail habitat.
If the land was established in longleaf pine then the situation changes.  Longleaf pine is a different critter.  There are government programs out there that are trying to increase the acreage of longleaf and native grass ecosystems.  If you run across one of these tracts up for sale, then you may have the option to combine some quail hunting with some degree of future timber income.   Longleaf  pine does not shade out the under-story habitat to the degree of most other pine species.  Also,  control burning can be initiated in it at a much younger age than the typical loblolly stand. With proper management you can keep the ground cover in quail habitat right up until you start thinning the pines.
These are just a few examples, but I believe you get the idea.  Going back to the original questions can help you think things through and sort out your options before buying forested land for a quail project.

FOR SALE  EXCELLENT HUNTING LAND.
150 ACRES OF CROP LAND PLUS 2 LARGE PASTURES, 400 ACRES TOTAL.  FIFTEEN MILES FROM INTERSTATE.

Open Non-forested Land

Much of the unforested land that is available falls into two basic categories:  crop land   and pasture land.
When you come upon quail land of this type, you may want to ask yourself similar questions to those asked about forested land, such as the initial cost per acre and what income can you generate on the land to help off set management costs.  Also, you need to identify what type of beneficial or non-beneficial vegetation presently exists on the property.
For instance, if you are buying old pasture land, the basic landscape is probably covered with some type of sod-forming grass.  Common ones are coastal bermuda, fescue, or bahia grass.  These species are good  for grazing and hay production, but have to be removed in order to allow native weeds and grasses (quail habitat) to flourish .  In this case, ERADICATION of sod-grass is the goal, but in reality you will probably end up just gaining CONTROL of the acreage.  By this I mean that you will be able to convert most of the area back into quail habitat, but you will still have to treat trouble spots each year to keep the sod-grasses in check.  This will be a necessary cost in this situation, so remember this before you buy.
One way to off set the cost of converting sod-grass to quail habitat may be to rent the land out to a farmer who is willing to plant Round-Up ready corn or soybeans for a few years. This way you can receive an income from the farming while the farmer is removing the grass problem in the crop fields.  In these situations, you can often pay the farmer to chemically treat the sod-grasses on the field edges as well.  Once the sod-grasses have been eradicated from the field borders, you could then establish them in weeds and native grasses.

After a couple of years, the Round-Up ready farming practices will present you with the option to expand your quail program by converting some of the crop fields to quail habitat or expanding the width of your field borders.
If you are considering the purchase of active crop land, carry some of these thoughts with you.  Interview the landowner about past and present farm practices and evaluate the kind of vegetation that is present in fallow areas and field borders.
One last point about purchasing land for a quail project.  While looking at maps and talking with the seller, find out what is taking place on  the adjoining tracts.   Does the property you are considering back up to another quail project or is there a trailer park loaded with roaming house cats along your southern border?  Nearby activities can affect the success of your quail project, so ask about them before you buy.
I hope this discussion will be of assistance to those of you fortunate enough to purchase some land for a quail project.  Keep focused on your objective for buying the land, and what you will have to do after the purchase to achieve your goal.
There is a lot of land out there for sale but remember,  all that shimmers is not gold.

“There is every reason to believe that this strikingly beautiful color phase will remain a rarity in the wild in the future, as it has been in the past.” -  Herbert Stoddard

I was recently visiting a friend of mine named Harold Ray. He is known through out the field trial world as one of the best ever shooting dog trainers.  He has won eighty championships and was elected to the Field Trial Hall Of Fame in 2007.  Early in his career Harold was hired by Elvin and Inez Smith to be the trainer for Smiths English Setters.    Last year Mrs. Smith  passed away, and   Harold was asked to go through some of the records and materials she had accumulated.  During this process he came across a binder of very old issues of  American Field magazine.   Harold told me that one of them contained an article that discussed   “the red quail of the Ames plantation”.  At this point my ears perked up.

Over the years I have had many people ask me about the “red quail”.
Questions like, “Where did they come from?”,Why is it called the Tennessee Red?”, “Is it a separate species?”, “Are their  calls different from the Northern Bobwhite?”“Will red quail and northern bobwhite form mixed coveys?”
Maybe this was an opportunity to get some answers.
Harold went on to say that according to the article some of  the first reports of  Red Quail came from sightings on the Ames Plantation around 1925.
I had heard of the Ames Plantation since that is where the National Field Trial Championship is held every year.  I knew it was a large place (over 18,000 acres), and was  located in west Tennessee.
Unfortunately, Harold  had loaned out the magazine article, so I could not read the entire thing myself to learn more about the sighting.  But I left his place with enough of a lead to begin digging for more information about red quail on my own.  Here’s what I found out.
According to ornithologists, if a quail shows a lack of pigmentation in its feathers, this condition is called “albinism”.  If it shows an abnormal red coloration, it is referred to as having an “erythrism”.  In Herbert Stoddard’s classic book, The Bobwhite Quail,  he addresses the subject of erythrism.  He says that a female quail of the red color phase was sent to the U.S. Biological Survey after being shot in 1921.  The bird was collected ten miles south of Potomac, Virginia in King George County.
Not much more was said about this curious red quail until the manager of the Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, Tennessee wrote Mr. Stoddard a letter in February of 1927.  The manager, Mr. C.E. Buckle, wrote:
“There is a mixed covey of quail here of which seven are distinct auburn red, and when flying they look a richer red than they are in your hand.  We killed  one a day or two ago and it is the most beautiful quail I have ever seen.”
Soon after he penned this letter, Mr. Buckle wrote an article for American Field in which he describes the unusual coloring of the birds this way:
“The auburn red is much like that of the red Scotch grouse. “
A year later he shot a red quail there at the Plantation, and sent it to Stoddard for his collection.
If I had been Herbert Stoddard, I would have seen this as an opportunity to go quail hunting at the Ames Plantation.  That is exactly what he did a few weeks later.  While there he saw five of the “red phase” quail in four different coveys.
The red quail seemed  to spread out and increase on the Ames Plantation.  About 1930 Stoddard noted,  “no less than one to five red quail have been noted in seven different coveys over several square miles…”
In the years following many red quail were captured on the Ames Plantation and propagated for release in an attempt to increase their numbers.  Some were also trapped and sent to Sherwood Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia, for genetic experiments.
From these early studies it was determined that the red quail condition was a natural trait that can “ crop out” from time to time in the northern part of the bobwhite range.  However, it seemed that Grand Junction, Tennessee was the only location where it actually had a tendency to persist.
However, efforts to increase the number of  red quail were very discouraging.  In a summary of this work, published in 1949, researchers made the following comments,  Both at Grand Junction and in Georgia, the red quail that had been released as adults appeared in a few instances from five to 35 miles away —— . They also noted,  the reds lacked the vigor of the normal birds, their egg fertility was much lower, and their mortality rate both before and after hatching was higher .
Since some quail growers are currently propagating this muted strain commercially, it is obvious that much knowledge has been gained about rearing the red quail since the 1930’s.  So what might one expect to see in the red quail obtained from breeders in this day and time?  Once again I turned to Harold Ray for his insight. I figured anyone who trained four Hall of Fame dogs and has been working with all kinds of released quail since the
1960’s, had to be very discriminating when it came to bird performance.
Harold told me he had used Tennessee Reds for a couple of years on his place.  He used some in Johnny Houses(recall pens) and others to establish free ranging, pre-season release coveys.  From his experience, Harold said the red quail seemed to hold to a smaller home range, be very strong fliers, and demonstrate a stronger covey instinct than some of the normal bobwhites he has used.
This experience has led me down a scent trail to some great historical documents on red quail and the answers I had been seeking.  I had learned that these quail were not a separate species, but rather a naturally occurring muted strain of the Northern Bobwhite.  Also, I found out that since this color seems to persist in Tennessee, it is sometimes called a Tennessee  Red.
As for their behavior, I surmised that since they had first been found in mixed coveys with Northern Bobwhite, they must get along pretty well with their relatives.  In addition, they have the same spring mating call and fall covey up call as the brown  phase .

Out of a casual conversation with a friend I was able to learn something new about quail.  In turn I am able to share this information with you.  You never know what can come out of something like a simple visit with your neighbor, especially when that neighbor has seen as many covey rises as Harold Ray.
References:
Buckle, C.E.:American Field, vol. CVII, no. 17,p.444, April 23,1927.
Cole, et.al., Auk66:28-35,1949.
Stoddard, H.L., The Bobwhite Quail, 1931: 86-87.

The DVD can be purchased here for $20.95

There are many factors that I could bring up, but let me briefly touch on two : high deer populations and sod forming grasses.  I have been managing quail properties in the southeast for many years. Here it is common for me to see a proliferation of seed producing plants emerge during the spring on acreage that was control burned the previous winter. During the summer months these same plants are browsed heavily by deer.  Though there is still seed production for quail, it is greatly reduced.

The second most common factor I see is an invasion of introduced species of sod-forming grasses such as Bermuda grass, Bahia grass, and Fescue. These can spread like a cancer and eliminate the growth of seed producing plants that make the foundation of quail habitat.
With these two factors and many more working to deplete food sources, many landowners must provide feed for their birds. This can be accomplished in several ways.

Food plots can be one way to furnish additional feed. However, if deer are limiting the amount of native seed available in late winter, then they may hamper the success of your food plots. If this is the case you may wish to read another article I wrote and posted on this site called, Using Egyptian Wheat for Quail Management.

Feed lines or broadcast feeding is another approach. This method involves distributing feed with equipment. This equipment could be as common as a fertilizer spreader, scattering the seed behind the tractor or as specialized as a REGULATOR.

The REGULATOR is a piece of equipment that looks similar to a grain wagon and is pulled by a tractor. This gives you the advantage of being able to blow the feed into cover thirty feet away from the road or path being used by the tractor. The point is this, you don’t want to spread feed in open areas or you you will be exposing your quail to more predation.

Broadcast feeding is done every ten to fourteen days. Some plantations drive a given route without turning off the spreader until they reach the end of the designated feed line. Other operations spread intermittently along an area of suitable cover throughout the quail land. Each time the feed is distributed in the same vicinity.

Smaller grains, such as wheat or sorghum are generally used for this kind of feeding. I personally do not recommend spreading corn because once the deer discover it you will be losing a lot to the “flop ears” instead of quail. Again, avoid putting feed on roads where the quail may become “fast food” for hawks.

This method is generally used on larger tracts of land and works quite well. However, since you will be feeding a host of song birds and mice as well as quail, large amounts of grain are necessary. Thus, you will need bulk storage facilities.

The use of feeders is also a good way to provide supplemental feed to quail. This approach is the most practical on average and small size tracts of land. Small ground feeders such as the “Scruggs” feeder have been around for a long time. They work well but still make the feed available to field mice. The Covey Coop quail field feeder uses a different approach. It is a covered feeder and watering system that is suspended in a frame. This unit places the feed out of reach for mice, yet it is accessible to quail and keeps it dry during wet weather.Regardless of the type of equipment, the kind of feed used can make a difference. For years I have used either wheat or sorghum in my feeders. These whole grains are less likely to absorb moisture from the air and mold. Also they are high energy foods desired by quail in winter.

I never use commercial gamebird feed in a range feeder. The processed feed tends to form clumps. This process also gives off an odor that attracts raccoons and other varmints. I never use “chicken scratch feed” either. It is usually a low-grade feed with some salt in the mix, which along with moisture from the air can sour the feed.

You may wonder about putting soybeans in your feeder. Several times I have tested the feeding preferences of quail by offering them a choice of wheat, “red” sorghum, or soybeans. When given these three choices, they have always preferred the wheat first, the sorghum second, and the soybeans last. If the sorghum I offered was one of the “yellow” varieties, it was a toss up between the wheat and sorghum. I am sure that if a bird is hungry and has no choice he would not turn down the soybean, but if you want to entice the covey, you may consider these results.

Some of the basic things to remember when using feeders:

Concealing the feeder unit is important. Regardless of what kind of feeder you use, try to place it in a location of good cover. The idea is to hide the birds while they are busy feeding.

Servicing the feeders must be on a regular basis. How often you will have to service a feeder will depend on the size of the feeder. Keep in mind that as winter progresses the amount of feed used will usually increase.

Regardless of the method used, feeding involves time and effort. Although the main objective is to hold the birds on your property, research has shown there are other benefits as well.

The Albany Quail project team and Tall Timbers Research Station have shown that feeding quail increases the population’s overwinter survival and can enhance their reproductive potential. It seems that when food supplies are scare, quail have to cover a much larger area to find enough food. This increases the possibility of predation. Supplemental feeding reduces both the area and time needed for birds to obtain adequate food thus:

more feed => smaller home range => less predation = Higher

Survival These same studies also showed increased reproductive output as a benefit of extra feeding because the quail were in better physical condition at the onset of the nesting season.

I hope that now you will be able to digest some of this information and see how supplemental feeding can enhance your bird program. Perhaps you can have quail for your Christmas dinner, too.

Feed lines or broadcast feeding is another approach. This method involves distributing feed with equipment. This equipment could be as common as a fertilizer spreader, scattering the seed behind the tractor or as specialized as a REGULATOR.

The REGULATOR is a piece of equipment that looks similar to a grain wagon and is pulled by a tractor. This gives you the advantage of being able to blow the feed into cover thirty feet away from the road or path being used by the tractor. The point is this, you don’t want to spread feed in open areas or you you will be exposing your quail to more predation.

Broadcast feeding is done every ten to fourteen days. Some plantations drive a given route without turning off the spreader until they reach the end of the designated feed line. Other operations spread intermittently along an area of suitable cover throughout the quail land. Each time the feed is distributed in the same vicinity.

Smaller grains, such as wheat or sorghum are generally used for this kind of feeding. I personally do not recommend spreading corn because once the deer discover it you will be losing a lot to the “flop ears” instead of quail. Again, avoid putting feed on roads where the quail may become “fast food” for hawks.

This method is generally used on larger tracts of land and works quite well. However, since you will be feeding a host of song birds and mice as well as quail, large amounts of grain are necessary. Thus, you will need bulk storage facilities.

The use of feeders is also a good way to provide supplemental feed to quail. This approach is the most practical on average and small size tracts of land. Small ground feeders such as the “Scruggs” feeder have been around for a long time. They work well but still make the feed available to field mice. The Covey Coop quail field feeder uses a different approach. It is a covered feeder and watering system that is suspended in a frame. This unit places the feed out of reach for mice, yet it is accessible to quail and keeps it dry during wet weather.Regardless of the type of equipment, the kind of feed used can make a difference. For years I have used either wheat or sorghum in my feeders. These whole grains are less likely to absorb moisture from the air and mold. Also they are high energy foods desired by quail in winter.

I never use commercial gamebird feed in a range feeder. The processed feed tends to form clumps. This process also gives off an odor that attracts raccoons and other varmints. I never use “chicken scratch feed” either. It is usually a low-grade feed with some salt in the mix, which along with moisture from the air can sour the feed.

You may wonder about putting soybeans in your feeder. Several times I have tested the feeding preferences of quail by offering them a choice of wheat, “red” sorghum, or soybeans. When given these three choices, they have always preferred the wheat first, the sorghum second, and the soybeans last. If the sorghum I offered was one of the “yellow” varieties, it was a toss up between the wheat and sorghum. I am sure that if a bird is hungry and has no choice he would not turn down the soybean, but if you want to entice the covey, you may consider these results.

Some of the basic things to remember when using feeders:

Concealing the feeder unit is important. Regardless of what kind of feeder you use, try to place it in a location of good cover. The idea is to hide the birds while they are busy feeding.

Servicing the feeders must be on a regular basis. How often you will have to service a feeder will depend on the size of the feeder. Keep in mind that as winter progresses the amount of feed used will usually increase.

Regardless of the method used, feeding involves time and effort. Although the main objective is to hold the birds on your property, research has shown there are other benefits as well.

The Albany Quail project team and Tall Timbers Research Station have shown that feeding quail increases the population’s overwinter survival and can enhance their reproductive potential. It seems that when food supplies are scare, quail have to cover a much larger area to find enough food. This increases the possibility of predation. Supplemental feeding reduces both the area and time needed for birds to obtain adequate food thus:

more feed => smaller home range => less predation = Higher

Survival These same studies also showed increased reproductive output as a benefit of extra feeding because the quail were in better physical condition at the onset of the nesting season.

I hope that now you will be able to digest some of this information and see how supplemental feeding can enhance your bird program. Perhaps you can have quail for your Christmas dinner, too.

The DVD can be purchased here for $20.95

This DVD is included with the Covey Base Camp and available to anyone interested in learning more about our release system and products.

The DVD can be purchased here for $15.95

Note: For the context of this article I am defining “released quail” as follows: Quality flight conditioned birds, grown in isolation and released four to six weeks prior to hunting season. Their release is accompanied by some method of feeding to assist the birds as they transition from the flight pen to the wild, not just dumped and left to chance. Now let’s get back to the client. After a few years of releasing quail, controlling predators, and improving the habitat, this man saw baby quail during the summer on his property.

September came and the client conducted his early release of birds as usual. Several weeks later he began to hunt with the anticipation of finding both the released birds and the birds he had seen a few months earlier. He found several coveys containing about twenty birds each. “Oh, these are the birds I released this year”, he surmised. But where are the other birds? Are they gone? Were they voted off when the new contestants arrived or are they still in the game?

Now let’s discover what really happened by examining a case study conducted by Clay Sisson and the Albany Quail Project based out of Auburn University.

In this study a landowner in East Alabama had several thousand acres of quail land. Part of it was dedicated strictly to wild bird management, while the remaining area was used to conduct a pre-season release project. In early fall as the owner planted scattered plots of wheat, he spotted numerous quail broods on the property. After the pre-season release was conducted and hunting season was in full swing, the landowner concluded that he, like the client, was not finding any of the wild coveys.

Clay and the other members of the AU team were notified and got to work. During the fall of 2002 the researchers trapped four coveys of native quail located in the release bird area. Tracking radios were then placed on each one so their movements could be monitored both before and after the introduction of released quail. Also, all the early release birds used that year were leg banded for identification purposes.

The investigation ended in the spring of 2004 with interesting results. Birds in three of the four radioed coveys mixed with birds in early release coveys. The fourth radioed covey remained unmixed. None of the four radio marked coveys were run off the property. In fact, they never left their original home ranges.

These results were similar to an earlier Auburn study conducted during 1990-92 by Ted DeVos and Dr. Dan Speake. (Wildlife Society Bulletin 1995, 23(2):267-273). The remote video and banded bird studies I conducted in Georgia from 1996-98 yielded these same types of findings.

Now, back to our question. Why did the client and the landowner think their native grown quail had been run off? To answer this you have to look at what happens to a released covey during the “boot camp period”. This is a term I first used back in 1993 to define what happens to a released covey of quail during the first four to six weeks as they settle into the new area and establish a home range. For example, let’s say we released a covey of birds at a prepared site in mid-September. By the end of October we could have lost 30 to 40 percent of the covey, but the birds that remain are graduates of the “boot camp” and survive at a rate almost identical to their wild counterparts. Now what happens is that our native coveys begin to mix with the survivors thus, restoring our released bird covey back closer to its original size. This shell game creates the illusion of a “wild bird disappearing act”.

Now let’s address our second question, Can released quail raise young in the wild?

What does the Alabama study imply about reproduction from early released quail that survive the hunting season? The weights of “native” quail trapped and radioed for the Alabama Quail Project study ranged from 170 to over 200 grams, with many falling somewhere in between these weights. This would suggest that the native population was already a cross between pure wild birds that are smaller(about 170 grams) and the released birds, which are larger (about 230 grams). In fact 20% of the birds in the bag had no bands. This means that these birds were raised on the study area.

Other studies have shown similar results. Ted DeVos’ study concluded, “Pen-reared quail which survived the winter appeared to contribute to the reproductive season normally.” My research also captured several remote video events at Base Camps where banded quail from the previous season were bringing in broods for water and feed. In South Carolina, Brad Mueller conducted a study where he radio tagged 120 pre-season released quail that had survived the hunting season and 135 wild quail that had survived the hunting season. These birds were monitored throughout the breeding season. Brad’s report stated, “Overall, there was no difference in the average clutch size, percent hatch or percent survival of chicks to flight stage.”

All these investigations make no bones about it. Pre-season released quail that survive the hunting season are capable of producing offspring in the wild. Your next question is probably, “How much reproduction will I get on my land?” That is like asking, “How long is a piece of string?.” The amount of production is what us “bio-types” call site specific. It all goes back to the fundamentals of how much land you have, how good your brood and nesting habitat is, and how many predators you have.

In reality, most of the early release projects I work on are 200 to 300 acre tracts of land. On well managed projects we expect to raise 4 to 6 coveys of quail but continue to release 12 to 15 coveys each fall. In these type of situations, I know that if I can raise a few coveys of “carryover” birds, then my odds of having a successful early release project are almost guaranteed.

I read a quote in a book by Rick Warren recently that put all this in a neat package. He said, “methods are many, principals are few – methods change, but the principals never do.” So no matter how small your early release project may be, do whatever you can to manage it like you would for wild quail. This needs to be your foundation principal.

If you have had much experience with conducting an early release of quail, then what I am saying is not news. If you have a philosophical bias against released birds, you probably won’t believe any of the studies anyway, but I’ve learned not to worry about such things. Come hunting season I just take my pointer Tatt out to my 150-acre project and have a blast hunting the “REAL SURVIVORS”.

Thomas H. Eleazer, DVM Avian Disease Consultant

Introduction by Jim Evans , Consulting Biologist

Introduction

Dr. Tom Eleazer received his degree of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Georgia in 1958 and served Clemson University as a veterinary pathologist, studying poultry and game bird diseases for 31 years. Tom is still actively applying his skills as a poultry and game bird disease consultant. In the past he has served as president of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, served on the advisory board for the Institute of Wildlife and Environmental Toxicology, and also as a member of the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Board for the South Carolina Wildlife Commission. He was also instrumental in the development of the vaccine for “quail pox”. Now let’s hear what he has to say about the question: Are pen-reared quail a disease threat to wild birds?

This question seems to remain on the mind of some quail managers and sportsmen throughout the Southeast. It comes up anytime landowners are considering the release of pen-reared birds on their property.

My remarks in this article are based on 39 years of experience with game bird and poultry disease diagnosis and research. I have dealt with both pen-reared and wild bird diseases. In 31 of these years I was with the Clemson University Livestock-Poultry Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. During all this time I have yet to see a disease condition in wild bobwhite quail that could be traced to pen-reared birds being released into a wild environment. In the space allotted me in this article, I will address a few diseases that seem to be causing the most concern.

Ulcerative Enteritis (UE) First, let’s talk about the most common disease of pen-reared bobwhite quail, ulcerative enteritis (UE). This disease can be devastating in pen-reared birds. A study that was funded by the North American Game Bird Association at Mississippi State University showed that several other anaerobic bacteria including some genera of Bacillus could also cause this disease, previously thought to be caused by the bacterium Clostridium colinum. While UE could in all probability be spread by filth, it has been shown that this doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, the causative organisms are carried in the gut of all bobwhite quail. When the birds are stressed, the organisms reproduce, and the bird gets sick. My theory is that UE may well be a part of the natural mortality experienced by wild quail especially during the time of late winter stress. However, I have never been able to prove this, since in the wild sick or weak birds are quickly removed by scavengers.Quail Pox Quail pox is another disease that concerns many people. This is a viral disease that seemed to emerge in the late sixties or early seventies. It caused quite a bit of problem for the game bird growers. For a number of years, I have been examining wild quail harvested on a large South Carolina plantation, where there are no records of pen-reared quail ever being released. During the mid- eighties, this investigation revealed the presence of pox lesions in about 6 percent of the specimens. These were the highest levels. Since then the presence of pox lesions has decreased to a background level of plus or minus 1 percent. In a further effort to prove this virus already existed in the environment, disease free bobwhite quail, raised in isolation, were placed in the field in cages on this and a neighboring plantation. Within two weeks the control birds were showing pox lesions. Therefore, this virus appears already be naturally occurring in the coastal plain. I feel that quail pox poses little or no additional threat to wild birds through the introduction of released quail. It is recommended that all pen-reared quail used in release projects be immunized against quail pox. This not only will prevent pox from being brought in to the wild birds, but will also prevent released birds from contracting pox from any infected native birds.

Coccidiosis What about coccidiosis? I have done quite a few checks for internal parasites in both wild and pen-reared birds over the years. I have found that this protozoan exists at low levels in most wild quail populations. Medications are used to control this threat in young pen-reared quail. Healthy, well-managed pen-reared birds are probably less of a coccidiosis threat than their wild counterparts.

Cryptosporidiosis
Another protozoan named Cryptosporidium causes this disease, and it specifically infects bobwhite quail. In the confinement of a flight pen, it can infect and kill up to 100% of the quail. It is similar to coccidiosis but more severe. As part of an in-depth investigation of avian crytosporidiosis, workers at North Carolina State University conducted studies on the incidence of this disease in wild bobwhite populations. Of 424 samples from wild quail, 3.1% yielded Cryptosporidium oocysts. This was a random sample from a “normal healthy” wild population. This finding appears to tell us that Cryptosporidium is already present at low levels in the environment. With this in mind, I feel that the release of healthy bobwhite quail poses little or no threat to wild populations. This disease can be devastating in pen-reared birds while in confinement, but thankfully it is not common in occurrence.

Histomoniasis (Blackhead Disease) This too is a protozoan disease that is transmitted by the chicken cecal worm. Bobwhites are somewhat resistant to “blackhead”, but some fairly virulent strains of the organism have appeared in recent years. Quail growers that are raising birds on wire floors, or those with aggressive worming programs, have largely eliminated this threat by controlling cecal worm infections. Free ranging yard chickens are a far greater threat as far as this disease is concerned.

Capillaria (Thread worm) These are long, slender, white worms that infect the crop and esophagus. This parasite actually starves the bird to death once the infection is heavy enough. I have seen this parasite in wild bobwhites at low levels. Again, those game bird growers with aggressive worming programs have successfully controlled this problem. This parasite poses little threat to wild populations.

Avian Influenza (AI)
This highly contagious viral disease has the potential of devastating the poultry and game bird industries. Most outbreaks of (AI), such as the recent occurrence in North Carolina, start out as “mild” strains with low disease causing potential. However, as these “milder” strains are passed from bird to bird they can become much “stronger” due to changes that take place in their genetic makeup. Natural reservoirs of (AI) exist in waterfowl and certain shore birds. These birds seem to be able to carry and shed the virus yet not be affected by it. Live poultry markets scattered throughout the U.S. appear to be the most likely source for (AI) infection. While bobwhite quail and other game birds are susceptible to (AI) infection, to my knowledge neither wild nor commercial quail have been established as reservoirs of this virus.This disease should not be taken lightly. Don’t be upset if a grower is cautious about letting you in his facility. He doesn’t know what you may be tracking into his operation. There are already sources of (AI) viruses in nature, but we must strive to keep it out of our commercial poultry and game bird industries.Summary I grew up hunting wild quail in coastal South Carolina, and later in south Georgia. I have a very high respect for this resource and feel that efforts need to continue to promote this valued part of our heritage. I wish we had enough wild bobwhite quail for every quail hunter to have the opportunity to hunt, but unfortunately this is not the case. Hunting released birds is a viable alternative to wild bird hunting. However, it is imperative that the released birds be obtained from a source that practices a conscientious health program. This is important for two reasons. First, unhealthy birds probably will not perform well in the field. Second, we have a moral obligation not to release birds into the habitat that could pose a disease threat to what is left of our wild bird resource. However, most of the diseases mentioned in this article are only a problem while the birds are being raised in confinement. They rarely occur as outbreaks in the wild. Thus, it is my sincere belief that the threat of disease being introduced into our native population by released birds is minimal at best, but we must continue to be vigilant and take steps to keep it this way. The first step being to obtain healthy birds from a reputable supplier who implements a good health maintenance program.

Sod-forming grasses are another factor to consider. Years ago, as cattle became more common in the southeast, landowners tried to improve the grazing quality of their pastures by introducing sod-grasses such as Bermuda grass, Bahai grass, and Fescue. When these types of grasses take over a fallow weed field, all of the plant groups needed to provide quail with food and cover are eliminated. In this case, the only remaining quail food- producing habitat on the farm would be in hedge-rows or wood lots around the pastures. Most often this is not sufficient area to carry a quail population through the winter. This creates the need to supply extra feed.

Not only are large deer populations and the huge influx of sod grasses working against us, but also the size of the tracts we are managing. Today, many of us are trying to produce huntable populations of game birds on smaller pieces of land. In this case year-round supplemental feeding of quail is a must. This is really no different than fertilizing a three-acre fishing pond in order to produce and maintain five acres worth of fish. Since you can’t make the pond bigger, you manage it more intensely so it can produce more fish. Providing supplemental feed on your quail area can provide more quail.

How does feeding impact a quail population?The large southern quail plantations have been providing supplemental feed to their quail for decades. They felt this practice would allow them to carry a bigger population of birds throughout the winter.

Tall Timbers Research Station, and Auburn University’s, Albany Quail Project, have in recent years, conducted studies to examine the pros and cons of feeding quail. Their findings have shown that supplemental feeding can increase the quality and quantity of quail that survive the winter. This results in a higher and healthier breeding population during the summer season than would otherwise be expected.For instance, The Albany Quail Project conducted a study on a plantation that had been feeding their quail for several years. The landowner agreed to discontinue supplemental feeding on one portion of the plantation, so researchers could compare the results between a fed and non-fed area. After two years, the population on the non-fed area declined 60% at which point the landowner stopped the project and resumed feeding.

Researchers from Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida also conducted a similar study. They found that feeding not only resulted in more birds making it into the breeding season but that the fed birds began nesting activity about one month ahead of the unfed population.

The researchers are quick to point out that the affects of feeding are more noticeable in drought years than they are during years that have adequate rainfall. Of course this is probably due to the effect that the amount of rainfall has on the overall availability of food.

Does feeding increase quail disease and predation ?Some people argued that feeding was a bad practice because it would lead to the spread of disease as well as increased quail predation. As far as disease is concerned, this is a no-brainer. As we already mentioned, the fed birds are in better physical condition than the unfed birds and a healthier bird is far less likely to contract an illness.

As far as predation, in many cases supplemental feeding can reduce it. One of the most interesting things to come out of recent research efforts is the effect that feeding has on the activity and home range of quail. The more abundant the food supply, the smaller the home range of the bird. The smaller the home range, the less the bird is exposed to predation. The lower the predation, the higher the overwinter survival rate.

In summary, we are trying to manage quail on smaller tracts in a fragmented landscape with a migratory Cooper’s hawk population that is unprecedented. A weak trapping market has allowed the four-legged predator population to sore. Trash dumpsters have become nurseries for an endless supply of feral cats and dogs that find their way to “quailville”. One would expect that anything we can do to help quail survive should be done. Supplemental feeding is one of those things.

I cannot think of any successful quail areas that I ever worked with in the past or that I am presently involved with now that do not have some sort of supplemental feeding program. It is vital to remember that providing feed for quail is only going to be meaningful when put in the context of good habitat management and in most cases, predator control. This is true for both wild bird management and successful pre-season release projects.Now that you understand why you may need to consider a feeding program, you may want to read next month’s column which will explain various methods of feeding.

In the days of my youth feeding quail was unheard of, but now it is as much apart of my management as control burning and fall disking.