Most Pretty Poultry Contest!!

[MagpieDucks]

A dash of sunshine, 3yr, Male, Chrysolophus pictus mut. luteus Yellow Golden pheasant
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Unfair post! ^^^

 

[007Sean]

Peggy Pete (taken from us today RIP ) and Poindexter. 7 months old. View attachment 1225131 Breed...mixed.

So sorry for your loss!

 

[Star and eclipsa]

Snowball
White polish
11 weeks
Cockerel

 

[007Sean]

Unfair post! ^^^

Why?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

This is Copper-Amber. She is an Easter Egger who is about seven months old.

This is Lupine. She is the same age and breed as Copper-Amber.

This is Niesha. She is the same age and breed as Copper-Amber and Lupine.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

This one is still unsure about humans. I just talk softly to him/her. I feed wild game bird feed and he/dhe loves it. I call it Tamu. Any advice you have would be appreciated.

Thanks for the info. I've had chickens for many years, but this is my first quail. I was told they can't live in the wild. Is this true?

The wild type coturnix could probably live in the wild since their colouring provides excellent camouflage. They are winter hardy and even here in Canada people keep them outdoors, as long as they're sheltered from wind. Some people use them to train hunting dogs, and they get loose. An A&M probably wouldn't make it because the white would stand out for predators. They aren't great fliers and tend to flush straight up when startled.

Re keeping them indoors. You need to make sure the cage top isn't too high. They only need a few inches space above their heads. The reason is that they fly straight up when startled and will injure their heads. I made my quail cage from metal cube grids tied together with cable ties. One grid tall is the perfect height. Grids are used to make shelving (for dorms etc) you can find them at Lowes or Home Depot. Rubbermaid makes them. If you check my post here you'll see them in the cage Divine lives in. For the bottom of the cage I use play sand, and scoop it with a screen sieve every day or two to get the poop out. The quail like it and they can dust bathe in it. Eventually (months later) it gets smelly, you can either wash it out in a bucket or just get new sand. I tried using wood shavings at first but they stank after a day. Same thing when I tried a mesh bottom, the poop falls down and STINKS, and they get bumblefoot. Quail poop contains a lot of ammonia.

They LOVE chopped greens, I offer them in a bowl every day. I save vegetable scraps from cooking and throw them in a chopper, they love it. Or you can just clip a romaine lettuce or other leaf to their cage and they will eagerly bite at it. Other treats are an apple chunk (seeds removed) or other fruit, plain yogurt (no gelatin) and mealworms live or dried. Other than that they'll eat gamebird crumble or layer crumble. I also give them scratch or wild bird seed on the bottom of their cage for forage.

 

[Star and eclipsa]

Snowball
White polish
11 weeks
Cockerel
View attachment 1225143

His head feathers are so short because I clipped them a few days ago so he would stop almost running into walls.

 

[MagpieDucks]

Why?

I'm just teasing you because your birds are so beyootiful.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

Me are pretty AND smart. Das why me name Dasher. No Das bcuz am FAST!

 

[007Sean]

I'm just teasing you because your birds are so beyootiful.

Thanks, I have so many other equally pretty birds but he has rich, deep colors not normally seen in a Yellow Golden.