Nesting activity usually lasts from early May through September (Stribling 1997). Typically, only one out of every four nests will hatch. Nests fall prey to many egg-eating predators as well as forest and farm management activities. Quail overcome poor nest success by renesting after a nest is destroyed (Stribling 1997). It is very common in a period of favorable nesting conditions for a pair to have two or more hatchlings.

The male and female bobwhites build their nests together, first digging out a shallow nest scrape (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1998). They line the scrape with grasses and dead leafy materials, then arch weeds or grasses over the top of the nest to conceal it. Within one or two days, the female begins to lay her first egg. The female continues laying one egg per day until the clutch of 10-15 white eggs is complete. Upon completion of laying eggs the bobwhite pair then take turns incubating the eggs for about 23 days (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1998). The male normally sits on the eggs only about one quarter of the time, he will take over and hatch the brood alone if his mate is killed (National Geographic Society, 1973). Newly hatched chicks are covered with natal down, weigh about one-quarter of an ounce, and are not much larger than bumblebees. They are very alert, move around on the ground quite readily, and are flightless for the first two weeks.

The adult bobwhites will normally feed with the young, and if the young are in danger, the adults will normally lure it away by acting injured, usually a broken wing. The first 2 weeks are the most critical, because loss to predation and bad weather may take 50 percent or more or the hatch. By the time the young bobwhites are four to five weeks old, they have developed strong flight feathers and are able to fly away from danger, and at 15 weeks of age, the young are nearly full grown and identical in appearance as the adults (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1998).

Bobwhite broods remain with their parents and, in early fall, are joined by unmated males and unsuccessful pairs to form large "coveys" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1998). Juveniles can still be identified from adults for a full year by the more-pointed ninth and tenth primary wing feathers and buff-colored tips of the primary coverts (Research and Management Techniques for Wildlife and Habitats 1996).

Coveys numbered about 9-15 birds by early winter, and eventually roost and feed together. The young may remain intact as a brood in their parent's covey or they may disperse to join other groups (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1998). Early daylight hours are typically spent feeding while mid-day is reserved for nesting, preening, and dust bathing, while late afternoon coveys feed again before forming the covey circle on the ground to roost at dusk (Stribling 1997). The covey circle is the way quail roost, they put their heads out, tails toward the center, resting against one another for warmth. Alarmed, all can fly straight off without colliding (National Geographic Society, 1973).

As days become longer and temperatures become warmer during early spring, coveys begin to disband or break up. During most years in Alabama, coveys begin breaking up by mid-April (Stribling 1997). The early stages of covey break-up coincide with the time the cocks start whistling the too familiar bobwhite call.

Initially, coveys may splinter into pairs or other small subunits during the day and regroup to roost as a covey at night. Pair bonds are usually formed between covey members. Although pairs may begin building a nest and laying during April, covey breakup is often not complete until mid-May (Stribling 1997).