Paneubert's Quail Aviary Adventure

[paneubert]

Was looking up zeolite and found this web site. Has more uses than I was aware of.

http://midwestzeolite.com/index.html


And they are having a spring sale...ugh, look at those shipping costs though.

And I now have eyeball herpes just from looking at that. That site is atrocious. Hahahaha.

My local feed store sells it at 40 pounds powdered for $16.99, and 40 pounds granules for $17.99. That is my plan for tomorrow morning. A trip to the feed store for a couple bags.

 

[jennifleur]

Hehe, I still have after images when I close my eyes.
I wouldn't recommend the powder, the granules are plenty dusty.
First thing your quail are going to do when you add it is have a long dust bath in it. I tend to just dump it in a pile and they have a great time spreading it themselves. Take pictures.

 

[paneubert]

I spoil them......sunflower and mealworm block. Not sure how long it will last, or if they will even eat the sunflower seeds. The seeds seem a little large for them.

 

[deshet]

Do you think the fermented feed will effect the test of the eggs?

I am thinking about trying this also.

 

[paneubert]

Do you think the fermented feed will effect the test of the eggs?

I am thinking about trying this also.

I have heard that it removes any "eggy/sulfur" taste if there is any in the eggs. I think it is worth it so far. Zero waste since they can't toss around the food. I have never tried dry feed with these birds, so I don't know if they would waste a lot if it were dry. It is sort of annoying to have to go feed them twice a day and to wash out their feeders each time. But I still think it is worth doing. I think if I can find a way to make a larger feeder so that I can toss in a ton and only need to feed once per day then I would like it a lot more.

 

[paneubert]

It looks like it snowed in quail town! Hahaha. It is a 40 pound bag of "Sweet PDZ" I spread around to control the smell. I got the granular size, but as many have realized when they used this brand, the granules are not much larger than beach sand. I can't even imagine how small the "powder" version must be.....





I then spread 60 pounds of sand over it (looks a little less snowy in the photo below). I am sure the quail will work it in to the soil in no time at all. I have a second bag of PDZ and a second bag of sand. I might repeat my process in a few days if the smell does not go down. It is not horrible now, but it does smell a little like a barnyard if there is no breeze and the temp is warm.


Taking the advice of some folks on this site, I installed a short wall of hardware cloth across the door frame to keep the quail from walking out or crowding the door when I open it. I had stapled the wire up a few days ago, but just now got around to screwing in the wood cross brace to keep myself from scraping my legs/kicking the sharp wire top of the wall.


I have a small rake and a sifting shovel on order, so that will make mixing the coop soil and cleaning a little easier.



On the topic of food, I found a 1/3 full feeder this morning. So they are starting to reduce their feed intake. I gave them a new/full feeder, and when I was messing around with the sand/PDZ at about 1 or 2 PM, there was still some left. So today seems to be a much reduced day for eating. Probably partially because I have been messing with the coop, and partially......who knows why...


Ohhh.....and still no eggs to be seen. Hahahaha. I know it is probably because they are still settling in and because I keep dumping sand on their heads, but I am getting antsy! I want eggs! They are still totally chilled out about me and anything I do to them (they seriously wont even move so I can dump sand or open/close the door....I have to push them with the door or my foot to get them out of the way), but come on...lay me some eggs.

 

[DK newbie]

I think it usually takes 2-3 weeks before they start laying after being moved, so you might have to wait a few days still By the way, do they have a calcium supplement? I don't think I've seen anything like that in your pictures? When they start laying, they will need it.

 

[deshet]

For the smell get some pool DE and about 5" of bedding mixed in at the bottom. (DE Lowes, homedepot, Walmart)

The DE breaks down the poop and kills inspects naturally.

Honestly your pin is fairly empty I image you will be adding more and the summer heat will make it worse.

I had 4 chickens in a similar sized space and never smelled anything with deep bedding (pine needled, grass, leaves and DE) through the summer.

Finding eggs may be a little difficult through.

 

[paneubert]

I think it usually takes 2-3 weeks before they start laying after being moved, so you might have to wait a few days still By the way, do they have a calcium supplement? I don't think I've seen anything like that in your pictures? When they start laying, they will need it.

No separate calcium at the moment. I have a bag of "chick" oyster shell, but it still look really large for the quail. I also have a couple dozen chicken egg shells that I have ground up, so I will most likely use those when they start laying, then feed their own shells back to them. Still undecided about if I will offer it separate, or if I will mix a little in with their feed each day.

 

[paneubert]

For the smell get some pool DE and about 5" of bedding mixed in at the bottom. (DE Lowes, homedepot, Walmart)

The DE breaks down the poop and kills inspects naturally.

Honestly your pin is fairly empty I image you will be adding more and the summer heat will make it worse.

I had 4 chickens in a similar sized space and never smelled anything with deep bedding (pine needled, grass, leaves and DE) through the summer.

Finding eggs may be a little difficult through.

I might go with deep litter, might not. I do plan to keep adding more organics such as grass clippings and leaves when I can. There is a pine tree in our yard that tosses off large needles, so I may try to gather some of those. In the Fall, I can see asking the neighbors for some leaves when the trees drop them. For now though I think it is going to be a lot of sand, Sweet PDZ, and raking.