Hi, I hope you dont mind answering a couple of questions or give me some advice....bit worried to ask on facebook where I normally would in case it made people kick off.
I have kept quail for years. What I did every day was take them from the shed to their runs in the garden and then at night catch them up and then put them back into the shed at night. I am based in the uk, so I feel it is more secure for foxes but all people coming in to my back garden to either steal or just release them for the heck of it. I used to have a lot of quail as we sold the eggs. The place we sold our eggs stopped and so we werent selling our eggs. We decided that it was time just to get a few chickens (chooks as we call them) for our own use.
We decided on Pekin bantams and a silkie. Now the part I am looking for advice. I have been keeping the chickens the same as I did with the quail in the regard of I take them out the shed in the morning and place them into their run and then as it starts to get dark I go and collect them from the run and put them into the shed. In the shed I have indoor rabbit cages that have a spare in each running through it to give them a roost. In their runs I have huts (like very small coops, on amazon if you look up rabbit hut you will see it), there are three of them which they can lay eggs in through the day when they are old enough. Obviously that is quite different to how other people keep them and I was wondering if my way of keeping them will work or if really having the coop attached to the run would be better.
I am used to taking over 60 quail in and out every day which now I do it with 6 chickens I dont know how I did it as easily as I did. So although it might seem like extra work for nothing, compared to what I did before it isnt much. I also really like having that easy contact which allows me to check the birds twice a day. Taking them in and out only takes a minute a bird but that minute each bird you get used to their condition and how they behave and with the quail anyway I found it helped me identify issues quickly. As I said above too I do like the added security of them in the shed too.
I think I have covered everything I do.....oh I have a light in the shed which gives the chickens plenty of light with how dark it is in winter....Will this method be ok for the birds or really is it for the best to get them a coop attached to the run? I want to do the best for the birds. We got these girls as pets with the bonus of some eggs, unlike the quail which were for a purpose, so we want to give them the best we can. I am based in Scotland. Thank you in advance for your advice.
I have kept quail for years. What I did every day was take them from the shed to their runs in the garden and then at night catch them up and then put them back into the shed at night. I am based in the uk, so I feel it is more secure for foxes but all people coming in to my back garden to either steal or just release them for the heck of it. I used to have a lot of quail as we sold the eggs. The place we sold our eggs stopped and so we werent selling our eggs. We decided that it was time just to get a few chickens (chooks as we call them) for our own use.
We decided on Pekin bantams and a silkie. Now the part I am looking for advice. I have been keeping the chickens the same as I did with the quail in the regard of I take them out the shed in the morning and place them into their run and then as it starts to get dark I go and collect them from the run and put them into the shed. In the shed I have indoor rabbit cages that have a spare in each running through it to give them a roost. In their runs I have huts (like very small coops, on amazon if you look up rabbit hut you will see it), there are three of them which they can lay eggs in through the day when they are old enough. Obviously that is quite different to how other people keep them and I was wondering if my way of keeping them will work or if really having the coop attached to the run would be better.
I am used to taking over 60 quail in and out every day which now I do it with 6 chickens I dont know how I did it as easily as I did. So although it might seem like extra work for nothing, compared to what I did before it isnt much. I also really like having that easy contact which allows me to check the birds twice a day. Taking them in and out only takes a minute a bird but that minute each bird you get used to their condition and how they behave and with the quail anyway I found it helped me identify issues quickly. As I said above too I do like the added security of them in the shed too.
I think I have covered everything I do.....oh I have a light in the shed which gives the chickens plenty of light with how dark it is in winter....Will this method be ok for the birds or really is it for the best to get them a coop attached to the run? I want to do the best for the birds. We got these girls as pets with the bonus of some eggs, unlike the quail which were for a purpose, so we want to give them the best we can. I am based in Scotland. Thank you in advance for your advice.
