Quail are Outside-tips?

[Green Bean Quail]

Hey all!
I’ve been MIA, but I recently moved the quails outside, unfortunately Speckles died in the middle of the night, no idea why I may autopsy her tomorrow. But, now the remaining 5 are living in a large dog crate to access grass and dirt in the yard, and I whisk them into their (fortified!) hutch at night for safety. They’re fairly chill about being moved, but if they push off egg laying because of it I don’t really care, just want them to enjoy sunshine. Any tips for outdoor life?

 

[Gallinarium]

Definitely ensure that the enclosure is completely predator proof, both coop and run. Remember that weasels and other mustelids can fit through seemingly impossible spaces. Try to provide at least some protection from the sun, wind, and rain in the run, try to keep the coop draft-free. Is the run covered? If not, I would try to cover it. Chicken wire works for this purpose. EVERYTHING wants to eat quail, notably crows and rats. Last thing, you should check the nutritional makeup of your feed, see if it's good for quail. Speckles was probably a natural death, but you can never be too careful. Good luck on quail keeping.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I'm so sorry about Speckles

I agree with @Gallinarium about making their enclosure predator proof. I get rats around my area and they killed some of my 5-week-olds. They haven't gone for my adults as much (probably because they went for the finches instead ), but you can never be too careful when it comes to predators. Do you know what predators you get in your area?

 

[Green Bean Quail]

I actaully am very nervous about predators because I live in the woods. We have foxes, weasels, hawks, crows, all that jazz. I made sure I used VERY tiny holed wire, and I cover the cage with towels, along with placing a deconstructed dog kennel for extra wire. The rest of the cage is sheer wood, and I made sure there are no weak spots. I have a tarp for rain (it's actually raining today, the birds keep crowding to the walls to see what it is.)
-In regards to Speckles, I don't think it was the feed. I have a 50 lb bag that I'm almost done with, but I've fed my chickens in a similar way (just have a huge, DRY bucket that has a lid I scoop out of) It's also Prince Gamebird feed, which was reccomended to me by the store owner who raised bobwhites for hunting. She wasn't particularly old, but had some weird spells where she appeared to get ill and then bounce back. I was half expecting her to pass, but she was such a sweetie.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

also, here is my hutch, with the towels I have for insulation because it’s about 45 and rainy right now. Their hutch is 3 walls of wire and a little hideaway box on the left( sort of cropped out) that I shoved a cardboard box and some towels into for extra warmth. I’ve covered all the wire walls with towels right now and left the side facing the vent half open for some ventilation. They laid a couple eggs though! They hate the thunder but I just want them to stay warm. Not too puffed up so I think they’re doing okay with what I have now. We are supposed to get rain for the next few days but after that it will be back to sunshine.

 

[Quailobsessed]

If you are still worried about predators, could you put them in an inside enclosure at night? This may be too much trouble, but could it be a short term possibility? If you're confident that your outdoor hutch is secure, don't worry about that suggestion. I'm just trying to give as much help as I can.

Again, I'm sorry about Speckles. I lost a chicken about a month and a half ago. She had been sick on and off for a while, so I wasn't shocked when she passed. Sometimes we see it coming, but that doesn't make it any easier.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

If you are still worried about predators, could you put them in an inside enclosure at night? This may be too much trouble, but could it be a short term possibility? If you're confident that your outdoor hutch is secure, don't worry about that suggestion. I'm just trying to give as much help as I can.

Again, I'm sorry about Speckles. I lost a chicken about a month and a half ago. She had been sick on and off for a while, so I wasn't shocked when she passed. Sometimes we see it coming, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Thank you for the support on speckles. I’ll always remember her fondly Yeah, on the whole inside-outside, i actually had them inside this whole last few weeks and the hutch itself is a bear to move. I will look into making a temporary place to whisk them into at night, until then I’ll keep up fortifying it with random boxes! Thank you so much for the advice. And sorry about your bird too

 

[Quailobsessed]

Thank you for the support on speckles. I’ll always remember her fondly❤ Yeah, on the whole inside-outside, i actually had them inside this whole last few weeks and the hutch itself is a bear to move. I will look into making a temporary place to whisk them into at night, until then I’ll keep up fortifying it with random boxes! Thank you so much for the advice. And sorry about your bird too

As always, sounds like your doing a great job with your quails

 

[Green Bean Quail]

As always, sounds like your doing a great job with your quails

Oh crap that reminds me! Pip is finally acting like a normal quail again (stopped the manic pacing she developed when she was being oversexed before I got the other girls, grew her feathers back!) But she developed some balls of feces on her foot that solidified because she paced in the same corner where the REST of the birds designated their potty area. She's the only one with the feet issue, but I don't want her ripping a toenail out. I'm planning to snatch her and soak her feet in warm water and nontoxic soap for a few minutes and try to scrub the ball off. Have you ever had the foot poop ball issue? What worked for you?

 

[Chip76]

I soak my quail's feet in warm Epsom salt water to clean off the poo. If it's not too bad, I've tried a wet towel with seeds/ food that she likes to scratch around in, thus wiping the poo off herself. She got bumblefoot from trying to peck dried poo off her foot when she was 4 weeks old, so I'm overly concerned about keeping her feet clean. Bumblefoot is not fun.