Does anyone raise quail on the ground?

[igorsMistress]

No crowing yet, there are feathers all over but no one looks like they've been fighting, no injuries and I'd expect naked birds at this rate so maybe a molt? I'll be out there this weekend to try vent sexing and band the keepers.

 

[007Sean]

With feathers everywhere, they are molting... their getting their adult plumage. Should be able to feather sex your Pharoah's.

 

[igorsMistress]

With feathers everywhere, they are molting... their getting their adult plumage. Should be able to feather sex your Pharoah's.

Yea those will be easy. They are the only ones I can feather sex besides goldens right? I have a bunch of white birds in there with black spots. I haven't been able to see their chests very well and I don't know if the same rules apply to them.

I'm sure I'll have pics and questions over the weekend

 

[007Sean]

Yea those will be easy. They are the only ones I can feather sex besides goldens right? I have a bunch of white birds in there with black spots. I haven't been able to see their chests very well and I don't know if the same rules apply to them.

I'm sure I'll have pics and questions over the weekend

Yeah, A&M's have to be vent sexed.

 

[igorsMistress]

I'm not sure what color the quail is above. The next pic I'm pretty sure are all males, not including the white ones.

The last one below I'm thinking male because there are some spots but not all over the chest. Thoughts anyone?

 

[DK newbie]

I won't venture a guess on the others, but I'm pretty sure the last one is female. It should have a more orange base color to the chest if it was male, and in this color mutation (italian) the males tend to have brown markings around the eyes.

 

[igorsMistress]

No eggs yet, but I heard a crow yesterday. There were 2 birds nearby so I'm not sure which it was and didn't hear it a second time.

 

[igorsMistress]

I won't venture a guess on the others, but I'm pretty sure the last one is female. It should have a more orange base color to the chest if it was male, and in this color mutation (italian) the males tend to have brown markings around the eyes.

I'm hoping so, there are 3 in there that are that pattern. They all look the same.

 

[pecksandkisses]

It was mentioned above that you should deworm your birds twice a year, which I agree with. My quail also live on dirt (we call it a quailviary) and it's built around a tree. What I've found is that my quail (they're bobwhites) love pumpkin. We fed it to them before we knew that it was a great dewormer. We took the hollowed out "shell" of the pumpkin and stuck it in their coop with several holes for them to crawl into it. They went CRAZY for it. It lasted a couple weeks before decomposing to the point where they couldn't eat it anymore. If you can still find/grow some pumpkins, I'd recommend doing so. Pumpkins also can be stored, which is always a plus!

 

[igorsMistress]

It was mentioned above that you should deworm your birds twice a year, which I agree with. My quail also live on dirt (we call it a quailviary) and it's built around a tree. What I've found is that my quail (they're bobwhites) love pumpkin. We fed it to them before we knew that it was a great dewormer. We took the hollowed out "shell" of the pumpkin and stuck it in their coop with several holes for them to crawl into it. They went CRAZY for it. It lasted a couple weeks before decomposing to the point where they couldn't eat it anymore. If you can still find/grow some pumpkins, I'd recommend doing so. Pumpkins also can be stored, which is always a plus!

Yup, they love it as much as the chickens do. I bought pie pumpkins and split one between the quail and chickens. Not sure what I'll be using for the second round, I hate using chemicals but I get so many wild birds in the yard I'm afraid I'm going to have to.