Lyon Center for Gamebird Research

Since 50-80% of quail adults die each year, and a quail's lifespan is ~6 months, quail populations hinge on sustained quail chick production. Yet, that is the main cause of quail population decline in drought years. Accordingly, The Quail Research Laboratory is able to recreate field conditions in the lab to develop solutions for chick production in adverse conditions. We also develop the normal stages of development for various quail species and look at environmental pollutants and medicated feed on quail chick production and development.

Gamebird and quail populations are declining across the globe. Developing solutions for population sustainability is key to reversing these trends. The Quail Research Laboratory is unique in that our smallest research stations spans more than 500,000 acres. We image large-scale populations through innovative monitoring and provide results that explain observed mysteries of “where did all the quail go?” We have research stations in Montana, Kansas, California and Texas with comprehensive research into the impacts of climate, weather, management and other factors on a suite of upland gamebirds and waterfowl.

As gamebirds across the globe continue to decline, population restoration is at the forefront of conservation action. Once habitat is restored, gamebird restoration becomes a prominent focus. However, historic releases of captive-reared quail have been unsuccessful and translocation are typically cost prohibitive to make a positive impact on a population level. Accordingly, The Quail Research Laboratory is leading the charge to develop an affordable and effective solution to gamebird restoration. Our Super Quail project is promising and a new Super Quail production facility will begin production in early 2024. We suspect we are on the brink of large-scale population restoration.

The Super Quail Project works to produce an affordable gamebird with wild-type survivability and a more stringent thermal tolerance so that they are prolific in challenging environments. We've made great progress in this arena and are building a Super Quail Production facility that will begin construction in 2024.