Can home hatched Common Quail be successfully released into the Wild?

Question

I live in a rural area with lots of wild quail. Does anyone know if home reared [not tame] quail could be released successfully, would they be able to fend for themselves when they become adults or would they simply die or be attacked by wild quail in the area?

Many thanks

Answer 1

For a bird to be able to be released into the wild it needs to have NO human interaction for its whole life and need to to incorporated back into the wild at the earilest possible time.

If you hand fed it as a baby - it cannot be released into the wild. It would need to have been "puppet fed".

If it has been able to watch humans as it grows thne you cannot release it.

For a home reared bird to be ab;e to be released - it needs to have lived in solitary confinement, 100% isolated for humans as far as it is concerned.

Answer 2

The answer is yes.

In the state where I live, Indiana, what is now called a "Oubache State Recreation Area" used to be known as the "Wells County Game Preserve".  One of the things that was done there was the raising and releasing of Ringneck Pheasants and Quail.  It was an extremely successful program.

Answer 3

Not if its on its own, I've hand raised three pheasants and they were all kept together, and the older they got the less contact I had with them - but they had each other.  I once hand raised a cockerel on its own after its mum abandoned him soon after he hatched, but when he was old enough to go back in the garden with the others he'd only fight and he could never really be like the other chickens.

If you have a few quails together, and keep contact to a minimum then they should be alright, but make sure you do a lot of reading up about them.

Answer 4

There are no reasons that your Quail cannot be released into the wild(unless local by-laws prevent this)

They are classed as Game birds and large numbers are reared in captivity to be released into the wild, for"Sport"

The only thing you will worry about is when Hunters come into the area and yours may become victims.