Johnny House - when to release, how many, etc.

We have a small quail lease in McDonough. During the 2016-17 season we tried to release birds on feeders using the covey basecamp method. We had some success in the early part of the season but in the last few months the birds havent survived more than a few days. So, we're going to try a Johnny house.

We've built one and stocked it with 30 birds. How long should we wait before releasing some of the birds? How many birds should we release at once and how many should we keep in the Johnny house?

We did our first release last week. We let 9 birds out (kept 21 in the JH), then trained our dogs on those birds. We didnt shoot any of birds. Most of the birds flew really well, so after the point and flush the birds flew a long distance and we didnt try to point them again. A few of the birds only flew 50-100 yards and we did point and flush them again. So, at the end of the training session all of the birds were at least 250 yards from the JH. Was that a mistake? I went back today and none of the birds made it back to the JH.

Any tips or tricks for a successful JH would be much appreciated. I dont want to spend any more money feeding hawks. Thanks

What I do is this. I put 25 birds in the johnny house for a week. After a week I go out and flush about half of them out right before dark a couple of times. If you do it right before dark, they will try to find their way back in pretty fast.Once I've flown them a few times, then I start using them to train. The earlier in the fall you start them the better, this time of year you will have less and less to come back, because the birds are starting to get the urge to leave the covey and pair up. Good luck.