Quail on Deep Litter - Why it Works

[Sill]

I'm just starting on this thread and playing catch up. Most people, outside of the southwest, think Roadrunners are this cute bird that runs across the road going "meep meep" But they are actually mean spirited predator birds. We live in Apache Junction and I see a lot of them. We are planing on moving back to Mesa so we can sleep...... Coyotes. Javelina tears up everthing and even got a pic of a Bobcat on the game came in our yard. Our Chicken coop is made out of the horse shade with wire from floor to top...........

Yeah not much cute about a roadrunner. They'll eat anything they can catch and quail are on the menu. Ours aren't as quick as the wild Gambles so the enclosures must be like Ft. Knox. Sorry about the coyotes, they can sure make a racket and they can upset the local dogs and livestock on top of their own noise. Javelina need a good strong fence to keep them out but the bob cats jump right over everything. Coyotes do come into town but they tend to be quiet and stealthy so most people don't know they are around until they grab Fifi or Fluffy.

 

[rhondita55]

Yeah not much cute about a roadrunner. They'll eat anything they can catch and quail are on the menu. Ours aren't as quick as the wild Gambles so the enclosures must be like Ft. Knox. Sorry about the coyotes, they can sure make a racket and they can upset the local dogs and livestock on top of their own noise. Javelina need a good strong fence to keep them out but the bob cats jump right over everything. Coyotes do come into town but they tend to be quiet and stealthy so most people don't know they are around until they grab Fifi or Fluffy.

They call the pack together right in our driveway. The Quail are inside now. Do you know where I can get different kinds of Quail in this area? I looked online and found a place that wanted $300 for a pair of Gambles. Yes, I choked. I would just like a pair of some real pretty ones.

 

[Sill]

They call the pack together right in our driveway. The Quail are inside now. Do you know where I can get different kinds of Quail in this area? I looked online and found a place that wanted $300 for a pair of Gambles. Yes, I choked. I would just like a pair of some real pretty ones.

You can find them on Craigslist this time of year.
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/grd/5517899859.html

 

[eHuman]

For DL grow out and breeder pens:
I use 24" x 36" x 8" black plastic masonry tubs ($12 Home Depot) and built 12" tall cages to sit on top bolted down. (1/2" x 1" mesh, 14g GAW wire.) Two 12" wide swing in/up doors along one long side for easy access.

My DL brooder is a see-thru tote with 3.5' of floor space that sits on my desk, zero smell right now with 17 ten day olds.

My cots went on deep litter when I brought them home at 2 days old, they were dust bathing by 4 days old.

These very portable pens will eventually sit elevated inside a walk-in aviary as breeder and isolation pens.

 

[Ladybirdmama]

Great info, thank you! We're making a small hutch/coop for the deck and that's where we are starting our quail off. We were going to make it about a foot high after reading that recommendation in an article on here. Will that be too low for deep litter?

 

[eHuman]

Technically 1' would be fine if your litter is 4" deep or less.

 

[Chic-a-Bhu]

Just brilliant! Sort of what I am doing already but not deep enough so time to put another couple of inches on top thanks for this article it's a great help and much more natural for the quail.

Cheers

Bhu

 

[Ladybirdmama]

So, I was taking their litter to change some of it and found 3 eggs from who knows how many days ago :/
Do you guys take their litter each day to heck for eggs? These were buried!

 

[violamama]

Yes, we do find eggs buried from time to time. We're a very small operation, so usually I just count the eggs and try to be sure I found all that were there. I also throw away any that float when i hard boil them (and that's how we use them most of the time). I try to keep in mind that many countries (and a LOT of farmers) don't even refrigerate their eggs so most of the time they should be fine waiting to be found for a few days.

My litter is probably a good 6" deep at this point. It's also fairly dry, so I'm not sure it's in good balance. We haven't upgraded our feeder yet to make it more waste-free so there is a LOT of food crumbles in the litter, and it gets a little bit deeper every week. Once I fix that I think it will be much less likely to have buried eggs.

Hopefully more experienced folks will also comment.

 

[MessyLove]

What kind of litter?? And what kind of food for egg layers