Can California Quail, Which Are Normally Ground Feeders, Be Trained to Eat from an Elevated Feeder?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment was to see if California quail, which are normally ground feeders, could be trained to eat from an elevated feeder. Methods/Materials The first step was to purchase two troughs that the quail could eat from easily. Then a quail block, cracked corn, and a mixture of white millet, milo, and sunflower seeds were placed in the feeders. The troughs were left on the ground for a week in order for the quail to become accustomed to eating from the troughs. After one week, the troughs were raised three centimeters and observed as much as possible. Whenever the quail were seen eating from the troughs, the date, height of trough (in centimeters), time, number of male and female quail, and any other species of all the birds that were in the troughs were recorded. The troughs were raised daily until they reached their final height of 42 cm. The experiment was repeated, but this time the feeders were raised every 3 days rather than daily. Results In the first experiment, the number of quail eating at the feeder receded after the troughs had been raised to only a height of 12 centimeters! The number of quail feeding continued to recede as the troughs continued to be elevated. When the experiment was repeated, the troughs were raised three centimeters every three days instead of each day, allowing the quail to get used to the elevating troughs. Unlike the first experiment, with the slower elevation of the food troughs, the number of quail feeding remained stable. Conclusions/Discussion The second experiment strongly supported the hypothesis. The number of quail eating from the troughs did not recede as the troughs got higher. Since the number of quail feeding stayed the same even as the troughs were elevated, the quail appeared to have been "trained" to eat from the elevated feeders.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Zoology · Entry J1928

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