I am excited to be able to join here in PA! We will prove the naysayers wrong, but if not I am sure we will have plenty of good eating and learn something throughout the process!
How About a Jumbo Co Op
- Thread starter diggypaws
- Start date
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ROFL, I must like working! Lessee, A 10 yo DD, a 17 month old DS, 2 young workingbred dogs, 2 goats, 6 cats, 2 budgies, a small herd of rabbits; 4 does, 2 bucks, currently 8 buns and expecting. I quit counting the chickens, but am building and setting up breeding pens so I'll have point-of-lay pullets to sell in spring. And if I called it remodeling the house, it would imply that the house was a finished construct in the first place ...
I'll be keeping the quail indoors so just having poo drop through won't really be an option. What my plan is, to build a kind of shelving unit. 8' long, 2' wide and tall enough for 3, 12" high cages and rubbermaid totes at the bottom. Built for removable dividers every 2 feet. I'd line the shelves with linoleum, happily I have access to a free, unlimited supply of well-aged sawdust or shavings (my choice) for bedding. I've found that if you don't use so much bedding that the stingiest part of you feels a little like you're wasting it then you're actually not using enough. A dustpan makes an admirable cage scraper and the rubbermaid totes will hold worm colonies. I actually like to keep my rabbits in cages like that when I can (but taller) I loose less first litters with solid floors.
I think that something like that would fit more quail then I'd ever actually put in them. Is there any reason it would be a bad set-up besides that most people don't manage that way? To me, wrestling drop pans and scraping bottom wire feels like so much more work.
LOL, and I spend way too much of my time playing with poo! But then, I've got a 50' x 65' garden that will eat every bit of it. I even haul poo home from the neighbors.
Has anyone here ever tried pickled quail eggs? My couple of pets didn't give me enough to bother with (DD ate them all) but if I'm going to have a decent number of quail I'd like to try it.
ROFL, I must like working! Lessee, A 10 yo DD, a 17 month old DS, 2 young workingbred dogs, 2 goats, 6 cats, 2 budgies, a small herd of rabbits; 4 does, 2 bucks, currently 8 buns and expecting. I quit counting the chickens, but am building and setting up breeding pens so I'll have point-of-lay pullets to sell in spring. And if I called it remodeling the house, it would imply that the house was a finished construct in the first place ...
I'll be keeping the quail indoors so just having poo drop through won't really be an option. What my plan is, to build a kind of shelving unit. 8' long, 2' wide and tall enough for 3, 12" high cages and rubbermaid totes at the bottom. Built for removable dividers every 2 feet. I'd line the shelves with linoleum, happily I have access to a free, unlimited supply of well-aged sawdust or shavings (my choice) for bedding. I've found that if you don't use so much bedding that the stingiest part of you feels a little like you're wasting it then you're actually not using enough. A dustpan makes an admirable cage scraper and the rubbermaid totes will hold worm colonies. I actually like to keep my rabbits in cages like that when I can (but taller) I loose less first litters with solid floors.
I think that something like that would fit more quail then I'd ever actually put in them. Is there any reason it would be a bad set-up besides that most people don't manage that way? To me, wrestling drop pans and scraping bottom wire feels like so much more work.
LOL, and I spend way too much of my time playing with poo! But then, I've got a 50' x 65' garden that will eat every bit of it. I even haul poo home from the neighbors.
Has anyone here ever tried pickled quail eggs? My couple of pets didn't give me enough to bother with (DD ate them all) but if I'm going to have a decent number of quail I'd like to try it.
River Otto, your going to make so many pickled eggs, you'll be begging people to take them. I love them in salads, I like just hard boiled eggs rolled in Toasted Sesame Salt for snacks, and little deviled eggs, and in tacos or burritos and fried eggs for breakfast (4 make a nice egg sandwich, but I like 6), the list goes on. I think I need to make some lunch.
I don't keep them indoors, so you have to talk to ones that do. Rozzie keeps them inside. but they have a very high ammonia smell, so if anyone in family has allergies or breathing problems. That's a not don't do it. If you have one on the way, I would think twice about it.
I would put them out with the rabbits.
I don't keep them indoors, so you have to talk to ones that do. Rozzie keeps them inside. but they have a very high ammonia smell, so if anyone in family has allergies or breathing problems. That's a not don't do it. If you have one on the way, I would think twice about it.
I would put them out with the rabbits.
- Jul 14, 2010
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- 29
- 181
Quote:
x2 about the smell. You "have" to stay on top of cage cleaning if you have them indoors. I can skip one day and on rare occasions two days, but at that point you do start to smell them, at least near their cages. Anymore than two days and I'd be smelling them upstairs.
If you have a lot of birds in a small space you will smell them the first day. The only reason mine are okay is because they have a LOT of space for only a few birds (about 50 total, between coturnix & button quail). I would NOT try to keep 50 coturnix inside. Period. Pew.
x2 about the smell. You "have" to stay on top of cage cleaning if you have them indoors. I can skip one day and on rare occasions two days, but at that point you do start to smell them, at least near their cages. Anymore than two days and I'd be smelling them upstairs.
If you have a lot of birds in a small space you will smell them the first day. The only reason mine are okay is because they have a LOT of space for only a few birds (about 50 total, between coturnix & button quail). I would NOT try to keep 50 coturnix inside. Period. Pew.
Last edited:
- Jul 14, 2010
- 3,577
- 29
- 181
Quote:
ROFL, I must like working! Lessee, A 10 yo DD, a 17 month old DS, 2 young workingbred dogs, 2 goats, 6 cats, 2 budgies, a small herd of rabbits; 4 does, 2 bucks, currently 8 buns and expecting. I quit counting the chickens, but am building and setting up breeding pens so I'll have point-of-lay pullets to sell in spring. And if I called it remodeling the house, it would imply that the house was a finished construct in the first place ...
I'll be keeping the quail indoors so just having poo drop through won't really be an option. What my plan is, to build a kind of shelving unit. 8' long, 2' wide and tall enough for 3, 12" high cages and rubbermaid totes at the bottom. Built for removable dividers every 2 feet. I'd line the shelves with linoleum, happily I have access to a free, unlimited supply of well-aged sawdust or shavings (my choice) for bedding. I've found that if you don't use so much bedding that the stingiest part of you feels a little like you're wasting it then you're actually not using enough. A dustpan makes an admirable cage scraper and the rubbermaid totes will hold worm colonies. I actually like to keep my rabbits in cages like that when I can (but taller) I loose less first litters with solid floors.
I think that something like that would fit more quail then I'd ever actually put in them. Is there any reason it would be a bad set-up besides that most people don't manage that way? To me, wrestling drop pans and scraping bottom wire feels like so much more work.
LOL, and I spend way too much of my time playing with poo! But then, I've got a 50' x 65' garden that will eat every bit of it. I even haul poo home from the neighbors.
Has anyone here ever tried pickled quail eggs? My couple of pets didn't give me enough to bother with (DD ate them all) but if I'm going to have a decent number of quail I'd like to try it.
Here are some of my thoughts on this...
"8 buns and expecting" -- are the bunnies expecting, or are you?
If you are expecting, I'd put off the quail project for a while. Wait til after the baby is here & you are past the initial exhaustion.
If you have a place outside where you can keep coturnix, then that is far preferable. It will make the workload MUCH less for you. Even outside up against one side of the house, with an overhang, would be better. Mine are inside because it's the best option I have at the moment.
Keeping up with the clean-up can be quite a bit of work. Right now, I would not be comfortable taking a big vacation, unless my son wanted to stay home and take care of things. I love travel, so this is an issue. It sort of restricts you to the local area. I can't ask someone else to come in and clean cages inside. I could ask someone to feed and water if they were outside. Cleanup is different.
If you do keep them inside, strongly consider wire bottoms. In fact, I'd construct the cages so that even the wire bottoms are in frames that can slide out. Underneath those, have WELL MADE trays that are LIGHTWEIGHT and slide out easily. For indoor birds, you'll want extra space per bird to help minimize the poo concentration. Not to be gross, but when people keep 1 bird for every square foot, the poo sort of piles up in a heap. It will insulate the poop underneath it and the whole mess will remain moist longer. If the birds have more space -- say 3-4 square feet per bird, then the poo is more spread out. It dries quickly. Dry poo smells less than wet poo (though keep in mind that the ammonia that evaporates off went into the air in your house or wherever they are). I definitely want my birds to have enough room that the waste is spread out. Each day, you'll want to pull trays and scrape. You won't want to skip days. Further, if you are sick or dealing with sick children, you'll need backup. Who will scrape if you can't? Cause you can't let this go for a few days while you recover and if you are down with influenza, you won't be scraping cages. If they are outdoors, someone can feed & water, but the cleaning can be let go for a few days.
By making the wire bottoms removable, as well (my plan for my next project.), you can also remove these to clean them more thoroughly outside every so often. Not everything falls through the wire...
If you decide to go with bedding in the cage, be aware that coturnix are VERY messy. You can scoop like a cat pan daily, but it is virtually non-stop. I have never counted specifically but it's my estimate that each bird goes at least 10,998 times per day. (Or, okay, something like at least 20 or 30 times...) So, if you have 10 birds, you'll be using your plastic scoop 200-300 times to scoop a cage. That's a lot of poo scooping. That is the SOLE reason some of my birds are on wire & I'm considering wire for more of them, even though I detest it.
ROFL, I must like working! Lessee, A 10 yo DD, a 17 month old DS, 2 young workingbred dogs, 2 goats, 6 cats, 2 budgies, a small herd of rabbits; 4 does, 2 bucks, currently 8 buns and expecting. I quit counting the chickens, but am building and setting up breeding pens so I'll have point-of-lay pullets to sell in spring. And if I called it remodeling the house, it would imply that the house was a finished construct in the first place ...
I'll be keeping the quail indoors so just having poo drop through won't really be an option. What my plan is, to build a kind of shelving unit. 8' long, 2' wide and tall enough for 3, 12" high cages and rubbermaid totes at the bottom. Built for removable dividers every 2 feet. I'd line the shelves with linoleum, happily I have access to a free, unlimited supply of well-aged sawdust or shavings (my choice) for bedding. I've found that if you don't use so much bedding that the stingiest part of you feels a little like you're wasting it then you're actually not using enough. A dustpan makes an admirable cage scraper and the rubbermaid totes will hold worm colonies. I actually like to keep my rabbits in cages like that when I can (but taller) I loose less first litters with solid floors.
I think that something like that would fit more quail then I'd ever actually put in them. Is there any reason it would be a bad set-up besides that most people don't manage that way? To me, wrestling drop pans and scraping bottom wire feels like so much more work.
LOL, and I spend way too much of my time playing with poo! But then, I've got a 50' x 65' garden that will eat every bit of it. I even haul poo home from the neighbors.
Has anyone here ever tried pickled quail eggs? My couple of pets didn't give me enough to bother with (DD ate them all) but if I'm going to have a decent number of quail I'd like to try it.
Here are some of my thoughts on this...
"8 buns and expecting" -- are the bunnies expecting, or are you?
If you are expecting, I'd put off the quail project for a while. Wait til after the baby is here & you are past the initial exhaustion.
If you have a place outside where you can keep coturnix, then that is far preferable. It will make the workload MUCH less for you. Even outside up against one side of the house, with an overhang, would be better. Mine are inside because it's the best option I have at the moment.
Keeping up with the clean-up can be quite a bit of work. Right now, I would not be comfortable taking a big vacation, unless my son wanted to stay home and take care of things. I love travel, so this is an issue. It sort of restricts you to the local area. I can't ask someone else to come in and clean cages inside. I could ask someone to feed and water if they were outside. Cleanup is different.
If you do keep them inside, strongly consider wire bottoms. In fact, I'd construct the cages so that even the wire bottoms are in frames that can slide out. Underneath those, have WELL MADE trays that are LIGHTWEIGHT and slide out easily. For indoor birds, you'll want extra space per bird to help minimize the poo concentration. Not to be gross, but when people keep 1 bird for every square foot, the poo sort of piles up in a heap. It will insulate the poop underneath it and the whole mess will remain moist longer. If the birds have more space -- say 3-4 square feet per bird, then the poo is more spread out. It dries quickly. Dry poo smells less than wet poo (though keep in mind that the ammonia that evaporates off went into the air in your house or wherever they are). I definitely want my birds to have enough room that the waste is spread out. Each day, you'll want to pull trays and scrape. You won't want to skip days. Further, if you are sick or dealing with sick children, you'll need backup. Who will scrape if you can't? Cause you can't let this go for a few days while you recover and if you are down with influenza, you won't be scraping cages. If they are outdoors, someone can feed & water, but the cleaning can be let go for a few days.
By making the wire bottoms removable, as well (my plan for my next project.), you can also remove these to clean them more thoroughly outside every so often. Not everything falls through the wire...
If you decide to go with bedding in the cage, be aware that coturnix are VERY messy. You can scoop like a cat pan daily, but it is virtually non-stop. I have never counted specifically but it's my estimate that each bird goes at least 10,998 times per day. (Or, okay, something like at least 20 or 30 times...) So, if you have 10 birds, you'll be using your plastic scoop 200-300 times to scoop a cage. That's a lot of poo scooping. That is the SOLE reason some of my birds are on wire & I'm considering wire for more of them, even though I detest it.
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Thanks for all the advice guys!
Just to be clear, my rabbits are expecting - I've always got a litter coming. I am NOT expecting, lol.
Right now inside is all I have. But I have a back room that has lots of ventilation to the outside that is currently used for storage. The room was a porch at one point that got enclosed
Come summer we'll be building roofed porches and I'll have a perfect spot for them then. We have no outbuildings here (except the few we already built), I've got to build everything from scratch.
Rozzie, keeping them indoors with more space per bird, how many adults would be comfortable in a 8'x2' cage? I did keep my few pet ones indoors so am not totally unfamiliar. Just never bred or had any numbers of them. Only 5 birds till they keeled of old age and the kitten got the last two (still kind of upset about that)
Further, if you are sick or dealing with sick children, you'll need backup. Who will scrape if you can't? Cause you can't let this go for a few days while you recover and if you are down with influenza, you won't be scraping cages. If they are outdoors, someone can feed & water, but the cleaning can be let go for a few days.
I'm new to quail, but pretty experienced with most types of critters. From pets to farm critters to exotics. We have a mini-farm here so never go anywhere. My DH picks up the slack should I get sick and DD and her friends are always happy to pick up the odd job or two if I really can't get out of bed or something. The farm and homeschooling are pretty much my full-time jobs.
Just to be clear, my rabbits are expecting - I've always got a litter coming. I am NOT expecting, lol.
Right now inside is all I have. But I have a back room that has lots of ventilation to the outside that is currently used for storage. The room was a porch at one point that got enclosed
Come summer we'll be building roofed porches and I'll have a perfect spot for them then. We have no outbuildings here (except the few we already built), I've got to build everything from scratch.
Rozzie, keeping them indoors with more space per bird, how many adults would be comfortable in a 8'x2' cage? I did keep my few pet ones indoors so am not totally unfamiliar. Just never bred or had any numbers of them. Only 5 birds till they keeled of old age and the kitten got the last two (still kind of upset about that)
Further, if you are sick or dealing with sick children, you'll need backup. Who will scrape if you can't? Cause you can't let this go for a few days while you recover and if you are down with influenza, you won't be scraping cages. If they are outdoors, someone can feed & water, but the cleaning can be let go for a few days.
I'm new to quail, but pretty experienced with most types of critters. From pets to farm critters to exotics. We have a mini-farm here so never go anywhere. My DH picks up the slack should I get sick and DD and her friends are always happy to pick up the odd job or two if I really can't get out of bed or something. The farm and homeschooling are pretty much my full-time jobs.
- Jul 14, 2010
- 3,577
- 29
- 181
Quote:
16 square feet...
The "standard" number given is 1 bird per square foot. That should be seen as a maximum for adults. I currently have a quad in a space that size. They have plenty of space & I'd have no problems putting in a few more since it is a large area. I think that since it is a solid bottom cage that I wouldn't want more than about 8 in it, though. Otherwise, it'd get nasty to clean. In the summer it would require daily cleaning with 8 birds inside the garage (which does not have a.c.) I'd aim for no more than 1 per 2 square feet in a larger cage in the house & fewer if the cages are small. In my six square foot cages I think a covey of 4 is plenty. Those cages have a wire bottom & can be easily cleaned daily. I am currently using those cages for bachelor pens for single roos, though. There is NO detectable odor at all from that, even if I stick my nose almost to the tray. I do not have to clean those on an every day basis - just every 2-3 days.
16 square feet...
The "standard" number given is 1 bird per square foot. That should be seen as a maximum for adults. I currently have a quad in a space that size. They have plenty of space & I'd have no problems putting in a few more since it is a large area. I think that since it is a solid bottom cage that I wouldn't want more than about 8 in it, though. Otherwise, it'd get nasty to clean. In the summer it would require daily cleaning with 8 birds inside the garage (which does not have a.c.) I'd aim for no more than 1 per 2 square feet in a larger cage in the house & fewer if the cages are small. In my six square foot cages I think a covey of 4 is plenty. Those cages have a wire bottom & can be easily cleaned daily. I am currently using those cages for bachelor pens for single roos, though. There is NO detectable odor at all from that, even if I stick my nose almost to the tray. I do not have to clean those on an every day basis - just every 2-3 days.
- Thread starter
- #148
I had a pretty good plan for keeping button pairs in cages with raised wire bottoms, in short tubs tall enough to minimize the mess, because I have access to lots of free newspaper, and it makes good mulch in the garden. The only cage that has actually been constructed so far, is being used for my bachelor pen. This one has a 1" raised bottom - 2" would probably be better for coturnix.
The plan is to have an extra tub that I can put papers in, then just set the first cage into that one, moving quail and feeders and all, to minimize escapes and trauma for the birds, because the buttons are faster to escape, harder to find, and easier to traumatize their big ol' friendly cousins.
Then clean and put paper in that tub, and just do one at a time until done. It looks like it's going to work pretty well, and go pretty fast once I get the rest of the cages done
Maybe it can help with ideas, depending on what you have to work with.
I just don't ration feed for birds, so this summer when I would get home from work and find empty dishes in the growing pens, I started feeding them in tubs, even though I was expecting to have to scrub the coturnix tubs all the time, they've been surprisingly clean about it (dish tub size for them) - and they do their dusting in it too.
OK, here's another attempt at pictures...
The plan is to have an extra tub that I can put papers in, then just set the first cage into that one, moving quail and feeders and all, to minimize escapes and trauma for the birds, because the buttons are faster to escape, harder to find, and easier to traumatize their big ol' friendly cousins.
Then clean and put paper in that tub, and just do one at a time until done. It looks like it's going to work pretty well, and go pretty fast once I get the rest of the cages done
Maybe it can help with ideas, depending on what you have to work with.
I just don't ration feed for birds, so this summer when I would get home from work and find empty dishes in the growing pens, I started feeding them in tubs, even though I was expecting to have to scrub the coturnix tubs all the time, they've been surprisingly clean about it (dish tub size for them) - and they do their dusting in it too.
OK, here's another attempt at pictures...
SO 11 people have asked for my eggs and I have ordered the foam trays for mailing 24 eggs to eash. If they ever get here, I will find out if they fit. Then start PMing each of you that I am ready to sent them out when You are ready for them.
I know that not everyone will be trading these eggs back and forth. I haven't read back to see who all has joined the COOP to actually trade eggs with each other. I know diggypaws, rjs55555, RiverOtto and who else? Just trying to make sure you have at least 5 people to get their numbers up around 100 birds or more.
Well, looks like I am off to jury duty Wednesday, so I'll check in later.
I know that not everyone will be trading these eggs back and forth. I haven't read back to see who all has joined the COOP to actually trade eggs with each other. I know diggypaws, rjs55555, RiverOtto and who else? Just trying to make sure you have at least 5 people to get their numbers up around 100 birds or more.
Well, looks like I am off to jury duty Wednesday, so I'll check in later.
Buttercup, i would like to participate in this if possible. i p.m. ed you.
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