My Jumbo quail roo is injured on his backside, kind of to his left.

[DvorahChanah]

Sorry about your AI problems these past few years - I understand they were culling huge populations of otherwise protected water fowl in an effort to get it under control. Not that we here in the US are responsible for that outbreak - just that as the EU strain tore through our flocks last year, we can commiserate together.

and thanks for offering that - it helps identify what ingredients may be more (or less) available to you than we enjoy here. Some good research coming out of the Mediterranean basin right now, though mostly on variant calcium sources and some lofal ingredients (like Teff).

What do you mean by AI problems?? I don't follow much with Israeli agriculture except to cluck my tongue at them. I doubt I could be more divergent in my views. Most Israeli ag is centralized, hi-tech, chemically oriented. I'm a loyal member of small, dissident subculture of permaculturalists and regenerative gardeners, landscapers, and now an owner of a small covey of quail.

 

[Nabiki]

What do you mean by AI problems?? I don't follow much with Israeli agriculture except to cluck my tongue at them. I doubt I could be more divergent in my views. Most Israeli ag is centralized, hi-tech, chemically oriented. I'm a loyal member of small, dissident subculture of permaculturalists and regenerative gardeners, landscapers, and now an owner of a small covey of quail.

AI is avian influenza. There is a big outbreak going on here.

 

[DvorahChanah]

Thanks guys!

Sorry I’m late!
https://www.youtube.com/live/wF6BXASgKMc?feature=share

Raising quail in an aviary setting is a bit different than a commercial cage setting like myshire. I copied the link to my video for Coturnix Corner and Terry actually built an aviary based on my setup that he shows in other videos on his channel. Those may be helpful for you.

I was a bit confused by the actual dimensions of your setup, but basically you want the square meters of ground space minus feeders and “furniture” when determining the space per bird. It sounds like your numbers/ratio is good for your space. Do they have hiding/laying areas to escape unwanted attention from the other birds? Is it “predator proofed” for safety and away from critters that could cause undue stress? Even in an ideal situation, you can always end up with a butthole bird (male or female) that picks on another bird and once one is injured, others may join in and gang up on it.

Raising quail in an aviary setting is a bit different than a commercial cage setting like myshire.

My reply: If you read the questions and Zack's replies below the video in question, he says it's the nearly same for an aviary. Hence my mouth dropping to the floor in utter confusion and disbelief.

I was a bit confused by the actual dimensions of your setup, but basically you want the square meters of ground space minus feeders and “furniture” when determining the space per bird. It sounds like your numbers/ratio is good for your space.

The space I'm using as an aviary is a former greenhouse. I don't need a greenhouse in this mild climate. It just doesn't get that cold here and I prefer direct planting to transplants. I decided I'd much prefer quail in there than seedlings.

Do they have hiding/laying areas to escape unwanted attention from the other birds?

Yes, I have four medium sized cardboard boxes with bedding set up. I also have 2 pallets on wheels with planters on top, that makes a nice hidy-hole for them. That area is challenging to find eggs. I'll be making changes with that soon, which I hope the quail will like. It will hopefully reduce my need to be a contortionist when collecting eggs. I hope to make some wooden boxes before the rains come this fall to replace the cardboard boxes. Do the boxes really need to have 2 doorways? Is that to escape bullies or unwanted, aggressive roos?

Is it “predator proofed” for safety and away from critters that could cause undue stress?

Working on it. It's very close to my balcony door. I'm on the top floor of an apartment building, so not too many critters, but I know with the feed spillage, it's only a matter of time. I have the steel hardware cloth ready to go.

Even in an ideal situation, you can always end up with a butthole bird (male or female) that picks on another bird and once one is injured, others may join in and gang up on it.

I took the injured bird out. Once he's recovered, I will follow recommended protocols I've learned about in re-introducing him. He's in a little "hospital" cage in my living room. I've got most of the cage covered with a towel because he seemed anxious when it was just open wire, always looking around to see if someone was going to "get" him. He's calm now, eating and drinking, scratching around and burying himself in the wood shaving bedding. He's a quiet little guy. Peeks out from where there is no towel. I just love watching him....I enjoy staring at all of them. Could do it for hours a day.

 

[DvorahChanah]

AI is avian influenza. There is a big outbreak going on here.

Ahhh. I don't pay attention to Israeli ag. The outlook is way different than mine.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

AI in Israel

Last year - made the news due to its effects on cranes, before it became one of the largest outbreaks ever

etc.

 

[DvorahChanah]

I think Zack is nuts for cramming too may birds into a cage. He sells to make money. Big difference in what you and I keep birds for.

I just saw this today...I only read the next one....and didn't remember who Zack was. I only remembered MyShire Farms. He does seem like a very nice guy. But one of my goals in life is to remove myself from the agribusiness model as much as I can, not repllcate their methods in a homestead setting. Even if they are cost effective and more productive. I like to treat animals like beings with feelings, not little biologically based "machines."

Years ago, I had a herd of 9 goats. I developed an excellent method of keeping the kids with the nannies until they weaned them. The friends I bought my goats from were shocked when they came to see my kids. Twice s big as theirs of the same age. All my goats were happy and peaceful. No nannies and kids screaming for each other, and no diarrhea like kids on a formula machine. And...plenty of delicious milk for us; enough to drink and enough for cheese. Can't be done on a large scale. One reason I'm not interested in scaling up on anything.

 

[DvorahChanah]

AI in Israel

Last year - made the news due to its effects on cranes, before it became one of the largest outbreaks ever

etc.

Yeah so they say. I won't get into it, but there's a lot of fearmongering that goes on and a lot that happens due to mismanagement, corruption etc.

 

[DvorahChanah]

I fed them all this morning and now just checked this afternoon and found him bloody. Any ideas as to why? I also need suggestions on treatment? I separated him into his own cage, and brought him inside. Should I bath his tail end in warm, soapy water? He's alone now and is slowly cleaning off the blood so maybe I'll let him take care of that and later treat with antibiotics and/or gentian violet??

I plan on keeping him separate until his injury heals completely, then moving all the quail out of their aviary for a few hours. That evening, my plan is to put them all back. (I need to do some upgrades and rearranging anyway and yet do not like disturbing my quail unnecessarily so combining re-introducing this roo and upgrades works out.)

Possible causes to my mind anyway, but I'm only a few weeks into quails.

1. This roo slightly younger and smaller than one of the other roos.
2. I have 8 feeding ports to 20 quail. They also scratch around in their bedding for feed they've spilled but perhaps I need to bring that up to 20??
3. Too much space? I watched MyShire Farms today. He said too much space can be as much a problem as too little.

My aviary is 6 s.m. which works out to 64+ sq.f. I have 20 quail, which is 3 sq.f (+) per bird. I've read in other places that Jumbos need 3.5 sq.f. per bird. I'm not raising my quails in a CAFO system like MyShire is doing....so does that account for the difference? Are the space requirements per bird different with aviaries? Is there more or less flexiblity that with CAFOs?

Last question: Is there a relationship between aggressive behavior in roos and how much they crow? If it's one oldest roo, he's surprisingly large. He crows a lot, especially in the early morning hours. This injured roo is too young to crow yet.

Update: My roo is healed up. 5 days in a separate cage, then reintroduced him to the covey by moving everyone out to a separate, temporary enclosure for a day, and putting the roo in the main aviary, along with one stubborn hen who refused to be lured into the temporary enclosure. She seems to regularly be the most cautious of all the quail. It just wasn't worth chasing her around...I figured, two quail in 6 sq m, how much could they damage one another? Next day I moved everyone back, no fights. Thanks for all the tips. I appreciate the years of experience and expertise on this forum.

Still working on developing my own feeding program. It's complicated because where I live it's difficult to find organic livestock feed of any kind. Just bought some Quiko for pheasants and quail. I was hoping it's cleaner than the average feed since the EU is generally strict about GMO's. This mix cannot possibly be the only feed I use. Waaay too expensive. 4 times the cost of me purchasing my own organic seeds and grains in bulk.

I'm now looking for preparation info for this mix: how much to give my quail each day, whether to wet it etc. There are no instructions at their website or on the bucket. There are for other feeds and those videos have confused me. There's one ingredient in the mix that concerns me. I hope to figure out where to put this question. I might place it in the wrong location.

My question is about one ingredient in the mix: "Rusk" -- whatever that is. In Quiko's other video, they moisten "rusk" and then mix the moistened rusk with another mix. They emphasize never to serve rusk dry. But the mix has rusk in it...so do I wet the mix?? Except the mix has insects in it...so what happens to the insects if I moisten the mix? Do they get all broken up and "uneatable??" They really need to provide bettre information for all their various mixes.

 

[Kiki]

Update: My roo is healed up. 5 days in a separate cage, then reintroduced him to the covey by moving everyone out to a separate, temporary enclosure for a day, and putting the roo in the main aviary, along with one stubborn hen who refused to be lured into the temporary enclosure. She seems to regularly be the most cautious of all the quail. It just wasn't worth chasing her around...I figured, two quail in 6 sq m, how much could they damage one another? Next day I moved everyone back, no fights. Thanks for all the tips. I appreciate the years of experience and expertise on this forum.

Still working on developing my own feeding program. It's complicated because where I live it's difficult to find organic livestock feed of any kind. Just bought some Quiko for pheasants and quail. I was hoping it's cleaner than the average feed since the EU is generally strict about GMO's. This mix cannot possibly be the only feed I use. Waaay too expensive. 4 times the cost of me purchasing my own organic seeds and grains in bulk.

I'm now looking for preparation info for this mix: how much to give my quail each day, whether to wet it etc. There are no instructions at their website or on the bucket. There are for other feeds and those videos have confused me. There's one ingredient in the mix that concerns me. I hope to figure out where to put this question. I might place it in the wrong location.

My question is about one ingredient in the mix: "Rusk" -- whatever that is. In Quiko's other video, they moisten "rusk" and then mix the moistened rusk with another mix. They emphasize never to serve rusk dry. But the mix has rusk in it...so do I wet the mix?? Except the mix has insects in it...so what happens to the insects if I moisten the mix? Do they get all broken up and "uneatable??" They really need to provide bettre information for all their various mixes.

Do you have a direct link to this new feed you bought?

 

[DvorahChanah]

Do you have a direct link to this new feed you bought?

https://en.ardapcare.com/products/quiko-bob-wachtelfutter-fasanfutter

Video for preparing Quicko "rusk."

The video instructions are for a different mix, but my mix has rusk in it as one ingredient. They say never to serve rusk dry, so it makes me wonder if I should moisten the mix before serving it. The person I bought it from is useless in answering questions on this product. They insist I can serve it dry but they don't tell me what the difference is between the video and this mix. I don't wish to harm my quail with inadequate instructions or misunderstandings. Otherwise, they're generally helpful and carry good products. Just found them recently. I don't have a lot of source options here.