Maybe this has already been covered, but I didn't find anything in a forum search.

Just listened to the guy behind this medicated Quail feed on the Meat eater podcast:

Texas Tech professor's medicated feed for wild quail approved by FDA


Ep. 623: What Happened to the Bobwhite Quail? | MeatEater Podcasts

Basic summary is that the eyeworm and caecal roundworm parasites are the biggest factors in the crash in quail populations (even on ranches/land with ideal remaining habitat).

Supposedly increases survival rates from ~10% to 40%, and increases populations by ~300% over 3-4 years.

There have been lots of stories and research on this (fire ants, habitat loss, predator population growth, eyemites, etc).

This is the first actual "solution" I have seen that appears to improve things.

Have spooked a couple of coveys on my place recently after not seeing them for years. I'd be all in starting to get this feed into the quail feeders and i have no idea if the eye thing is a problem at my place.

The podcast is worth a listen. It starts about 30 minutes in, after a lot of jabbering about cowboy hats.

The guy is longwinded, but goes into detail about the research and the process to get it through the FDA.

Obviously won't restore populations that don't exist anymore.

But if you have some wild birds and are already feeding them it doesn't sound like there is much to lose in giving it a try @ $50 a bag.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3507428

It was discussed. Few pages back now. Pretty interesting stuff.

Thanks!

Houston Green, Texas parks and wildlife biologist, did this quail research on wildlife management area near Paducah in the middle 1960's, PR reports.