Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Bobwhite quail
Bobwhite Quail
Bobwhite quail are perhaps the most common game bird in the quail group. They are
native to many parts of the United States and Mexico and in areas with milder winters
can build up healthy populations. In the wild, they need suitable habitat — lots of brush
and thick grass to hide in — to survive, and with many of today's modern farming tech-
niques, which don't include natural fencerows, their habitat is disappearing. Wild pop-
ulations are suffering. Reintroduction of farm-raised birds has been successful in many
locations. Bobwhite quail are frequently stocked on game farms for people to hunt. If
they are provided cover, they do well and will frequently naturalize into the local popu-
lation.
Bobwhite make a pleasant sound, in fact they are named after the sound they make.
These quail are fairly easy to raise with a balanced diet. The biggest problem emerges
when these birds are young. They suffer from chilling and crowding and can be chron-
ic feather and vent pickers, which can lead to serious issues if lighting and feeds are
not carefully controlled. Bobwhite sometimes require use of a red light to diminish the
feather-picking problems.
RED LAMPS SOOTHE GAME BIRDS
Many find that using a red lamp (
not
infrared) is helpful in calming birds and keeping
cannibalism and feather picking at a minimum. Using a metal brooder specially made
for game birds, with small-gauge wire flooring and a wafer-controlled thermostatic
bar heater, facilitates red lamp use. A red-colored bulb can be used in the heater regu-
