I just got a new pair of Quail i keep them with my chickens ?

[gamebirdboy]

Oh, by pair I assumed you were talking about a male and a female, since it is 2 hens you will be fine. Once the bird is infected it becomes a carrier and their offspring will become carriers too. That's why when a quail gets coryza it becomes useless for breeding.

 

[kahlertm]

I spoke with the State Veterinarian assigned specifically to Poultry about housing quail and chickens. The Vet stated that it is illness waiting to happen. Everyone speaks of Coryza, but there are other terrible painful diseases that the quail get when housed with chickens of the coccidiosis type. A hemoraging/bleeding type of enteritis that is a slow and painful death for a quail.

The State Vet stated that the quail should be kept preferably on wire (not able to scratch, roll, injest soil that wild birds or chickens have defecated in (which is pretty much all soil). Otherwise you will be having to medicate and spend money time and heart break on sick birds. Also the State Vet stated that a top on the run/pen or cage is advised for the same reason (wild bird droppings into the feed and water or sand box).

So there are a number of different diseases that can harm quail from all different types of birds. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

So you see, it is not just regular chicken/quail/poultry folks or people advising this. State Poultry Vets and Avian Vets have advised me this sage warning before I ever came to the forum. It's just good animal husbandry to do what a Vet suggests.

Yes, most of us have all different sorts of species on our places. Good biosecurity and separation practices keeps illness down. Housing the species (quail with the other poultry) with one another, though is ill advised and completely frowned upon by the Veterinary community. It is just not accepted as good husbandry.

The Vets I spoke to complained that they had been having to go deal with farms with issues like this. It makes their job pretty miserable and the community suffers because people then sell eggs from sick flocks, unwilling to take precautions or unwilling to learn about what is the correct way to house the birds. So the diseases spread and the Veterinarians... particularly the State Vets, who have to come in and investigate the spread of disease, become disheartened by some of the ways people carry on with housing and passing on sick generations of birds. Look in any of the chicken or poultry magazines and you will see the "Im a bird watcher" advertisements.

If we choose to keep birds in a way that "rolls the dice" or relies on luck with their health...in the end, it will become harder for all of us to be able to keep different species as a hobby or farm because the rules on keeping them will become stricter, due to illness passing or spreading. We all have to think ahead on this issue. What am I doing that could effect another living creature? What am I doing that could spread to other's animals? What am I doing that could cause spread of disease in my area?

Those are my thoughts on it. Yes I keep both chickens and quail on the same property...just not housed together and with proper handling /biosecurity instructions from the Vets.

We CAN all work together to inform others that keeping the birds the way the Vets suggest, enables us to enjoy them longer, not have to treat sick birds/ cull OR face stricter rules and regulations on keeping the birds due to the States having sickness spread.

Enjoy your feathered babies. Keep em well.

Tonya

 

[JJMR794]

Tonya You Make Quite A Few Excellent Points Here

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
+1, Great post Lady!!

Bill

 

[gamebirdboy]

Quote:
Well said