Thinking about adding quail

[Jessiewoodard57]

We have been fighting stick tight fleas so I got rid of all my chickens but 21 chicks. the Fleas are gone (lots of seven dusting bleaching and burning I will have to be desperate to take birds to the local auction again!) . The 21 NHR chicks will rebuild my chicken laying flock but now I am considering adding quail. We live on about an acre lot. I can seperate the chickens and quail but I am concerned about acidental cross contamination and sick birds. So my question is what advice would you give to someone considering starting in quail? I have a good soucre for coturnex eggs, JJ lives 10 miles away, and I hace a 2x2x8 chicken tractor which will be leached and cleaned before I use it.

 

[JJMR794]

Jesse Good Biological Isolation Works Great No Matter What Speces Are Involved. Basically Build Your Routine So You Start With Gamebirds 1st And Work Through The Rest Of Your Birds... Youngest To Oldest And Cleanest To Dirtiest. So Start With Your Quail Brooders, Then Quail Grow Outs, Then Adult Quail, Turkeys If You Have Them, Then Waterfowl, Then Chickens And Guineas... In That Order. If In Ground Pens Think Of Ways Not To Track Dirt From Other Pens Into Them (such As A Shoe Change With Dedicated Shoes For Specific Speces) Nobody Comes In Direct Contact, Or Close Casual Contact With Anyone Else Not Of Their Speces. Frequent And Strict Handwashing Helps Also.

As For Your Chicken Tractor... It Can Be Sanitized Without Much Problems, Just Know That Tractors Are Awful Easy For Predators To Defeat, And Quail Will Attract Every Would Be Predator From 3 Counties In Any Direction... So Look Hard At That Tractor And Think Is It Bomb Proof? And If Not What Needs To Happen To It To Make It Bomb Proof( Total Wrap Of 1/2 In Hardware Cloth Is The Best Place To Start... Latches On Any And All Openings That Cannot Be Readily Opened By Coons, Also Think Of Openings--- You Need To Be Able To Reach All Areas Of The Tractor Easily Through Them So More May Be Necessary, And Ideally They Open With A Hinge On The Side As Gamebrds Spook And Flush Easily And It's Quite Simple For Them To Fly Out Of An Open Doorway, Redundant Door Ways Help).... You Cannot Over-protect Quail When It Comes To Predation

 

[Jessiewoodard57]

Jim, the tractor is 2x2x8 feet made out of 2x4s and wrapped on all but the bottom with 1/4x1/4 hardware cloth. the bottom I would use 1/2x1/2 hardware cloth and then put it 3 feet off the ground ( much like yours are). The right side of the tractor is covered on all but the bottom with green metal roofing. how many would you put into that size cage? I will probably build 2 more just like it.

I like the plan of how you schedule your feeding. In a couple of weeks say around the 28th I will be seeing you about the 120 eggs we talked about. Do you think you will be able to have them then?

 

[JJMR794]

Going Strictly By The Numbers With The 1sq/ft Per Bird Recomendation =16 Birds Per Cage... Tho You May Get By With A Couple More And Be Ok... The Long Shape Of The Pen Will Help. Also When You Elevate It Dont Forget To Wrap The Bottom With Some Type Of Wire (really Anykind Works) So That Predators Cant Get Under The Pen And Attack Thru The Pen Floor... This Is A Favorite Mo For Raccoons... They Get Under The Pen And Reach Up Thru The Wire Floor- Hook A Bird By The Toe And Yank Downward Until They Pull The Animals Leg Off...brutal And Rather Unsavory, But Quite Effective If You're A Hungry Raccoon