Does anyone raise quail on the ground?

[le_bwah]

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!

I STRONGLY second the hollowed out pumpkin idea (plus it's so cute to see them hanging out inside). Just keep an eye out for mold.

 

[igorsMistress]

@le_bwah Love that pic!

 

[igorsMistress]

The owls were back tonight, I saw one on the wall when I went out to lock the chicken coop. The puppy needed to go potty and is too small to go out by herself with them around so hubs fired his air rifle, no ammo. That flushed the active hunter on the ground up to the wall, and the lookout from the wall to the neighbors roof. Eventually that one flew off to a nearby tree but hubs had to literally rush the wall sitter like a maniac to drive it away.

 

[igorsMistress]

Found our first eggs today. They've decided to lay under the bin, only one was out in the open. We have 7 eggs, none are identical.

 

[someusername]

Ooh nice!

 

[mixedUPturk]

View attachment 1645068
Found our first eggs today. They've decided to lay under the bin, only one was out in the open. We have 7 eggs, none are identical.

so glad this had a happy egg ending! Super setup!

DH @MrTurk look at this amazing setup! Quail garden

Ill take Two please!

 

[Crazydoglady99]

Now you get to play a really fun game called 'try and find the quail eggs' everyday

 

[Fishkeeper]

Do you have a dog who's calm around birds? You could try and train your dog to find the eggs. Or a neighbor's dog. Or a cat. Or a pet rat. Anything with a sense of smell that won't try to murder your birds. Yes, you can train cats! Just gotta make it worth their time.

 

[igorsMistress]

Do you have a dog who's calm around birds? You could try and train your dog to find the eggs. Or a neighbor's dog. Or a cat. Or a pet rat. Anything with a sense of smell that won't try to murder your birds. Yes, you can train cats! Just gotta make it worth their time.

This is a great idea! I'm afraid it won't work with the dogs we have. We have 2 puppies less than a year old who LOVE to run around the garden terrifying the quail.

I'll be simplifying in there soon so it'll be easier for me to find them.

 

[igorsMistress]

Pics of some of the birds from today. I believe these are females.