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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
