We had the same problem with those sparrows. Finally sealed off all openings with 1/2” weld wire. Chicken wire wouldn’t work. They would go right through it.
Blue quail are amazing. We took our short hairs (6) down south one time. Those birds drove them dogs crazy not conveying up. We started mazing and crack corn on the roads and then just drove around. They were still hard to get
Been hunting Blue’s here in West Texas for over 60 years and I’ve learned a few tricks that make life much simpler. After about the first two weeks of season you might as well put the Pointers up. I usually just end up using one dog after that, for no better words I’ll just call it a dead bird dog. My dead bird dog is Gus, he’s half Springer Spaniel and half Lab. He stays with me and rarely misses a downed bird. I can find the live birds and Gus finds the dead ones. I feed 14 spots for deer, turkey and quail on my place and there’s always a covey or two hanging around the feeders. Where I live our quail population is really down, haven’t hunted the last 2 years. Still have some water in our ponds but the pastures are dry and brown still. We’re already having to feed the cows and the future isn’t looking good.