Chicks and Quail together?

[PoultryParadise]

So I picked up 10 3-week old chicks, and didn't realize it was a package deal with 3 3-week old quail. They had been brooding them together, as they all hatched together. Now there seems to be no fighting, but is this a good idea to be brooding them together. Is there anything they can spread between eachother? Anyone know?

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I've never heard of people raising them together, dont they eat different feed? The Quail would need more protien

 

[wbruder17]

I had coturnix quail in with my chickens and everyone was fine and healthy...until something got in and killed all the quail. Chickens were fine tho. Quails eggs were good too.

 

[PoultryParadise]

Thanks. That quelches my worries. I don't really want to have 2 brooders running at any one time, and I moved the quail to a box in the brooder for different feed. I didn't even think of that. Hopefully the quail will be full grown soon so they can go out to the quail coop.

 

[pookiegoldman]

I think that they can peacefully co-exist in the same brooder, until when they are a few weeks old I would move the quail out to your quail coop. As far as diseases go, I've got bantams loose on the ground of my quail house. They eat the quail poop. When they roost above the quail cages, the quail eats their poop. All have been healthy. But I'm sure some people will say otherwise...they always do.

 

[mrslb333]

I've read time and time again never to let the two species mix as chickens carry diseases that are fatal to quails. However I've broken this rule hundreds of times with great success

I only mix the larger quail breeds as with the smaller ones such as Button quails they can get bullied and trampled on quite badly. The only thing is quail chicks will die after a while if fed only chick crumb they need much higher protein either game bird starter which is for me impossible to get hold of so I use ground complete cat biscuits and my birds are all healthy and long lived.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

wow this was news to me! I raised two coturnix quail with two chicks and only separated the one female quail when she started laying. The male is still in with the half-grown chicks and he is thriving. The male is still eating chick starter and the female is on chicken layer crumble. Both are outside on my porch in covered cages and it has been below freezing all week here. I don't think quail are quite as fragile as people claim...either that or I am just really, really good. : )

My quail were brooded by a silkie hen and are nearly 3 months old now. The female has been laying for a while now.

By the way, maybe we just got lucky (but I don't think so because we only hatched two quail eggs and both are still alive) but we NEVER bought higher protein food for our quail. They were raised strictly on chick starter till "Yumi" (the female) started laying and now she is on chicken layer crumbles and she lays an average of 6 out of 7 days a week.

 

[CARS]

I hatched and brooded chickens and quail together. Fed them the same chick starter. In fact, even though it is frowned upon, I fed the adult quail layer feed (16-18%).

At one time, I had quail, chickens, turkeys, peafowl, rabbits, and barn cats all in the same barn. No disease issues that I was aware of.

 

[pookiegoldman]

Some of my quail reached the age where they're stopped laying.. (8 months) I no longer feed them the high protein feed. They get HEN SCRATCH. They eat it and believe it or not, I haven't had a single one die since. When they were eating the 20% protein, I'd find a dead one just about every day. Of course I wouldn't feed them the scratch if they were still laying though... They're just waiting for the axe to fall.

 

[Rozzie]

You need to come on over to the quail board and ask quail questions. JJ will give you a lot of good advice, as will several others.

In general
1) The advice is to NOT keep quail with chickens. Chickens can carry illnesses that don't make them sick but are fatal to quail. JJ can point you to some pictures, or you can search the threads there for the info. It's been posted a few times.
2) Quail cannot eat chicken feed. Quail need Game Bird Feed. The higher the protein the better. For quail it's typically non medicated, but you could ask if there is ever an appropriate time for medication. For quail, you should have at least a 24% non-medicated game bird starter. 30% is even better. It's available from Purina though you will probably need to have it ordered in special. You will have to specify non-medicated and it may not be available in your region. There is one strip where pheasants are commonly raised that game bird people call the pheasant belt (you'll have to search where) apparently that is the region where medicated feed is sold for game birds.
3) I have read, but have not verified, that the medications used in poultry feed are NOT approved by the FDA for use in quail. Again, I have NOT verified this but read it somewhere. Take it for what it's worth which is an indication to do a LOT more research.