Quail Country: August 2009

Profiling Quail Forever's efforts to restore bobwhite quail populations

What Do You Know About Quail Reproduction?

Quail Country: August 2009 Though most quail young are hatched around the end of June, some nests may be established as late as early September as unusually cold or warm springs may either delay or advance the peak of hatching.

Egg laying begins several days after the nest is built at the rate of about one egg per day until the clutch (averaging 14) is completed. Bobwhite nests are characteristically found in herbaceous vegetation consisting of mixed grasses and forbs such as those found in fencerows, roadsides or idle areas. Nests are generally located within 50 feet of an edge. Both the cock and hen work at building the nest by digging a shallow scrape and lining it with dead leaves and grass. Adjacent grasses are arched over the nest, concealing it from overhead and giving it the appearance of a small tunnel.

All eggs in a nest hatch within a 24-hour period and adults and young leave the nest together as soon as the chicks are dry. Mortality of chicks is especially high in the first two weeks following hatch and by fall broods may have sustained losses of 30 to 50 percent. Chicks can fly in two to three weeks and will resemble adults at 15 weeks. Adults and young remain together in a covey until late fall, when the "fall shuffle" (mixing of individual quail between coveys) takes place.

Historically quail were thought to be monogamous, pairing and staying with a single mate during the breeding season. Hens were thought to perform the incubation and brood-rearing activities with only slight help from the male. Today, we know that male and female quail often switch mates. A hen may lay and incubate a clutch of eggs or she may leave the nest to her mate to incubate, and move to another area, select another mate, and lay a second or even third clutch of eggs. Males can successfully incubate and raise a brood without help from a hen.

Even more surprising is that some that some hens care for their brood for just a few weeks after hatching then abandon the brood to care for itself and find another mate and raise another brood the same summer. Broods abandoned at three weeks of age have been known to survive to full growth without assistance from adult quail.

Today, we know that quail are much more opportunistic and persistent breeders than once thought. Because they are adaptable and will make attempts to nest throughout the summer, in some years virtually every hen that survives the perils of the nesting season produces a brood of young. This is one reason quail show an amazing ability to rebound from substantial population losses. Following heavy winter losses, quail populations may recover completely in two to four years, given good weather during nesting and mild winters between successive years. Of course, that recovery can only happen in good to excellent habitat. Population response in marginal habitat may take years to recover and some poor habitats separated from good quail habitat may never again hold quail following severe winters.

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