Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[jwells84]

Interesting I apparently have 6 out of 7 laying now all lay after 5pm

 

[dc3085]

Mostly theyll lay in the afternoon but youll have some that lay at odd hours if you keep enough quail.

 

[jwells84]

I made mine a little box to lay eggs in. They used it till they took all the hay out. I refilled it but now they won't use it

 

[dc3085]

I doubt it was just the hay. Their instincts are so damaged they have no concept of a nest. They lay eggs wherever they happen to be when it hits them pretty much. Some seem to use the box but if you watch them itll be the ones that generally spend a lot of time hanging out there. Theyve been domesticated for at least a thousand years and according some sources as long as 4000 years. Theyre missing a lot of instinctual behavior because of that.

 

[orumpoultry]

Here's some pictures of some of my birds. Terrible quality, my camera on my phone isn't great. Water, in Texas, is one of the most important things. We keep gallon sized jugs in all of our pens. No need in losing birds to heat. It was 100* in the shade.

Frozen grapes, peas, and kale are offered on exceptionally hot days.

Let's open a discussion on keeping birds cool. How do y'all do it? Open air coops? Lots of shade? Wade pans? Cool dirt?

 

[Lobzi]

I live in California and so dont get really extreme heat by the bay but when I know it will be hot one I wet down the yard near the coop and run the evening before. I can feel the temp drop many degrees as Im doing so. Sometimes I will do it again the next morning. I have a fan to move the air around in the coop. Nothing special but I can see my chickens on the roost stop panting once I get the fan going so I know it is helping. I dont leave it on at night or if Im going away. I dont want to take the chance of something electrical causing a fire.

 

[orumpoultry]

I don't blame you there. We run misters on days it's just unbearable. Saturday will be one of those days. Heat index expected to be 118 regular temp expected at 108. I will be running misters from around 3pm until the tank runs out. I have a 50 gallon tank near the pens I pump from. I'll leave the float off.

If it cools off enough by dark I'll turn them off. My chickens can at least get down in the dirt and hide in the shade.

 

[jwells84]

Shade an I have a box fan blowing on mine. From about 1030am to 8pm.it seems to do the trick

 

[cajun quail365]

Yea down here in Louisiana it gets pretty hot so that's why I built my pen with shade automatic watering system and I feed my quail frozen grapes they seem to like the grapes

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well, I did it, ordered 50 eggs from JMF. So excited to get them here! I will be culling the current flock this week and starting fresh, aside from a small handful of exceptional/pet birds . Even with the 30% game feed my live weights are running about 14oz. One golden is my moms pet so she stays of course, and I have a 17 oz hen thats just a spoiled goof. She thinks I am her mother and likes attention, and likes to be held and picked up. One very nice sized fella thats 16.2 oz.