Red label 12
New member
I have seen different shapes of quail houses, some are tall and some are short and wide, which is better and why, I would like to build one this winter and need plans, any place to get them online for free?
Johnny house question
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quail hound
Moderator
I think taller is better so the birds can fly up and down to and from a perch to exercise their wings. There are some plans on line, just Google it.:cheers:
Build it tall. Thats why they call them johnny houses. The reason is the birds get muscles to jump up and fly to the ledge at the top. usually you let them go from a trap door at the top. The ones inside on the ledge call back the birds that are free. I have used 4x4x8' design, works for about 24-32 birds, or I have tried a 8x8x12' which looked like a boxcar but was fine for quail. I had 100 in it. You will need 3 recall vents to retrieve birds, varmint proof. I would use double hardware cloth bottoms to, same reason. Screen on top. Water in winter is trouble, On daily inspected units I have used a battery powered water pump in a barrel in the ground, pumped up, recycle back. I am investigating solar on roof. It fun, is rewarding to find out a lot about quail, and it gives you some creativity to do your own thing. Your dogs will be better for sure, giving a year long activity.
bauerline
Well-known member
I agree with oldandnew. I have used the 4x4x8 with good results. I'm able to give the dogs some bird work starting in August and go into the spring. I release any birds I have left in the spring time and start with new birds over the summer. Plus my two boys like to help out with the birds.
Put some thought in how you want to feed and water them. The less you have to get into the pen the better. Good luck.
Put some thought in how you want to feed and water them. The less you have to get into the pen the better. Good luck.
In the January/February 2001 edition of The Pointing Dog Journal there are plans in it for a jonny house. Not sure if you can view that online or not. Anyway that's what I modeled mine after. It's 4x4x76 I believe. I'm not quite done with it. Hope to finish it today and get some birds in it soon.
Can't wait to be able to work my dogs year around.
Can't wait to be able to work my dogs year around.
Red label 12
New member
OK more questions, I can get all the quail I want this winter, they are full grown from a preserve, but I need to let them go in the spring? I'm not sure how easy they will be to get in the summer. What happens if you try to keep them through the spring.
quail hound
Moderator
Your best bet would be to get those now as breeders and start with young birds in the johnny house in the summer. My understanding is that if you let them out of the jh in the spring they will pair up and disappear trying to mate.
Exactly they pair up or spring shuffle to a far off location. Though, I have had a pair or two breed and hatch eggs IN my johnny pen! and some who came home and resumed residence after months. So I check for birds periodically, to make sure nobody starved. You're O.K. till about June depending on lattitude. Re-introduce mid August or so. Let 'em fly and recall, before training. Many times I think the birds are better trained than the dogs! If you can get 12 week old birds in late summer, they are hardy enough to go straight into the pen, lighter, better wing load, have a strong covey bond.
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I never thought about not letting them go in the spring due to pairing up and nesting. So you guys are saying don't let any go from the house in the spring then?
Is there any reason why you can't keep as many of the same birds in the house for a long period of time? I see where people start with new birds every year or at least some do. What is the thought behind this?
Is there any reason why you can't keep as many of the same birds in the house for a long period of time? I see where people start with new birds every year or at least some do. What is the thought behind this?
Let them go. Your in a quail area. Some may survive, some may return, or stick around the area. As far as holding them for another breeding season they will not do well. In fact those birds are getting close to age mortality anyway. Based on the fact that 80% of quail live less than a year. We are in a "grasshopper" life style. Which makes habitat and weather all the more valuable! The spring shuffle is such that recall is not as strong, seeing new ground is paramount, becoming a single bird, rather than a covey, and finding mates, most of which are not the covey mates. It's an amazing natural lifestyle, in a brown little bird,it has a hard fast ruled life span, like ducks, butterfly, who migrate, this bird is locally migratory, has precise rules of where he will be every hour of the day, at every time of the year. As a middlewest kid, I wandered the spring and summer listening to the song of the quail and the coo of the morning dove. Life isn't right without it! So let them go and wish them well. Get some new ones, around August or July.