NEW! Very excited with 10 5wk Georgia Bobwhites We have questions though!

[Lindseyrj7]

Hi!

Last Wednesday we got 10 Georgia giant Bobwhite quail. They are set up in their border in the house and are doing wonderful. The only experience with birds I have, are parakeets. So, instead of getting chickens, I figured I would go with something I little smaller.

I was pleasantly surprised that they are alot easier to catch then new flighted keets, and agreat deal quieter right now. Anyways, The first day, I noticed one of the chicks had a hurt swollen foot, took care of that with apple cider vinegar and the swelling has gone completely down and it is no longer favoring one foot. I decided to go ahead and use the vinegar because my 9yr keet has a tumor she picks at on occasion. Peepers (9yr old keet), has had the tumor for 2 years, has no use of one leg, but she still zooms around the house with her friends everyday, from window to window.

Anyways! Back to the quails, my husband is going to be making a coop for them to go on our back screened in porch this week and we just have a few questions.

1. When can we move them from the brooder to the coop? (We live in Warner Robins, Georgia. Just so you know the climate situation.)
2. I Garden all year round down here. Since I am originally from Northern Maine, I just tarp the garden through the "cold" months here. So! What can we grow for the Quail for some extra fresh food along with their crumble? Wheat grass? I was thinking about ordering some seeds from seedsnow.com.
3.When can I start feeding them fresh food?
4.What kind of Grit? (Parakeets don't do grit, huge no no for them)
5.What other things can I shove in the coop for them? Cuttle bones? Or is that a keet thing? Obviously going to forgo the toys since we are planning on eating these guys and using them for their eggs.

Any other information would be great!

We have been searching around the internet for information, but we have found it is very limited. I Want to assume that feeding them fresh food is the same as feeding parakeets fresh food,but I don't want to be wrong. Also in the spring, if this works out, we are going to be grabbing some Texas AM quails for faster production and making a double decker coop. The Bobwhites were the only ones available, and my husband said Yes so....lolI just couldn't be picky. This is years of picking at him for some production birds. I think he just wasn't feeling it because my parakeets follow me around the house like flies all day.

Any help is Greatly appreciated!

Oh and we are doing a section coop/pen since we read they have to be split up. We have a huge screened in back porch that we don't use so we figured it would be good for birds.

 

[dc3085]

Hi!

Last Wednesday we got 10 Georgia giant Bobwhite quail. They are set up in their border in the house and are doing wonderful. The only experience with birds I have, are parakeets. So, instead of getting chickens, I figured I would go with something I little smaller.

I was pleasantly surprised that they are alot easier to catch then new flighted keets, and agreat deal quieter right now. Anyways, The first day, I noticed one of the chicks had a hurt swollen foot, took care of that with apple cider vinegar and the swelling has gone completely down and it is no longer favoring one foot. I decided to go ahead and use the vinegar because my 9yr keet has a tumor she picks at on occasion. Peepers (9yr old keet), has had the tumor for 2 years, has no use of one leg, but she still zooms around the house with her friends everyday, from window to window.

Anyways! Back to the quails, my husband is going to be making a coop for them to go on our back screened in porch this week and we just have a few questions.

1. When can we move them from the brooder to the coop? (We live in Warner Robins, Georgia. Just so you know the climate situation.)

When they are fully feathered. Takes 4-6 weeks usually, err on the side of caution.

2. I Garden all year round down here. Since I am originally from Northern Maine, I just tarp the garden through the "cold" months here. So! What can we grow for the Quail for some extra fresh food along with their crumble? Wheat grass? I was thinking about ordering some seeds from seedsnow.com.

Millet and Milo are probably their favorite plants to eat.

3.When can I start feeding them fresh food?

After they're 6 weeks or so you should be fine.

4.What kind of Grit? (Parakeets don't do grit, huge no no for them)

Regular digestive grit for chickens is fine.

5.What other things can I shove in the coop for them? Cuttle bones? Or is that a keet thing? Obviously going to forgo the toys since we are planning on eating these guys and using them for their eggs.

They'll only lay eggs between May and August, hopefully you already read that... Don't worry about the cuttle they don't need more calcium than they'll get from their feed, until laying season, and even then they may not. If you see thin egg shells add oyster shell.

Any other information would be great!

We have been searching around the internet for information, but we have found it is very limited. I Want to assume that feeding them fresh food is the same as feeding parakeets fresh food,but I don't want to be wrong. Also in the spring, if this works out, we are going to be grabbing some Texas AM quails for faster production and making a double decker coop. The Bobwhites were the only ones available, and my husband said Yes so....lolI just couldn't be picky. This is years of picking at him for some production birds. I think he just wasn't feeling it because my parakeets follow me around the house like flies all day.

Personally I wouldn't bother with A&Ms. They are identical in genetics to jumbo brown birds, they just carry two copies of the recessive white gene for color. White birds are bred for commercial production because the white feathers are less unsightly if the machines or processors miss them. In your case, you'll be cleaning them by hand so I wouldn't worry about white and go with birds that sex automatically. I've been raising cots for years and I only run birds that don't autosex for specific breeding projects. You just end up spending way too much time sexing birds.

Any help is Greatly appreciated!

Oh and we are doing a section coop/pen since we read they have to be split up. We have a huge screened in back porch that we don't use so we figured it would be good for birds.