Illinois...

[BReeder!]

Decreasing the angle I think will solve the problem. They can jump up onto the lower part of the ramp with no problems. I don't think the the slats are problem.
Not sure how high you need to raise the lower end, but an 8" cinder block works well.

I put a 4 inch paver under the end. I am hopeful. I may swap it with an 8 inch cinder block. The leaf left piled in the run is about 4 inches thick anyway, so the 4 inch paver just lifts the end of the ramp to the height of the leaf litter. It did help the angle a bit. I will go higher if this doesn't work. The other thought is that they are just scared to go through the smaller doorway - it is about 7 inches wide and 10-12 inches tall - my biggest girls fit so they all can fit, but I think these gir lo s are be scaredy cats. The speckled sussex, Bear, went in on her own yesterday so that is one more who figured it out. 3 more to go.

 

[Faraday40]

I put a 4 inch paver under the end. I am hopeful. I may swap it with an 8 inch cinder block. The leaf left piled in the run is about 4 inches thick anyway, so the 4 inch paver just lifts the end of the ramp to the height of the leaf litter. It did help the angle a bit. I will go higher if this doesn't work. The other thought is that they are just scared to go through the smaller doorway - it is about 7 inches wide and 10-12 inches tall - my biggest girls fit so they all can fit, but I think these gir lo s are be scaredy cats. The speckled sussex, Bear, went in on her own yesterday so that is one more who figured it out. 3 more to go.

They're still my favorite, but Orps are not the smartest chickens. They can learn tricks but take more repetition. I taught my 1st lav orp "Cuddles" to peck at a red target. It took her a few weeks to learn. She was a very special pet & loved by everyone here. Along comes DD's Dominique "Bubbles," and DD taught her how to do the same trick in 2 days! Bubbles went on to play the piano & even had her own local fan club. (Seriously, we got fan mail from kids after she visited some elementary schools.)

 

[Faraday40]

Here's my blue orp / 6-7 days old

.. and next to its "sister" serama

Had a little scare this morning with the seramaxsilkie mixes. Mama hopped out of the nest box. Orp followed, but the 2 tiny ones could not get out of the nest. I found them cold & unresponsive/ lifeless.... but one may have twitched slightly. I brought them inside & warmed them with a hairdryer. I've heard of such miracles happening with cold chicks but didn't really expect much. DD took over with the hair dryer while I went out to do the chicken chores. When I returned to the house, she was holding 2 peeping chicks. They were back to running about an hour later and are now inside with the silkie mama & the serama chicks. The orp remains with her orig mama. Perhaps she'll do a better job with just ONE chick. (Plus orps are very hardy.)

 

[Molpet]

Here's my blue orp / 6-7 days old

.. and next to its "sister" serama

Had a little scare this morning with the seramaxsilkie mixes. Mama hopped out of the nest box. Orp followed, but the 2 tiny ones could not get out of the nest. I found them cold & unresponsive/ lifeless.... but one may have twitched slightly. I brought them inside & warmed them with a hairdryer. I've heard of such miracles happening with cold chicks but didn't really expect much. DD took over with the hair dryer while I went out to do the chicken chores. When I returned to the house, she was holding 2 peeping chicks. They were back to running about an hour later and are now inside with the silkie mama & the serama chicks. The orp remains with her orig mama. Perhaps she'll do a better job with just ONE chick. (Plus orps are very hardy.)

They are cute
such a scare
I had found a few day old last year laying in the coop. It gasped when I picked it up and stuck it in my shirt, I brought it in and put it under a heating pad. There were several the same and I couldn't tell which one it was later. Found one next to a nest just hatched, stuck it under mom and it recovered too.

 

[BReeder!]

Hello, all! I posted this in the quail forum, but I figured I would bring it up here since the such a wealth of local knowledge here. I am thinking about getting into quail. I am struggling to find a local source though. I don't need to buy them tomorrow. I can wait until spring if needed. I just want to know who sells quail. Ideally I want to get chicks, not eggs. I don't have an incubator and no experience since second grade with incubating eggs. I can do a brooder. Anybody raising quail, are you willing to share your source or part with some chicks?

 

[cavemanrich]

I considered getting quail before. Further research indicated I would need one of 2 things. A LARGE AVIARY, or a set of small cages. Cant free-range them since they will fly away first chance possible.
If you are set to get some, then you know the prior needs. I did find a source on local Craig's list. Your Craig's list is pretty much same as mine. (location/area)
The size of cage is important for the safety of the quail. Short enough so they do not attempt to fly. Or,,,,, tall enough so they do not hit top ceiling and hurt their neck in process. Large aviary ideal. Do you have room for one???

 

[Molpet]

Hello, all! I posted this in the quail forum, but I figured I would bring it up here since the such a wealth of local knowledge here. I am thinking about getting into quail. I am struggling to find a local source though. I don't need to buy them tomorrow. I can wait until spring if needed. I just want to know who sells quail. Ideally I want to get chicks, not eggs. I don't have an incubator and no experience since second grade with incubating eggs. I can do a brooder. Anybody raising quail, are you willing to share your source or part with some chicks?

faraday had quail

 

[Faraday40]

Hello, all! I posted this in the quail forum, but I figured I would bring it up here since the such a wealth of local knowledge here. I am thinking about getting into quail. I am struggling to find a local source though. I don't need to buy them tomorrow. I can wait until spring if needed. I just want to know who sells quail. Ideally I want to get chicks, not eggs. I don't have an incubator and no experience since second grade with incubating eggs. I can do a brooder. Anybody raising quail, are you willing to share your source or part with some chicks?

We have/had some quail. They were OK. Lay like crazy & then NOTHING all winter. We eventually built a rabbit-like cage (looking to the future when the kids will want rabbits some day). The extra height never seemed to matter.... but short cages = more volume. I like their little noises & if we couldn't own chickens, then quail is a good back up poultry. I prefer chickens for their personalities, but those little quail eggs are cute. Over the years I found many uses for the eggs. I think the people who raise them in little tractors have the best tasting eggs; my quail didn't get much grass time, so our chicken eggs definitely tasted better.

Since the quail are seasonal layers, we were eating most of them before winter. (The meat is delicious, processing is fast & easy, but it takes several quail to make an entree.) We saved mostly females & were deciding if we'd keep a few or have one more last, big meal. Another 4H family had only 1 male, so we gave our remaining ones to them. In exchange, they'll give us some fertile eggs next spring .... if we want them. Win/win! They got free quail & we have less beaks to feed.

Although the quail were part of DD's project, it is DS who wants to hatch more. We'll see how he feels in the spring. If we do hatch some, I'll let you know. Ours were nothing special. Basic Coturnix & Texas A&M. I had a few that layed interesting blue eggs but we were not breeding for it. Just ate the eggs.

I know there's someone out there on CL who sells the very large quail. You may also find some pretty colors.

The 1st quail were our favs. The kids played with them & the quail were very tame. We could even tell them apart.

DD's fav was a male named "Albert." She spent so much time with him, that he stayed by her side when outside. (Most quail simply wander away.)

As you can see the design of the "quail cage" can be used for a chicken hospital, broody area, or rabbit hutch.

 

[Faraday40]

Looking at their tiny wings & I don't think I got any silkied seramas. However, they're still very, very cute. (Of course I'm pretty biased.)
About 8-9 days old:

....and one more of the white one b/c it was posing so well.

 

[BReeder!]

So I jumped off the deep end today...
I went ahead and order 50 quail eggs and an incubator. I am so excited to start incubating/breeding!
We really cannot breed our chickens due to being restricted to just 8 hens by local ordinance. There's not a restriction like that on quail though - they are a pet bird essentially.
I plan to cull the flock annually and breed the best of them for the next season. ideally I will work out a system where I can collect meat annually, but allow each bird to lay eggs for 2 years.
Incubator is due to arrive in 2 days - Amazon sure is amazing. Eggs should arrive between Friday or Saturday. I sure hope that the incubator shows up with no problems.
If anybody wants a few eggs for a dollar a piece I should have 8 or 9 extras since the incubator holds 42 eggs I believe. Let me know if you are close by and interested. nudge nudge @Faraday40 DS Christmas presents.