Newbie needing help!!!

[kuchchicks]

Thank you all for your help!!!

 

[kingmt]

The reason for keeping them on wire is to protect them from more then one thing. First rats will dig under & kill them all in minutes. Second & probably must certain is that they will get parasites. If they have a solid floor they will become over taken with coccidiosis. It is already in their system & is shed through the stool. If they pick at it they will get so overloaded that it will kill them. Scoping the poop helps but the eggs are still left behind. Spraying with bleach gets mist of it but it isn't good for the birds or the people eating the bird. I'm not sure if chlorine would be transferred to eggs or not. Back to coccidia, even if your only a few inches off the ground these bugs craw up the grass about 6". They are tiny critters that takes a while to move & they have to stay dry & cool so they can't make it any father then that in my area anyway before they have to head back down to the ground. If you have longer nights then I do they may go higher on the plants. You should talk to your state ag department to find out more in your area. You can also control coccidia by running different types of animals on your grass. They are not transferable from one host to another. Coccidia can only live in it's specific host. So if a cow eats the birds parasite the parasite dies.

Coccidiosis is only one of the many parasites that they can get from being on the ground.

 

[kuchchicks]

So should i NOT allow them access to the ground in a run?

 

[kingmt]

Not if you want to keep them healthy & thriving.

 

[shortgrass]

I am really so upset with myself over this situation.  I am not normally one to jump into something without researching it completely.  In this situation I was getting chicken eggs to hatch, saw these little quail eggs, and thought "what the heck?  I'll give it a try".  Then when these babies hatched I fell in love.  I really want to keep them (I don't see myself getting anymore quail, but I really love the 4 I have).  But the more I look around my property I am not sure how I am going to pull this off.  I don't really have an area that I can put another coop any substantial distance from my chickens... so then I wonder if my keeping these sweet little birds is selfish.  I don't want either flock to become ill.  I am a huge animal person and want what is best for them.

Don't be too hard on yourself; the SAME thing happens to more people on here than you realize lol... That's exactly how I happened upon 34 quail eggs, with NO idea what they were about, other than they sang the sweetest little songs and would sometimes catch them running through the yard....

I thought I needed an incubator..." Oh look, I can do quail eggs!"....etc etc etc

No clue. Luckily, I had 23 days to ead, read, READ, and read.... Lots of posts on here, lots of Wikipedia ha-ha.... kingmt just walked me through my first hatch

Just read all you can, if you feel like you're overloaded, you probably are... The disease vector is most definitely a concern for EVERYone that has quail and chicken in the same vicinity... Cleanliness, preparation... Being UPWIND from the coop... All in planning small details.

I'm obsessive about plans..plan plan plan, redo it, make mistakes, and learn. Plan got thwarted by "cute" lol

I'm new at this too lol, you are most definitely not alone! I wish you the best

 

[kuchchicks]

Very true. I guess i kind of forgot thats how i know all i know about my chickens!

 

[JaeG]

Another option, seeing as you only have 4 birds, is to keep them inside, maybe in your laundry if you have a spare corner. Indoor guinea pig or rabbit cages are great. We have one that is two stories as we have a female that does not like our golden male (she is dark, tibetan coloured) so she lives at the top and the rest live down the bottom (and my daughter often puts some of the other females up with her to visit). We also have 4 boys outside, 2 each in 2 rabbit runs that are side by side.

Fermenting their food eliminates most of their smell. It's a bit more effort but worth it if you do decide to keep them indoors. I keep mine on chaff and clean their cage out about once a week. The only downside to the chaff is that when they flap their wings it does waft out all over the floor but it's easy to vacuum up once a day. You could set them up on wire to make them easier to clean indoors and less messy litter wise.

Just another idea - they are cute little things. Our daughter absolutely adores her quail.

 

[kuchchicks]

Another option, seeing as you only have 4 birds, is to keep them inside, maybe in your laundry if you have a spare corner. Indoor guinea pig or rabbit cages are great. We have one that is two stories as we have a female that does not like our golden male (she is dark, tibetan coloured) so she lives at the top and the rest live down the bottom (and my daughter often puts some of the other females up with her to visit). We also have 4 boys outside, 2 each in 2 rabbit runs that are side by side.

Fermenting their food eliminates most of their smell. It's a bit more effort but worth it if you do decide to keep them indoors. I keep mine on chaff and clean their cage out about once a week. The only downside to the chaff is that when they flap their wings it does waft out all over the floor but it's easy to vacuum up once a day. You could set them up on wire to make them easier to clean indoors and less messy litter wise.

Just another idea - they are cute little things. Our daughter absolutely adores her quail.

I know I should probably know this but how do you ferment their food?

And yes, we ALL - including my husband who is not an animal person - have fall in love with these small birds... I just want to squeeze them!! LOL! Of course I would not because I know they don't like to be held!

 

[JaeG]

Fermenting is easy. Glass is best to do it in, preferably in something that has a lid, but cling wrap can be put over the top in place of a lid.

You add their food and then water (un-chlorinated) - the water level should be well above the level of the food as the food will absorb some and, once it has done this there still needs to be a couple of inches of water above the food. The food will expand a lot so leave room in your jar to allow for this. In a warm place it may only take 24 hours to start to bubble. That is the lactic acid (that is naturally in the air around us) beginning to do its magic. It should smell slightly sour, like the sourness of unsweetened yoghurt. It should never smell bad or of alcohol.

Tip some into a sieve and drain off the excess liquid until it's a soupy (but not too runny) mash. The quail will eat less as opposed to dry food as the lactic acid starts to break down the food making the nutrients in it more readily available.

Here is a link to a fantastic site explaining the ins and outs of fermenting feed (for chickens but it's exactly the same for quail).
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.co.nz/p/fermented-feed.html

Our quail get handled daily by our children - they will pick them up for a minute and my daughter delights in showing them off to whoever comes over! We have a white hen called Noelle who we hatched ourselves and she is just the sweetest little thing who doesn't seem to mind being held. Handling them as babies does seem to help with this. If they are in with a boy, like chickens, they will start to squat when you go to grab them - even our boy does this!