Quail killers

[410farmer]

Hello, so my whole coop of quail have been killed. I’ve been trying to find out what is killing them. My first guess was rats. My cage sits on top of pavers but there’s ways of getting between the bottom wood. Throughout the cage there are quail missing their head and one looks like it was tried to get pulled outside the cage. I’m in the city in Maryland so I didn’t think I had weasels or minks in my area

 

[Big Doggie]

Hello, so my whole coop of quail have been killed. I’ve been trying to find out what is killing them. My first guess was rats. My cage sits on top of pavers but there’s ways of getting between the bottom wood. Throughout the cage there are quail missing their head and one looks like it was tried to get pulled outside the cage. I’m in the city in Maryland so I didn’t think I had weasels or minks in my area

Yeah tighten up with hardware cloth. I use lathe screws to attach it to wood. Lathe screws have a built in washer and a 3/4” screw is NOT going to pull out

 

[cmom]

If you have a game camera, put it up. More than likely the predator has been lurking looking for opportunities and then you will know what it is and develop a plan to get rid of it. Good luck..

 

[410farmer]

I didn’t wire the outside thinking sitting on pavers would be enough. So there’s one side I couldn’t hardware cloth and that’s the side it used. I was just about to use my portable security cam and get a WiFi extender but it already cleared out all my quail. So this weekend I’m going to work on predator proofing the cage best I can and throw some jumbos in there and see how they do. It’s been months and no problems untill now

 

[Quaicken108]

Yeah, it sucks when predators get your birds. Sadly with quail pretty much anything and everything will eat them because of their size. I feel sorry for them and for you. Hopefully you’ll get better luck.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I'm sorry about your quails. I've had problems in the past with rats killing my birds. Including my gouldian finch babies