My amazing quails killed!!

[HeatherKellyB]

Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed hearing about your lovely quail. Your love for them was obvious and beautiful. I'm so sorry for your loss of the 4 of them. My heart hurts for you. I'll be praying for you and for the 2 remaining quail. That's a shame about your neighbors. Something needs to be done and the neighbors need to do it. Hopefully they'll comply as it's the least they could do after being the reason you've lost your precious quail. Sending you virtual hugs

 

[BigBlueHen53]

and more
For me, the only way to heal the hole in my heart after losing a beloved animal is to get another. I'm not replacing the one lost, that's not possible. But I am honoring the love and the life lost by continuing to give that love to another. However, in your case it's probably best to wait until after you move, to where rats are not present and you can build an absolutely predator-safe enclosure. BYC will certainly help with that. God comfort you in your sorrow, since you did ask for prayer. ❤

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Two words of advice: Rat poison.

And a third: get a cat.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Wanted to comment again, as someone picked up chicks from me today and commented that I was lucky I dont get rats, with my various coops.

I told him that my cat is a monster. I’ve seen him carrying whole chickens, and rats his own size down the street.

One time he left something that looked strange on my front porch. I realized it was a rat snout and whiskers. Turned out he left the tail on my back porch. The rest of the rat? Gone.

If you have a house cat, it may not have the instinct to hunt and kill prey. You may want to keep your own cat where it is, and get an “outdoor cat” from the shelter. Get a kitten or two that were born from a feral cat in a barn somewhere—cats that have been wild and fending for themselves.

my cat was born in a barn, and he is AMAZING. My husband forgets to close the dog food container some nights. I’ve fogotten to close the bird feed. I’ve had ducks and chickens and just threw their crumbles over the side of the porch. And I havent seen a rat. Not unless you count the occasional dead one.

#catsFTW

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

We have way to many cats (7 adult and a bunch of kitties) and I have never seen a rat...or a mouse...or a wild rabbit...you get then picture.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I'm so sorry about your poor quails.

I had an ongoing problem with rats in my aviary. They killed my first bourke's parrot, a few japanese quails and several gouldian finches, including the babies who were about to fledge

 

[DustyDivas]

So sorry for your loss
It is devastating losing the little creatures we care for so much.
Hope you feel better soon xx

 

[-Flash-]

Wanted to comment again, as someone picked up chicks from me today and commented that I was lucky I dont get rats, with my various coops.

I told him that my cat is a monster. I’ve seen him carrying whole chickens, and rats his own size down the street.

One time he left something that looked strange on my front porch. I realized it was a rat snout and whiskers. Turned out he left the tail on my back porch. The rest of the rat? Gone.

If you have a house cat, it may not have the instinct to hunt and kill prey. You may want to keep your own cat where it is, and get an “outdoor cat” from the shelter. Get a kitten or two that were born from a feral cat in a barn somewhere—cats that have been wild and fending for themselves.

my cat was born in a barn, and he is AMAZING. My husband forgets to close the dog food container some nights. I’ve fogotten to close the bird feed. I’ve had ducks and chickens and just threw their crumbles over the side of the porch. And I havent seen a rat. Not unless you count the occasional dead one.

#catsFTW

The problem with that is that the cat kills all the native wildlife. All the little birds and lizards.

 

[Oinkybacon]

Update: i kept the two after i moved house but one passed away of old age , i felt sorry for the other so got her another group, which had too many roos in, so ended up getting more and had over 40, the last original has passed away now but had a long happy life too from what i could tell lol.
I had an outdoor enclosure which was ruined one night in a heavy storm with lots of wind and my wife called to say that all of the quails got out, we spent ages looking and managed to get every one of them back, they were all soaking and lookin sorry for themselves and happy to be rescued lol.

Built them an indoor enclosure very quickly and have started work on a new outdoor enclosure for them with indoor and outdoor parts a huge shed with a large aviary attached, but still working on it. Will be around 4.5m x 4.5m total.

I had an illness manage to devastate my flock and wipe out aload of birds that i managed to get ahold of but mixed with the usual unpredictable losses has left me now with a flock of around 20.

Ive been selling their eggs to a local farm shop for a while now and the money goes straight back into the quail, plus alot more.

Unfortunately, ive developed a serious lung condition that is pretty much to do with having my quail, although i cant let them go, my wife has taken over the lions share of the duties involving them, and im not able to expand the flock or run another alongside it until i can atleast get the condition under control. Medical advice says to get rid of the birds but i love them and dont want to let them go, im hoping once theyre back outside it may help enough. Ive only ever given 2 roos away and thats just because a few of the females were getting it alot worse, although i gave them to someone i sort of knew and he said would use them for breeding as opposed to dispatching.

Anyways thanks for all the advice and best wishes.
I hope this update reaches some of you and i wish you all the best for the future

 

[Oinkybacon]

I'm so sorry about your poor quails.

I had an ongoing problem with rats in my aviary. They killed my first bourke's parrot, a few japanese quails and several gouldian finches, including the babies who were about to fledge

Aww bless them, cruel world out there for sure.