New Arrivals (Few toe injury pics for those squeamish)

[Nabiki]

Well, my coop outside is nearly done and finishing it is helping me take my mind off the wholesale slaughter my dogs had with my baby quail yesterda. I'll be doing one more foot clean before they all go out or trying the idea of letting them run around some shallow water to free up the muck.

I put in another bearer or w/e in the middle to support the new heavier gauge mesh flooring and you can see the new sand pit. Above the sand pit I will be cutting in a window so the idea is so the seabreeze comes through one end and out the other. Trying to make it predator proof while balancing ventilation is hard!

I'm sorry about the dogs and your quail. I had a pair of the neighbours' dogs take out over 40 of my birds a few months ago.

 

[Dadanga]

I'm sorry about the dogs and your quail. I had a pair of the neighbours' dogs take out over 40 of my birds a few months ago.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's incredibly frustrating. I used to get angry about it but over time I value life less and less and now it's just "There goes two and a bit weeks investment" All I can do is to start making life good for the New Arrivals and maybe even hatch some of those eggs out.

Although! Chicken life is a bit different. My stupid brother left the gate open and his dogs got to a chicken but luckily they are toy breeds and don't do much damage. I hate it though. Part of me wonders if it take a mental toll on the poor birds. Speaking of, I need to upgrade the gate system. It's basically a big mesh gate hinging off another mesh panel. It's kinda flimsy and it takes time to latch. I'll probably head to bunnings for some quickset and think about what to use as a couple of fence posts. Suppose steel would do it.

 

[Nabiki]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's incredibly frustrating. I used to get angry about it but over time I value life less and less and now it's just "There goes two and a bit weeks investment" All I can do is to start making life good for the New Arrivals and maybe even hatch some of those eggs out.

Although! Chicken life is a bit different. My stupid brother left the gate open and his dogs got to a chicken but luckily they are toy breeds and don't do much damage. I hate it though. Part of me wonders if it take a mental toll on the poor birds. Speaking of, I need to upgrade the gate system. It's basically a big mesh gate hinging off another mesh panel. It's kinda flimsy and it takes time to latch. I'll probably head to bunnings for some quickset and think about what to use as a couple of fence posts. Suppose steel would do it.

The neighbours got a stiff bill for the damage. I'm giving them six months to pay it and they've paid half of it so far.

 

[Dadanga]

Thought I posted these already. Here's some of the Gidge crew getting used to the new coop. Hoping for less sore feet with the thicker gauge flooring and thankfully when I went to fill up the feeder, there was no mouse droppings. There was an egg earlier today I forgot to grab!

Speaking of. I'll need to start organizing the males/females. For me there's some obvious standouts being a couple of the cream boys. I mostly like the size of them while there's a nice sized pharaoh I have my eye on. If one of the silver type? looking quail turn out to be male that will have to be considered.

Somehow with 21 quail I don't think I'm going to get the magical 1:5 ratio (seems to work well at least with Jake King and his hens.) I'm thinking 3 males to how many hens and adjust from there. One idea is to reinforce the number with hens from Jake's crew as well for some more diversity.

I must say. As for brooders. I really like the Tote more than I like my shotgun design. Feels my design needs to be wider and to have a better drinker system because the bedding would just get constantly wet around the drinkers and bring in the flies whereas the setup in the 240L tote is a lot cleaner being more of a square rectangle than long and skinny.

Maybe since it's more of a late stage brooder I could try to get some 4-5L container and attach some nipple drinkers to it so they start learning. Would 4-5 weeks be too young to learn to use the drinker? Would certainly keep the bedding less damp and stinky.

As for my incubator. Oddly enough it's still turning on and the fan going. How soon could I be using the Gidge crews eggs for hatching? A mix might be fun to try and I'll need to test the incubator to see if it's working proper.

 

[Dadanga]

The eggies are amassing. Also the little colored quail in Jake's offspring is developing a buff chest so it is indeed a boy! Makes me happy. Also makes me realize I'll need to start building a bachelor pad for all the boys while I rehome them. Mostly it will be the scrawnier males/white males. They're getting used to the wire cage bottom. I actually found one of those parts bin washers in the yard and part of me wants to turn it into a brooder considering it's on a stand and waist height (makes my bad back happy LOL. Although, now with the herniated disc gone, it's nowhere near as bad.)

Sometimes I flirt with the idea of getting something custom made. There's a carpenter on gumtree that makes really nice boxes but they are a little expensive and I have a mountain of left over pine/plastic/mesh. I'll probably browse through the sections here and there while watching some youtube build videos (slightly rednecked is my fav, don't mind the old bloke from coturnix corner as well. Myshire farm I watch for the processing) to get ideas.
A split coop might be interesting for introducing quails to each other.

 

[Dadanga]

They are plotting! It's high time for a bedding change and I've been busy trying to mulch every bit of cardboard I can find and stuff into my shredder in preparation for it. One good thing about picking up the paper bags from Coles I suppose. These two little seagulls were perched on the roof waiting for a cheeky bit of chip to magically appear through the grate. Mayhaps they were seagulls in another life. I could only imagine their bravado when a dirty great big pelican rocks up.

I've been trying to be super gentle with these guys when picking them up and if I feel them struggling/getting their wings above my thumb/index I'll put them back down quickly. I always worry about how much pressure to add since I know they can be quite hardly little birds. Seriously thinking about doing a mixed egg run from the new gidge crew and Jakes crew for a bit more randomness.

 

[Dadanga]

I have been so busy with the garden that aside from a feed/water change I have been neglectful of Jakes crew but one thing I have noticed big time as they approach 4 weeks is the size. They seem to have hit another spurt as most of the feathers on their head fill out. They are adorable little things and I'll probably be shopping for another drinker soon since they are outgrowing their baby drinker.

Seriously thinking about actually butchering my own quail just to try out the meat. I've had Emu before and that was kinda tangy, worked well in a lasagna. I've been watching some processing videos. I suppose at first I'd try to fully butcher then after I would just try the breasts themselves.

 

[Dadanga]

Well, Jakes Crew is 4 weeks old today and to celebrate the milestone they were rewarded with fresh bedding, new drinker and a viet mint/kale treat. See what happens. Not expecting the mint to get eaten, I think it's more like coriander. I propped the feeder and drinker up on pavers to stop them getting filled with bedding. When I put them back in they were all jumping and fluttering about.

Got 4 weeks to organize the next coop. I'll try to get more ideas from this site. I'll use a wire bottom but have a section dedicated to bathing like the other coop. Those are the main features along with making it super rat proof. I also want to change the door setup. Maybe something like a drop down door. Excuse my filthy shed! I'm trying to get things organized; I'm just pulled in so many different directions.

 

[Dadanga]

Well, the bullying has commenced and the Gidge crew are getting violent, there's a few eye injuries and I'm contemplating how to tackle the situation.

Option one is to basically use the smaller aviary to house the males where Jake king is currently residing and move him and his flock in with the Gidge crews known females and just start separating the feather sexable males.

Option two is to use another 240L tote to setup a male sanctuary. I feel this option is way less chaotic and I can slowly move the males into there. Especially the scrawnier ones.

Also, the ones with injuries will go into a tiny 30L box with a drinker/feeder and another injured hen. I'll use that special cream I bought. I've been so busy getting this mulch laid out in the heat I haven't had much time to spend on them which is why it's getting a bit out of control. I might update the thread with pics of the injuries.

Do you folks think bullies are restricted just to males?

 

[Nabiki]

You can have hen bullies too, but males are usually the first to start drawing blood.