Johnny house complete

[Dieseldog8]

Hey guys I finished my Johnny house and now have birds in it. Just wondering from some of yal who have them how long should I wait to put some out? I have the electronic come back call just do they need to learn to use the door on the front? And also have some hawks in the area how do I keep them from snatching them up before they return? Now I know some of you are gonna say something about shooting them just being quiet about it but I'm looking for a real answer on what I could do? Any advice would be great! Thanks and God Bless!

[dan v]

One thing is not to mow the grass short around the pen...in fact leave some strips (tallish) that lead to the pen. The quail will have better odds of making in back in before a bird of prey grabs them.

[bwire]

I've used a JH for the past couple of years and I let the birds in for about 10 days and then I'll let a few out. They don't go very far and go back into the JH after a couple hours. I do this a couple times for a week or two and then I'll let more birds out, about 6 out of the 30 in the JH. I'll do this for a week or two and then let 8-10 birds out. After the quail recall into the the JH a couple of times when letting 8-10 birds out they are ready to be used with the dogs. If you keep the grass high around the JH and place some branches around it for the birds to hide under it may help give your birds extra time to get back into the JH. When I first put the quail in the JH I would put them in through the funnel one at a time. Last year I got 30 quail in July and this March I had 23 left. I did 1-2 releases per week over the 8 months I had them. I let the 23 go at the start of March and as of 3 days ago I was able to count 17 of them running off in the edge of the woods.

Do you have a door/ramp to cover the recall funel? I had a weasel get into my JH two years ago and wipe out the quail because I didn't cover it up one night. Good luck.

[Dieseldog8]

Yea I have a little door leading up to the hole with the funnel they make for it. Now it is in a pasture and the cows keep the grass mowed down around it what should I do? Because it's pretty flat around it. Maybe I should move it around some privot thicket or something. So they can find the hole by their self or they need to be taught? Like you said putting them in the hole one by one?

[bwire]

If there isn't any cover around the JH I think you might want to do one of two things. Move it to a place where there is some cover or place something in the area that will provide some cover. If you have the same experience as me, some of the quail will hang out around the JH but not go in for a few days. I had a couple of birds that wouldn't go back into the JH but hung around outside of it for 6 weeks. I would see hawks and cats but since there was cover they were able to stay hidden well enough. I remember reading somewhere that a person put a old bed spring with boards on top of it beside the JH to give quail some cover.

I don't know if they will learn to use the funnel without putting them through it. I've always put the birds into the JH one at a time through the funnel. Maybe if you let 2 or 3 out and see how they do you won't have to put them through it. If that doesn't work you may have to catch some and put them through it and the other quail can learn from watching. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Ken Lynch]

Another solution is to put a snow fence around the JH. This keeps the larger preditors away from the actual house and also helps keep the dogs away from the house. Let the grass grow inside the fense.

[sh0rthair]

Place a couple brush piles about 6 feet in diameter and 2 feet high approximately 10 yards from the recall end of the JH. Any larger and the birds will burrow up and hide in the brush piles. This gives the birds a place to hide before making a run for the recall funnel.