Will pen raised quail survive the wild? I have a few thick fence rows and unmoved areas in the pastured for turkeys. Leaving tall grass and thick spots seams to help with young turkeys surviving. I keep spin feeders out all year with wild bird seed and sunflower seeds In it. Quail stay small and are a great target for hawks. Has any one tried it. pro/cons. Thanks in advance

Pen raised birds will not make it in the wild. All the studies I have read basically have 100% mortality within 2 weeks.

Some will some wont...some of it depends on how many u release...and I can't speak for the lifespan of it but I know for fact some will survive past a year...whether its good practice or not is another story

What ive read is 1/100 will survive. I would think it would be more. Theyre not hard to raise if you have somewhere to do it. Theres a fellow around snead that raises them for the quail hunters. He sells the leftovers really cheap at the end of the season. Cheaper than feeding them all year. If I were gona try it, I would buy some grown and turn them out.

The majority will be dead in a few weeks. Some may survive a little longer but all studies have shown this is a failure.

Best thing you can do is make your property desirable for quail. If there’s any around, they’ll show up.

I tried raising quail and lost most of them before they could fly. Once they start pecking each other its trouble.

I raised pheasant and Chukkar much easier but ate more feed.

A guy I met that as he said tried everything on his property. Call back pens etc. he finally bought day old chicks and tossed them out in his fields. Said that worked the best but probably lost the majority in the first few days. Bear in mind this guy spent several several thousand on chicks every year. Said those that made it was almost like wild quail He was pretty serious about his place and what he did and had money to burn. That was in Tennessee 15 years ago.

Agree 100%. Then release a couple hundred and see if they take.

Check the Tall Timbers study on quail. If you are going to do this start trapping predators a year in advance and never stop.

Quail need bare ground, plants that grow above it, and briars all in one place.

Some will survive and adapt
I have cousin that raises quail and put on hunts where he places the quail in his fields
He’s been doing this for years and has a decent wild population now

The place I hunt release quail every year. A lot of them at various times during the season. Very, very few survive for very long, but the hawks are fat and happy. Just a rough guess but I'm thinking along the lines of about 10-15 out of a couple thousand or more live through the year, then the biologists tell us that they won't reproduce. I saw a few the other day and it made me wonder if they were leftovers or actual wild birds since I never saw them fly. I know there is at least one big wild covey left because I get into it every now and then in the same general area. When I do there is no mistaking it for pen raised birds.

BTW, all the planning to benefit quail on this place was done by the previously mentioned Tall Timbers Quail Research Foundation and Aldeer's own Gobbler. The landowners put in a lot of time and money into helping the quail, which at the same time benefits all the wildlife which makes it such a special place. All those guys are as knowledgeable as anyone on the Southern Bobwhite quail. They put out some good reading on the subject but I've learn more over a beer ot two with them. Great guys, a lot of fun.

Thanks great advice/info. I don’t know if I’ll try it I’d like to have a few quail on my place.