How to keep your quail's feet clean?

[Green Bean Quail]

I also keep my birds on dirt, and the only one I had problems with in terms of poop balls is Pip, who was extremely unstable and paced manically when she was being oversexed. Now she doesn’t have them anymore as she doesn’t pace the same corner as much, and they use the stones to scrape it off for the most part. She accidentally ripped off a toenail trying to climb one of the nesting setups but it healed quick. Moisture is a big indicator of whether they’ll get poop balls or not. I try to have as varied of a cage layer as possible. (Mulch, Dirt, Pebbles, Sand, Hay, Towels lining the nest area) and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

I

Outside ? Or dirt in cage ?? Im new ^^/ currently incubating so planning ahead on cage care

I keep my quail outside in a 16 square foot hutch, I currently only have 4 coturnix birds due to a couple deaths, but they do well outside as long as you are very careful on tarping/covering during rainstorms. We had a severe thunderstorm taht caused hail and I had to yank them out of their hutch and put them in my bathroom downstairs because the hail was denting the cage wire! Make sure for outside life they have a shadowy area, plenty of boxes to hide in as they will be more flighty the first few weeks due to exposure, especially if they hatched and brooded indoors (mine had been indoors for 3 months as they hatched in winter). Outside is nice because they love to catch bugs and it’s easy to get them grass and clover if you live in the woods like I do, be careful of predators though.

 

[Ravenlover]

I

I keep my quail outside in a 16 square foot hutch, I currently only have 4 coturnix birds due to a couple deaths, but they do well outside as long as you are very careful on tarping/covering during rainstorms. We had a severe thunderstorm taht caused hail and I had to yank them out of their hutch and put them in my bathroom downstairs because the hail was denting the cage wire! Make sure for outside life they have a shadowy area, plenty of boxes to hide in as they will be more flighty the first few weeks due to exposure, especially if they hatched and brooded indoors (mine had been indoors for 3 months as they hatched in winter). Outside is nice because they love to catch bugs and it’s easy to get them grass and clover if you live in the woods like I do, be careful of predators though.

Ty ty vm

 

[ValerieJ]

I find with my quail, I have 15 in 24 sq ft coop/run outdoors, they feel safer when more confined. I like them to be able to run and play and hide, but found they didn’t like to cross large open spaces, I put a cinder block in the middle of the open area and now they use it as safe stopping area. Also they can and will fly, and even with a short clip can bumble out of the run, because you need a short ceiling or they can build up momentum when they get scared and flush up into the air, if they hit too hard they can break their necks.

I don’t like keeping animals on wire so much, but I understand how difficult quail can be. Mine are slowly Shawshanking their way under the side of the pen! I have patio blocks around it so they aren’t getting anywhere, but I see it could be a problem for people. They also poop soooooooo much, they killed the lawn in their pen in a week, I use chips now in the run part and they turn and mix them and it needs a bit thrown on top every few days, but again that adds cost, and many people keep poultry as livestock, and an extra $50 per year of chips is a lot for small birds.

also you can’t free range them, if your quail get out you probably won’t see them again if you don’t catch them quick. Hawks will snatch them up, cats, dogs, rodents etc plus they are great at hiding! Mine fly out, flop over the side, and run thru the fence, straight for my neighbors bushes every chance they get.

Thanks for such a thoughtful and thorough response! That makes a lot of sense to me now. There is a member who raises only exotic quail and he has a few that got loose and are now completely wild and free range. They visit him from time to time, but apparently there is no way to catch them at this point.

 

[Allteair]

Thanks for asking this question. I have Corntix quail and they had been hurting their toes because of this issue, even with dust baths. dakota14breyer's solution inspired my own. Take a dog tub, or large tote with a screen of some kind on top, fill with water enough for your birds to stand in, leave them for a bit and Check on them regularly remove birds as their toes lose their balls and clip their claws before returning them to their home.