Keeping quail with chickens

[RodNTN]

Hi everybody,
I have been wondering if you can keep quail and chickens together, and I don’t mean ‘TOGETHER’; I just meant if I could keep the quail in a pen next to my coop. My 14 chickens free range so they won’t be next to the quails a lot. The only time they are kept in their run is Sundays when we are gone, (and even then we aren’t even gone half the day so they get to range the rest). I have been keeping them in their run lately though since there was a chicken attack by a dog at my neighbors

. Anyhow, could I put some kind of medication in their water to keep them from getting a disease? I have heard some people do this with turkeys and chickens. I read that the ‘Tennessee Red Quail’ breed is resistant to disease. But I also read that these Quails were more flighty and bigger in size (is this true?). I don’t want to keep Quail if they are going to harm my chickens, or vice versa.
Has anybody ever kept Quail with chickens and gotten good results?
Thanks in advance

 

[dc3085]

Tenessee red is a mutation of northern bobs. It is no more disease resistant than a typical northern. Reds are a smaller bob mutation.

No one can tell you for sure you wont have problems youll just have to wing it or not. If the quail can access the chickens or their feces at all youll need to control that.

 

[RodNTN]

Does anybody know anything about a medicine or medication I could give them to prevent

disease? Would it work the same way like it would it would with turkeys? And my chicken compost pile is near where I was thinking about putting my quail pen . . .

should i do that?

 

[RodNTN]

So what causes the quail/chicken disease that they pass on to each other? Does it have to do with both of the birds feces?

 

[enola]

A lot of quail keepers keep their quail in wire bottomed cages/coops/hutches. This keeps them off of the ground.

 

[RodNTN]

I have thought of that (the wire cages i mean) Some people keep their chickens on one side of their property and quail on the other side. Would that help if I did that and kept them off of the ground in wire cages like enola said?

 

[RodNTN]

I have a little over 20 acres and half of it is woods but they still have a lot of areas where they can range and forage.

 

[swbradley]

I would not keep my quail and chickens that close together. Some people do without any problems, but it does open the door for problems. Keeping them off the ground in cages keeps the environment cleaner, and your quail will be less likely to get diseases. Keeping the chickens on one side and the quail on the other is the safest way to go. That is what I do. I do not give my chickens or quail any medicines unless I know what I am treating for. Some will disagree with this, but personally I do not like to medicate unless it is necessary. I think getting the quail off to a good start with high protein 28% to 30% is the most important priority for keeping them healthy. I also give them Alfalfa that I sprout, some mealworms and oyster shell. As a preventative measure I do give them raw organic apple cider vinegar in their water. Hope this helps!

 

[RodNTN]

Quote:

Thanks! Helped a lot! I do use apple cider vinegar for my chickens too.