Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What to do if you find a quail chick in your yard.
I have been receiving quite a few emails lately from non breeders of quail, who are finding quail chicks in their yard. These emails have been asking me for information on what they should do.
In this situation, one thing we know for sure. If this quail chick or chicks has been separated from the parent quail and left on their own, they are going to have a very short life span.
These quail are more likely to be consumed by a predator or the neighbor's cat, than to starve. So what should you do in this situation?
You always have the option of letting nature take it's course and do nothing. This is an obvious sentence to death for the quail chicks. But for the people that care about the safety and giving these quail chicks a chance at life, I feel there are several options.
1. Call your local wildlife and game agent, tell them the situation and have them send someone to gather the quail chicks so they can be taken care of properly. Keep an eye on the quail until the agents gets there, so you can protect them.
2. Try to gather the quail chick yourself. You must be extremely careful in doing this. The chick, just like any baby, is very fragile and can be severely injured very easily. If you are able to do this successfully, you will have to put them in a warm, clean space. They will need room temperature water. Then you can call your agent to pick them or it up.
Some people want to raise the single or couple quail chicks until big enough to release. Yes, this could be fun and an enjoyable experience. But if this is the choice you would decide on, you may as well let nature take it's course and not catch the quail chick to begin with. Keeping the quail and somehow being successful in raising the quail to reach maturity to release it, would be the same sentence to death.
Quail raised in a captive environment need to be properly prepared for release. Even with proper preparation, the chance of surviving the first year is only about 50 percent. Without the training it is 0 percent.
The decision is yours, please make the right one.
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To find out more about Raising Quail visit:
How to Raise Quail.com
Copyright © Gary Ortlieb
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In this situation, one thing we know for sure. If this quail chick or chicks has been separated from the parent quail and left on their own, they are going to have a very short life span.
These quail are more likely to be consumed by a predator or the neighbor's cat, than to starve. So what should you do in this situation?
You always have the option of letting nature take it's course and do nothing. This is an obvious sentence to death for the quail chicks. But for the people that care about the safety and giving these quail chicks a chance at life, I feel there are several options.
1. Call your local wildlife and game agent, tell them the situation and have them send someone to gather the quail chicks so they can be taken care of properly. Keep an eye on the quail until the agents gets there, so you can protect them.
2. Try to gather the quail chick yourself. You must be extremely careful in doing this. The chick, just like any baby, is very fragile and can be severely injured very easily. If you are able to do this successfully, you will have to put them in a warm, clean space. They will need room temperature water. Then you can call your agent to pick them or it up.
Some people want to raise the single or couple quail chicks until big enough to release. Yes, this could be fun and an enjoyable experience. But if this is the choice you would decide on, you may as well let nature take it's course and not catch the quail chick to begin with. Keeping the quail and somehow being successful in raising the quail to reach maturity to release it, would be the same sentence to death.
Quail raised in a captive environment need to be properly prepared for release. Even with proper preparation, the chance of surviving the first year is only about 50 percent. Without the training it is 0 percent.
The decision is yours, please make the right one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find out more about Raising Quail visit:
How to Raise Quail.com
Copyright © Gary Ortlieb
-----------------------------------------------------------------
