Feeding Quail ??

[gtsticker]

I have been doing research on feeding of wild quail. There is evidence that it can be beneficial for survival. How do you feed the quail. Do you feed at set location or broadcast feed? If you broadcast how much per acre and how often? Thanks for any knowledge you have.

[Walker]

Road feed.

[Artos]

We didn't have any quail to feed this year.

[Sika]

We used to have 20 large quail feeders scattered throughout the ranch. We discontinued the feeding program. Here's the thing about quail - you can do everything or nothing for them and the next year you have either less or more than you have now and you will have no idea why.

[mjhaverkamp]

I been thinking about this as well, would like to set up several feeding stations, will have to make them pig proof plus make it safe for quail, any ideas are welcome.

[Radar]

Quail feed stations usually end up being grocery stations for predators.

[Big pig]

Best place I have seen bulldozed parallel lanes thru the Bee county low brush & pasture. And then fed them 1 & 2 times a week with road feeder. As I recall, some of the larger mesquite and huisatche was also removed

[BRUTE 23]

Feed stations are death traps. They make the quail easy targets for predators.

If you have the money, use a blower and hopper to launch it out in the pasture from the roads.

You can mount spreaders and stuff and do it also on a budget. It will attract pigs though so its best not to do right down your roads. Set it up to throw off to the side.

How much is a tough answer but you might be able to just watch how long before the seed disappears. You are going to attract all kinds of birds.

[gtsticker]

I been thinking about this as well, would like to set up several feeding stations, will have to make them pig proof plus make it safe for quail, any ideas are welcome.

The ones we have we take 1 panel and wrap it around the feeder. we anchor it with a couple T-post.. The quail get through the wire to feed.

[mjhaverkamp]

Quail feed stations usually end up being grocery stations for predators.

I am worried about this, we have taken all cattle off, there are tons of cover, may just let Mother Nature handle it, besides that we have several deer feeders out as it is and we will be planting different types of food plots, some geared towards birds

[dbaio1]

LDWF and Quail Forever Org -Louisiana are working wirh private land owners to provide habit and food sources. We did not sign up but are following some of the recommendations. Have not seen a single mention about feeders. Everything is habitat improvement for nesting and cover as well as planted food which is incorporated in the cover areas. Its beneficial for turkey too and we have been on a habit improvement focus for turkey for almost a decade and its working. In the 70's and 80's we had a healthy population of bobwhites on the farm. They have been rare and isolated numbers since then with years of no sightings at all. Good luck.

[rebelbow]

we just put a couple of bags of milo in our corn feeders when we filled them up with corn

[MAP]

I feed quail different ways, one is a ground feeder next to a 5 gallon poultry waterer, but i lay 1 or 2 cattle panels over the top to help hawks from dive bombing them. Ive also used long rolls of chicken wire, if your worried about hawks sitting on the panels. I also set these up between thick bushes and not around mesquites or huisache. The brush needs to be thick enough for a quick escape but not sturdy enough for hawks to perch on.

[bgleaton]

The biggest improvement we have found is by making sure the grasses aren't overgrazed by cattle and if they are, planting a native bunchgrass/forb mixture to help quail, turkeys, and deer. The native grasses and brush, if managed properly, should provide enough for the birds but it takes a lot of acreage to see a big difference. We have one quail feeding/watering station but I'm not sure it really helps. I've seen quail there a handful of times but it's mostly other birds that go in and out of it on a daily basis.

[Huntingfool]

We have a large amount of quail on our lease. They wear out the corn we feed but we also have water pilas all over the ranch which makes a huge difference IMO - we also have no cattle on the place so our grass is really good across the ranch