➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[Kiki]

 

[ShrekDawg]

I need the space in their main coop for birds that can be together. No reason for me to take it up with walls. Which birds are you referring to? The ducks stay with chickens in summer, but not in winter. They dirty up the water and force me to keep it outside, even when it's bitterly cold and the chickens really should be closed up inside, away from drafts. The quail would simply run away if they were allowed to free range with the chickens. The buffs are valuable breeding stock that I don't want exposed to predators, and they also have terrible chicken social skills and would get beaten to death by my dominant roosters.

Ahh okay that makes a lot of sense!! Those are all perfectly valid reasons and didn’t think of those potential issues.

I’m still debating whether to keep my birds in separate coops or house them all together and use the other area as storage or something haha

 

[BantyChooks]

View attachment 2017779View attachment 2017780View attachment 2017781View attachment 2017782

Beautiful.

 

[Kiki]

 

[BantyChooks]

Ahh okay that makes a lot of sense!! Those are all perfectly valid reasons and didn’t think of those potential issues.

I’m still debating whether to keep my birds in separate coops or house them all together and use the other area as storage or something haha

Consolidate, if you can. It makes everything easier. I dislike having so many small pens in winter. It's many times harder to keep liquid water in front of them all when there are so many little containers in many different pens. I wouldn't mind having just the main coop in winter, but it's not really possible unless I quit keeping quail and ducks.

 

[BantyChooks]

View attachment 2017783View attachment 2017784

Awww. Hims cold. Let him snuggle in your hands.

 

[Kiki]

These nutballs won't keep still right now.

 

[ShrekDawg]

My birds start free ranging at a month or two old. It's how I integrate them in with the main flock. I open the door to their housing and let them mingle with the adults during the day, but they have their own space to return to at night.

Oh wow that’s young!! Although I did that with my last batch. They were only in the house a week then I moved them to the coop (separate of course lol) and I think I started free ranging at like 4 or 5 weeks too but this batch I’m more nervous. Idk why. They’re mostly roosters so could take care of themselves haha but they were inside till like 8 weeks old. They only just moved outside last weekend so only been outside a week and were inside their entire lives before that so I’m a little nervous. They aren’t used to it. But I guess the sooner they go out the better haha today is gorgeous so I think I’m gonna try letting them out for a bit haha heavily supervised. They’re a little over 9 weeks old now. Will be 10 weeks on Friday. But I guess I gotta start introducing them cause I want the cockerels to learn manners from the older hens and pullets. Idk of I’ll keep any or not since my favorite got killed but it should benefit the next owner too.

 

[Kiki]

Babies

 

[ShrekDawg]

Consolidate, if you can. It makes everything easier. I dislike having so many small pens in winter. It's many times harder to keep liquid water in front of them all when there are so many little containers in many different pens. I wouldn't mind having just the main coop in winter, but it's not really possible unless I quit keeping quail and ducks.

That makes sense!! Right now I just have 2 pens. The big girls coop and the temp pen for the littles. I’m building a new coop currently.

If I didn’t consolidate, I would only have 2 coops (since the pen for the little ones is temporary and I’m going to sell most and integrate the rest anyway) but I might just integrate everybody and leave them in the big coop.

We don’t really have bad winters anymore and my coops are right next to each other and right next to the house so it’s not really a ton of extra work for me but it is kind of a pain having to remember to check so many different feeders and waterers. I think I will probably integrate the female chicks with the main flock and sell the males but the problem is I’m adding more soon so I may need the old coop. But I have also considered canceling part of the order so I can house everybody in one coop.