here's why we shouldn't put quail and chickens together...update #3

[TwoCrows]

How do you keep them all separate so they don't get these diseases? Are these diseases airborne or because of contact?

Depends on the disease. Some diseases float in the wind, others need actual contact, some are passed thru drinking water or feed, and others you yourself can bring in on your feet, hands or clothes.

It is best to keep chickens and quail at least 25 or more feet apart. Always wash your hands between the two species, change your shoes if you have walk in quail aviaries and are walking between the two species. Don't share cleaning utensils, water or feeders. If you just got done cleaning or raking out one of the areas, change your clothes. Just practice the best bio security as you can. I keep both chickens and quail and I have never passed anything to either of them. Chickens are not immune to things either, and if you quail have some funky bacteria or virus, you can pass it on to your chickens on your hands or clothes. So just be careful, and you shouldn't have a problem.

There is no guarantee that either of these two will infect each other, as many people do keep them side by side or even together. But for myself, it is just not worth the risk of either my chickens or my quail.

 

[sasimpson77]

Well I wish I had known this sooner I hatched my first quail today 31 of them and my kids promptly put them all in the brooder with my newly hatched chicks darn it I will seperate them tomorrow and hope they are ok.

 

[LavLady]

I have a question: I have some ornamental pheasants coming soon. I moved my chickens out of their old coop, a converted horse stall 2 months ago. What, if anything, can I do so that my new pheasants can live in that old coop/horse stall? I have dusted it with diatomaceous earth and cleared out all the old litter. Is this and time enough or do I need to take other more caustic measures?

 

[eggxelent]

I have a question... Can you keep quail on land that chickens have previously walked, pooped, and possibly sneezed on? I want to keep quail but I won't if it's not safe for them and my chickens.

 

[dc3085]

I have a question: I have some ornamental pheasants coming soon. I moved my chickens out of their old coop, a converted horse stall 2 months ago. What, if anything, can I do so that my new pheasants can live in that old coop/horse stall? I have dusted it with diatomaceous earth and cleared out all the old litter. Is this and time enough or do I need to take other more caustic measures?

The sun's UV rays work really well. Commercial pheasant farms disk the ground up and let the sun hit for a couple days, they do that a few times before starting a new flock in that pen. For your house you could just turn it over with a shovel a few times and remove any trace of chicken poo. Since you cleaned it out and it sat so long it's probably ok. You might want to consider worming them though, certain worms can survive in chicken feces for a very long time. Safeguard is a good dewormer.

I have a question... Can you keep quail on land that chickens have previously walked, pooped, and possibly sneezed on? I want to keep quail but I won't if it's not safe for them and my chickens.

Spade it up and let the sun hit like I suggested above, repeat ever couple days for a week. If you are really concerned you can use an insecticide that treats for parasites like roundworm.

Keep them separate and practice bio security and you won't have any problems.

 

[chikkenfriend]

Great lesson. We will all learn from this. Excellent post!

 

[dandar]

my buff orph chickens and my blue swedish ducks run together all the time and they are housed together at night and never bother each other...my male duck is kind of bossy and chases the chickens away from the food but i watch and make sure the chickens are allowed to eat when the ducks are done

 

[dc3085]

The reason we suggest not putting chickens and quail together is because of disease concerns. Chickens carry many diseases that are resistant to but are fatal to quail. You have no way of knowing if your chickens are infected with any of the more serious diseases, since most can't be tested for. When you add quail to the equation people often find out their chickens carried a disease when their quail start dying.

Allowing chickens to be near or with waterfowl isn't an issue since waterfowl are resistant to almost all common poultry diseases. Although coryza is making it's way in to the waterfowl world some these days, it's a very specific strain and it's not likely you'll ever encounter it.

 

[kingmt]

I usually don't agree with reviving dead threads but this one was good & well worth reading. It is relevant to current discussion so I hope it benefits someone.

There is several discussions on this topic but this one is a little more civil.

 

[City farm]

Great information, the only things we put together are their egg's,

the quail egg's are from another member @Sill the white ones are wild dove egg's from a friend that re-habs them for re- release. And finally a duck egg..