Chicken/Quail illness discussion

[remilama]

Hello, I am new to this forum and new to quail. I recently learned that chickens and quail can not be housed together for illness related reason which I understand. I was wondering if someone could explain a few things to me. I recently lost my entire flock to raccoons (last July). I have torn down the old chicken house and rebuilt all new in a differant location with special care to keep the predators out. I decided to start over. I got chicken, bobwhite quail, guinea, and turkey eggs from friends and incubated. No guineas yet but the others have hatched. My question is this... Do the illnesses that transfer from chicken to quail transfer into the egg before incubation? Is it safe to assume that anything my birds may pick up would be enviroment only since they are all newly hatched here? Would it also be safe to assume that if there is an illness lurking on my property (which I am not aware of) that any and all birds would be exposed the same? My quail were hatched along side the chickens. They are currently housed with 1 turkey, all around 1 week old and indoors. I have moved the chickens to the brooder box in the hen house. Have I already put them at risk? What would be the best housing/separation for the species that I have? Im a little confused as to the when and how of the risk of transferring illnesses. Thank you.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Lots of good questions you bring up here.

One of the worst diseases a chicken can pass to quail is Coryza. It is NOT transferred through the egg. It can be brought into your flock from adding new birds or be brought in from wild birds. So this particular disease is not yet going to be harmful between your chicken chicks and your quail.

Mycoplasma's are a different story. They ARE transmitted through the egg and quail are highly susceptible to these bacteria. Mycoplasma's tend to be found in many hatchery stock chicks. Mycoplasma's are VERY difficult to treat because these bacteria hide in healthy cells only later to come out and attack these cells. So the immune system doesn't detect them. I had MS, Mycoplasma Synoviae run through my chicken flock brought in by wild birds and I nearly lost the entire flock. Took a year lots of heavy antibiotic use and surgeries to foot pads to drain fluid from the foot joint. Nightmare. LOL They all did live. But quail would never survive this bacteria.

I personally would keep all species of poultry housed in their own quarters. Turkeys carry all kinds of things that make chickens sick as well. Blackhead being the worst. And many times with birds, by the time they get sick, it is too late to save them. They have become so good at hiding their illness to keep the predators fooled.

So I wouldn't worry about what you have done so far, but I would separate everybody. Each of these species has a different food requirement, different breeding habits, they are all of different sizes, etc... The chances that you have endangered any of these birds is slim. I wouldn't be too concerned about it right now. And as for anything that could be lurking, as long as these grounds haven't had any poultry or a lot of wild bird traffic in 6 to 12 months, I would say your grounds are clean enough to start over.

And keep them at least 20 feet apart from each other. Always wash your hands between the species, keep a pair of shoes for each species and change them between each of your pens, never share waterers, feeders or cleaning utensils.

I am so sorry about the loss of your previous flock. Good luck with your new birds and if you have any further questions, feel free to ask here or around the other forums here on BYC!

 

[remilama]

Thank you for all the info! Now here is my next issue. One lonely turkey. Hes on the same food as the quail so I put them together for now and I refuse to keep him alone so young. Would it be the lesser evil to put him with the chickens that are his size which would be a lower protien food or keep him with the tiny quail. They get along great and ive chosen this over making him be all alone. As he gets bigger I see an issue arising but for now, how great is the risk im taking?

 

[TwoCrows]

I would keep him with the quail. Both of these birds are in the gamebird family and will not pass their cooties over to the other. LOL

But yes, as the turkey is growing, I am sure he would appreciate the quail chicks. Just watch that he doesn't grow too large and step on the quail chicks or become aggressive. At some point you may have to separate, but you can judge when the time is right to separate him out.

If you keep all these birds in an aviary style set up, you may be able to keep them all together in definitely as long as the turkey does not become aggressive toward the quail. Both the quail and the turkey will eat the same food.