Birds are in the Johnny House

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:09 pm

I know it is late in the year for this but I wanted to be able to work my dog after season, so I put a dozen birds in a Johnny House I built. They have been in there two weeks so I decided I to let some out yesterday. It was nearly imposable to get them to fly out but I did finally get three out. They basically just jumped down and walked off. Today they were all back in so I tried to run a few more out. They did the same thing, just jumped down and walked off. If I try to flush them they just run. I'm not sure of the age of these birds as I purchased them from a guy that has guided hunts. He keeps them in a flight pen and releases some when someone pays for a hunt. They looked like strong flying birds in his pen but now I think differently. Looks like I need to fins another supplier of birds.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by winchestermodel50 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:19 pm

You're doing the right thing. Don't run out more than half of them at a time. They will build strength very quickly and you will have a lot of fun with them. They may never develop a fear of you, but they will have a great natural fear of a dog. You are in for a good time.

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bwire
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by bwire » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:25 pm

You will enjoy the birds. The quail I have in a JH started out the same way but now they fly out as soon as they get a chance. They also fly harder when I'm running the dogs on them. Good luck

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:24 am

Thank you for the posts. I was afraid my dog would catch them so I was thinking of just letting them out and getting a new group of birds or putting these in a launcher. I guess I'll put him on a long line in the next few weeks to see how the birds react to him.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by DonF » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:31 am

Get yourself a cat and have the claws pulled. Put it in the JH for an hour or so a few times a week. Birds will get plenty of excersie! :mrgreen: Actually I do know a guy that did that. Didn't help at all. Cat was an old fat one and lazy as the day is long!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:38 am

[quote="DonF"]Get yourself a cat and have the claws pulled. Put it in the JH for an hour or so a few times a week. Birds will get plenty of excersie! :mrgreen: Actually I do know a guy that did that. Didn't help at all. Cat was an old fat one and lazy as the day is long![/quote

This post made me laugh but I'm not sure I'm going to try it.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by rinker » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:40 am

I have never had good luck flying birds out of a johnny house. They either just drop down right next to the house, or they fly all the way across a road, fence etc... I have a small cage with a recall funnel, I set the cage down inside the house next to a wall and leave it for 30 minutes or so. When I come back there are always birds in the cage, I then carry the cage to where I want the birds to go, I set the cage down and open the door and the birds can walk or fly out.

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:14 am

rinker wrote:I have never had good luck flying birds out of a johnny house. They either just drop down right next to the house, or they fly all the way across a road, fence etc... I have a small cage with a recall funnel, I set the cage down inside the house next to a wall and leave it for 30 minutes or so. When I come back there are always birds in the cage, I then carry the cage to where I want the birds to go, I set the cage down and open the door and the birds can walk or fly out.
Do they flush ok? I can walk all around thses birds and they could not care less. If I try to flush them they just run (I have not worked my dog on them).

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by Greg Jennings » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:19 am

DonF wrote:Get yourself a cat and have the claws pulled. Put it in the JH for an hour or so a few times a week. Birds will get plenty of excersie! :mrgreen: Actually I do know a guy that did that. Didn't help at all. Cat was an old fat one and lazy as the day is long!
I heard the same thing about a guy putting muzzle on a Jack Russel Terrier.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by rinker » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:45 pm

Do they flush ok?
I have never had a problem with birds flushing and flying. I have always started with young birds.

I would question how old your birds are and how have they been fed. I assume your johnny house has a higher sunning platform, do the birds fly up to this?

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:34 pm

rinker wrote:
Do they flush ok?
I have never had a problem with birds flushing and flying. I have always started with young birds.

I would question how old your birds are and how have they been fed. I assume your johnny house has a higher sunning platform, do the birds fly up to this?
I have no idea how old they are. This late in the year I would guess they are older birds. Yes, they have a sun shelf that is 48" up. Most if not all the birds are on the shelf when I check on them. I put the Johnny House out to limit human contact. I can walk up to the Johnny House and they will sit on the shelf on the same side I am standing on. They know I'm there but they do not care. If I open the door to check the feed ans water they will fly around some. When I let them out they will just run if I walk in their direction.

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bwire
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by bwire » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:13 pm

I think the birds are used to you. The quail I have in my jh act the same way. But if I have the dogs with me they fly great.

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Fester
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by Fester » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:51 pm

I have had good times with a JH you are right at first they will just walk around that is what you want, they will fly farther every time, in a week or so you can start the dog, in a couple weeks they will fly hard and scatter, I would turn 30 or so lose at a time and as i killed them i would replace them, also try to turn them out in the morning if you do it in the afternoon they won't come back until the next day and will get eat cats and such
Fester

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:08 pm

bwire wrote:I think the birds are used to you. The quail I have in my jh act the same way. But if I have the dogs with me they fly great.
I hope you are right. They are safe this weekend but the following I will have my dog after them.

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:10 pm

The ones I let out yesterday are still out. Hope they go back in before they get killed.

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bwire
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by bwire » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:31 pm

I think you will be suprised at how long some of those quail can last. I got my birds in early July and after keeping the in for 10 days I started releasing them. I would do a release about twice per week until the fall and since then I have done about one release per week. Some of the birds would go back into the JH after a few hours and others would stay out for a week before going in. This year I have only lost one quail to some type of predator. There are hawks, cats, owls and foxes around but if the quail have good cover they can do pretty well.

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:37 pm

I ahve been going to check on them about once a week but wanted to close the recall door if they were all in tonight. I could hear them in the thick grass about 20 yrds from the JH so I know they were all still alive tonight. Who knows by the time they go back in. I will check on them again Sat. when I plan to let the next group out.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by gundogger » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:49 pm

My youngest dog has been killing birds in the neighborhood as well recently

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bwire
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by bwire » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:07 pm

I used to keep the recall door open if some birds were still out. But a mink or weasel got in through the recall funnell and killed all the quail last year. So now the door gets closed every evening even if some birds are still out. Not work risking 20 quail in the pen for 4 or 5 outside of the pen. I learned that the hard way.

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A_LOTA_NOTA
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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:19 pm

bwire wrote:I used to keep the recall door open if some birds were still out. But a mink or weasel got in through the recall funnell and killed all the quail last year. So now the door gets closed every evening even if some birds are still out. Not work risking 20 quail in the pen for 4 or 5 outside of the pen. I learned that the hard way.
We do not have mink here so I am safe there. About the only thing that might get in is a opossum. I put a spring on the recall door so if anything over 12 oz tries to get in it cannot.

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Re: Birds are in the Johnny House

Post by A_LOTA_NOTA » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:27 am

rinker wrote:I have a small cage with a recall funnel, I set the cage down inside the house next to a wall and leave it for 30 minutes or so. When I come back there are always birds in the cage, I then carry the cage to where I want the birds to go, I set the cage down and open the door and the birds can walk or fly out.
I would guess you have to put food or something in the cage so they will go in?

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