Experience tractoring quail?

[el dorado quail]

Has anyone besides me thought about or has tractored quail? My cots live in a giant aviary and they seem to struggle with scavenging stuff I put in there. I tried giving them sunflower heads and they just eat the dried up petals... not the seeds!

Are they not going to find things to eat if I put them in a tractor? The places I'm thinking of putting the tractor are spots between fruit trees, my tilled corn/ sunflower patch, and in my big, mowed, weedy field.

 

[Nabiki]

Mine isn't a tractor per se, but it is movable, and I have moved it a couple of times. Mostly I've moved it from garden bed to garden bed so far. There is a coop, but there is also an open bottom cage where they have direct access to the ground.

 

[mixedUPturk]

I have one cage which i can move around and they like the fresh grass but they seem to like jus plain dirt better

 

[Nabiki]

They really like my garden beds. I usually hoe them up before I put the quail there, so the dirt is nice and soft for them to dig in. After I move them, I hoe the bed up again to work all of their poop into the soil.

 

[el dorado quail]

I have one cage which i can move around and they like the fresh grass but they seem to like jus plain dirt better :confused

They really like my garden beds. I usually hoe them up before I put the quail there, so the dirt is nice and soft for them to dig in. After I move them, I hoe the bed up again to work all of their poop into the soil.

I'm going to do my cover crops as soon as the universe allows me to do physical labor again. Do you think tractoring them would help till the ground up enough to beable to plant? IF I can get the dumb thing built in time...

 

[Nabiki]

I'm going to do my cover crops as soon as the universe allows me to do physical labor again. Do you think tractoring them would help till the ground up enough to beable to plant? IF I can get the dumb thing built in time...

If you're not planting deep and the soil was already pretty loose, I'd say yes. They dig down maybe 2-3 inches, then fill it back in again when they're done, it seems.

 

[CptKirk]

Mine are in a somewhat movable coop as well and my plan is to do the same thing with moving them from garden bed to garden bed. These are my first quail, and they hatched from grocery store eggs, so every step of the way has been an adventure and a learning experience. But am definitely learning what others are saying -- the quail love dirt! Dirt, dirt, dirt. Given the choice of anything to walk on, they go directly for the dirt. Walking on it, digging in it, bathing in it, they're so happy, it is honestly the most heartwarming thing.

 

[preciouseureka]

I have four movable tractor type coops and we move them almost every day....as soon as I grab that handle they get so excited! A new patch of grass means new bugs new grass new stuff. I have soft plastic covered wire floors and high grass plus lots of weeds and greens means they are on mostly natural flooring. It's weird but it works for us!

 

[Rooapalooza]

My quail do not loosen up soil more than an inch deep. They do clear the area of grass and weeds. I move my cage every week or so and strongly recommend it. However thoroughly you clean, there isn't anything cleaner than a new patch of grass and dirt. My quail are terrible at foraging and ignore most treats I give them. They rely a lot more heavily on their feed than my free-ranging chickens do. Remember if you don't have a floor (they sure love their dirt baths) you need an apron or something to keep them from digging their way out and animals from digging their way in.

 

[el dorado quail]

Yall my tractors aren't for living in! They have a $2000 aviary for living. The tractor is just for my integrated pest management and soil preparation. Supervised day use only.

But it sounds like they should be good to go through the weedy field for sure! Yesssss!