Paneubert's Quail Aviary Adventure

[paneubert]

If I had to guess with the Italian quail walking backwards repeatedly - she jumped and hit her head which is now causing her to act strange.

Maybe. She is in the aviary with 7 foot ceilings, and I have never seen one get that high before when they fly. But who knows. Most of the flushing I have seen is from the big adults who might be fat enough to not be good at getting any vertical distance. She seems fine overall. So it was either a temporary brain scramble, or something else. I am sure I will be posting some photos to get opinions of gender when this second batch gets older. I will include her to see what people think.

Here is a bad shot looking down the long end of the "new" enclosure. They are mostly all hanging under the heat source.

 

[Dani xxx]

Reversing is also an excited behaviour as a few of mine did it early on so I search common quail behaviour and I was very much relieved as I also found stuff about bad genetics which scared me ! X

 

[Binki]

Great looking group of birds! I hear young quail are especially susceptible to drafts but yours don't seem to be having problems!

Reversing is also an excited behaviour as a few of mine did it early on so I search common quail behaviour and I was very much relieved as I also found stuff about bad genetics which scared me ! X

Ohhh you know I think I have seen this before especially when offering my quail a wet treat like a banana - a few of them will shake their heads and back up, then come near the treat again and maybe repeat it xD

The quail are so strange when it comes to wet/sticky treats - most of them get over it after a few times and then get over it

And I have seen some particular ones do it especially when young when they're all frisky and I'm singsonging them

 

[Krazyquilts]

Just wanted to say what an interesting read this thread has been! Thanks for sharing!

 

[paneubert]

Just wanted to say what an interesting read this thread has been! Thanks for sharing!

Haha thanks!

I feel like I need more positive posts. Seems I have a lot of bad news recently. The bad news from this morning and yesterday morning is that the birds have started to "love crush" each other overnight. I found a flattened/pancaked bird at the bottom of their snuggle pile yesterday. Dead. That got me thinking they are getting big enough that they can't really stay up in the "new" enclosure since they like to pile in a corner. But I wanted to give it a little more time since some of them are still pretty small. Went out this morning and saw some legs sticking out from their pile at a weird angle. Made them all scatter and found one baby squished but still alive. That one seemed to be ok when I put it on its feet. Another one was much more squished, still alive, but beyond saving.



I am bummed out that I did not move them all down to the floor/main aviary yesterday. So that is my plan after work. I will release them into the "wild" and wire their heat lamp to the bottom of the raised cage so they can still snuggle, but not in an enclosed area. I think the reason they were smothering each other is because they like to be in the corner, and I also still had the neck pillow in there for snuggles/fake mother. The babies that had been squished always seemed to be at least partially under the pillow. So for now I tossed the pillow and I am hoping they don't kill any more of each other while I am at work.

 

[Binki]

Haha thanks!

I feel like I need more positive posts. Seems I have a lot of bad news recently. The bad news from this morning and yesterday morning is that the birds have started to "love crush" each other overnight. I found a flattened/pancaked bird at the bottom of their snuggle pile yesterday. Dead. That got me thinking they are getting big enough that they can't really stay up in the "new" enclosure since they like to pile in a corner. But I wanted to give it a little more time since some of them are still pretty small. Went out this morning and saw some legs sticking out from their pile at a weird angle. Made them all scatter and found one baby squished but still alive. That one seemed to be ok when I put it on its feet. Another one was much more squished, still alive, but beyond saving.



I am bummed out that I did not move them all down to the floor/main aviary yesterday. So that is my plan after work. I will release them into the "wild" and wire their heat lamp to the bottom of the raised cage so they can still snuggle, but not in an enclosed area. I think the reason they were smothering each other is because they like to be in the corner, and I also still had the neck pillow in there for snuggles/fake mother. The babies that had been squished always seemed to be at least partially under the pillow. So for now I tossed the pillow and I am hoping they don't kill any more of each other while I am at work.

Really sorry to hear that! :/ could it be piling behavior because they're trying to get closest to the heat source because they're not warm enough? Perhaps try increasing the heat so they spread out more?

 

[paneubert]

Really sorry to hear that! :/ could it be piling behavior because they're trying to get closest to the heat source because they're not warm enough? Perhaps try increasing the heat so they spread out more?

Most likely yes. When I put them down on the ground, I might bust out the big red lamp instead of the ceramic IR heater. The red bulb is way overpowered for use in the brooder (I think it is 250w), but it would be fine in the aviary since they can get away from it. My only hesitation is I don't really want to have a visible light going all night and I prefer the "dark" heat from the ceramic IR heater. But it is no big deal. Once they feather out more I can take the lamp away. The real question will be how the adults respond to having around 30 kids dumped in with them. Haha.....yikes. They were fine when I added the single runt of my 4th of July hatch. So I hope they are ok with these guys. The sheer volume of new babies should at least spread out the hate if any adults want to get territorial.

 

[bahamabanty]

Really jealous of your neat aviary. I had the crushed love pile deaths too. I added a lamp and a dropchord to my outside brooder. I also found out later snakes can get thru half inch hardware cloth... they used to give chicks the death bite and dissapear. One day i found a small cornsnake with 4 chicks in him, in the cage...couldnt get thru the wire...like pingpong balls in a bicycle tube... changed everything to quarter inch and foamed all cracks..

 

[Krazyquilts]

Haha thanks!

I feel like I need more positive posts. Seems I have a lot of bad news recently. The bad news from this morning and yesterday morning is that the birds have started to "love crush" each other overnight. I found a flattened/pancaked bird at the bottom of their snuggle pile yesterday. Dead. That got me thinking they are getting big enough that they can't really stay up in the "new" enclosure since they like to pile in a corner. But I wanted to give it a little more time since some of them are still pretty small. Went out this morning and saw some legs sticking out from their pile at a weird angle. Made them all scatter and found one baby squished but still alive. That one seemed to be ok when I put it on its feet. Another one was much more squished, still alive, but beyond saving.



I am bummed out that I did not move them all down to the floor/main aviary yesterday. So that is my plan after work. I will release them into the "wild" and wire their heat lamp to the bottom of the raised cage so they can still snuggle, but not in an enclosed area. I think the reason they were smothering each other is because they like to be in the corner, and I also still had the neck pillow in there for snuggles/fake mother. The babies that had been squished always seemed to be at least partially under the pillow. So for now I tossed the pillow and I am hoping they don't kill any more of each other while I am at work.

So sorry to hear that! I've had deaths recently too. Six keets, a turkey, and a chick died from getting over-heated after being moved to a new brooder. Another keet tried to fly out of a different brooder and broke it's neck on the hardware cloth cover. I think that being honest about the bad things is in some ways even more important than sharing good things, because let's face it: despite one's best efforts, poultry sometimes die. And knowing that it happens to everybody helps a bit.

 

[paneubert]

Well here is something interesting. I put all the babies down with the adults. Guess who was the only one to chase and peck? The 4th of July runt. Go figure. I spent some time smacking "her" (guess it could be a boy, still young) around and clapping my hands like she was a puppy. Haha. The other birds were like....what is he doing....

250w heat lamp being used instead of the ceramic IR heater.

Random shots showing the size difference.

Guess who figured out the nipple watering system within about 30 seconds? ALL the babies. It probably helped that their chick waterer up in the old enclosure had run dry sometime today....oops...