Quail on Deep Litter - Why it Works

[quailswiss]

My ceilings are between 12 and 18"high.

I use Italian waterers that sometimes slosh water, this is a bit of an issue as the litter becomes smelly when wet and sticks to their claws.

Quail can fly and mine make it up a 3" step without any ladder using their wings. They will go anywhere for food so train them when they're hungry!

Curious about your tractor - be sure to post pics I'd love to build a similar thing. How are you going to collect the eggs? Will you close them in at night or what kind of predator proofing have you got?

 

[bdfive]

My quail were in a 8 by 28 foot aviary that was 8 feet high with 7 log roosts that are 3 to 5 feet off the ground. They slept on the highest roosts every night. Had no problem flying up there.

 

[violamama]

Thanks guys!

I have been wondering about collecting eggs. But the allure of less odor and more bird comfort are still a big draw for deep litter. Maybe raking through it? And always floating eggs? Advice?

Glad to know they will navigate a plank.

The base of the tractor (an octagon to be done up like our house which is kind of a pseudo Victorian) is done and the material for the rest is waiting for assembly. I'll post pics as soon as it looks like something.

I'll google Italian waterers. I was hoping for something semi-automatic.

Thanks!!

 

[violamama]

I officially started something like deep litter today. I think it's about 3 1/2 inches deep. Our coop is around 12 square feet plus a random extra 2 feet in a raised box that holds their water. We have dry den only in that part because DANG it was stinky with just linoleum. Live and learn... and maybe gag a little.

So to start our DL today I put in:
About 2/3 bag dry den (some of which was what they had exclusively until today)
One bucket pine shavings
One bucket semi-decomposed leaves, pine needles and good dark dirt from our yard all mixed together
A few scoops (maybe 1/8 bucket) fine wood ash

So far they are really enjoying picking through stuff and it smells like the woods. After my toddler goes down for a nap I'll see about the LABs recommended and also some scratch (will they eat black oiled sunflower seeds? They're certainly picking through and bathing in it already.

Will report back. Please give advice if you see anything lacking.

 

[Trapper Luke]

Don't know how many still follow this post but for those that use the deep litter method with quail on a soild wood floor, are you guys drilling any holes in your floor before putting in the litter? Maybe to help with air circulation and keep litter from getting wet and nasty?
Thanks
Luke

 

[vorpalswrd]

I'm getting my first quail ever in a few weeks and I'm following this thread. So excited to start my boys and girls on this method.

 

[violamama]

Hopefully more experienced dl folks will respond, but I don't think too wet is usually a problem. If your cage is large enough and your waterers don't leak it seems to stay pretty dry. For it to compost, there should be a certain amount of moisture. Keep in mind, though, this is my first week at this.

We just added a 5 gallon construction bucket of dirt clods, mulch, leaves and junk I dug from our yard. It's been working great all week in our garage. It smelled awful before last week and I was changing the line shavings every other day. This is excellent.

They seem to love it. Even though I know they've been domesticated for hundreds of years but I think as ground animals, they love to explore what is around and under them. They have flushed or "boinked" hardly at all this week. Between the dl and the tree boughs we put in, they are a lot more comfortable and less afraid of us. We can let them without causing a ruckus.

Whether it actually makes compost for me or not, and even if it turns out I have to clean out the thing every few months (too dry, not enough of something, whatever makes compost fail) I will probably stay with this. It works really well.

 

[vorpalswrd]

My one concern about DL is the dirt from the backyard. Do I have to be worried about parasites in the bugs? My first quail are going to be several weeks old when I get them so I will not be starting my first birds from hatch. Should I be medicating them and if so are we talking Ivermectin or something else?

 

[rhondita55]

Doesn't everything like the taste of quail? I've had a roadrunner coming into my yard to eyeball my quail and I send my terriers after it anytime I see it. A couple of days ago something grabbed one of the white jumbos (its always the white birds that get picked on) pulled part of her wing through the half by one wire. By the time I found her upside down with her wing stuck she had lost some blood and skin but the wing looked mostly intact. Today she is eating, drinking and dust bathing. I'll put her back with the rest of her quartet tomorrow or the day after, in a new cage. It must have been the roadrunner that grabbed her since their long, strong beaks can reach into the narrow wire, and I think a hawk, owl, cat or fox would have caused much more damage to the wing than there was.

I'm just starting on this thread and playing catch up. Most people, outside of the southwest, think Roadrunners are this cute bird that runs across the road going "meep meep" But they are actually mean spirited predator birds. We live in Apache Junction and I see a lot of them. We are planing on moving back to Mesa so we can sleep...... Coyotes. Javelina tears up everthing and even got a pic of a Bobcat on the game came in our yard. Our Chicken coop is made out of the horse shade with wire from floor to top...........

 

[rhondita55]

Saturday 3/26/16 I purchased my first quails. They are the Coturnix in several colors. 6 are 3 weeks and the guy tossed in a 2 week to make it an even $20. I've never been around Quail, but they are so cute. Giving up my ducks because they are real messy and stinky even tho I empty their kid pool every other day. I have 7 Chickens and DH is tired of spending $20 a week in food so he can give everyone at work eggs. I can't give away enough. My freezer is full too. Thus, the quail. I plan on downsizing to all but 2 chickens.

I have my little ones in a cage for a guinea pig, just the plastic bottom and wire top. Just until they are bigger. Tried newspaper, that was nasty. So then I put in a puppy pad, aka people bed pad. That didn't work. they spilled water and walked in poo...........

So I found this and though... this sounds good. So went outside and picked some mint leaves and sage leaves, a bit of wild grass since we don't have a lawn at all, some potting soil from my mint plants..... then walked by the burn pile and picked up a handful, well it had rocks, so I picked up some chard bits and crumbled it into a powder in my bucket, Then on out to the coop where I filled it with Pine shavings from the bag out there and gathered the eggs.

Put the eggs up, took out the feeder and water out of the little cage and dumped the bucket in a big heap. Took the dirty dishes over to the sink and washed them all out. Went back to spread out the stuff and it was already all spread out and happy quail bathing and scratching.... just having a gay 'ol time...... I used to have 2 little White Quail...... I now have a white 1 and a very very GREY one.

I put the food tray on the floor, but put the water tray on an overturned cereal bowl.

Any suggestions would be helpful.