quail pen blown over by wind at least 55+ mph qust

[deerman]

Had the same thing happen, blew all three of my brooder pens over, Peachicks, and Turkeys in the pen, birds alright. I also put wire around the legs to keep coons and cats from getting at their legs.

Mine are now lagged down.


Feeding worms or sow bugs is bad idea, they both are host to the capulary worms. I do worm all my birds, because if on the ground sure they will find earthworms to eat. One good reason to raise peafowl and turkey on wire for the first 10 weeks. Others to like cocci,and blackhead.

People raising turkey and peachicks, on the ground alway lossing chicks, never lost one baby turkey last year that was raised on wire. Even some of the big turkey breeder lose some when they raise them on the ground. Keep away from chickens and raise on wire you will be surprize how many you can raise. maybe 100% I have.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
Here you may want to read up a bit more on worms..
Hope this answer your questions as to why i don't like my birds on the ground and eating worms.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26481--,00.html

***This is the part that warrants my choice.
The parasites can live for long periods in the cecal worm and its eggs. It has recently been found that earthworms also carry Heterakis, and are thus of major importance in transmitting blackhead.
Our chickens free range around all my quail pens and so they are pooping and worms are eating, need i say anymore..


Here's a few other common bugs that can effect your birds w/(eye worms, roundworms etc) ..Wood roach, beetles, grasshoppers worms, read the info..
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/document_ps012

Charlie

Redworms are completley different from earthworms...for one that they are above ground dwellers. If I find that they carry this worm though ofcourse i will stop feeding them however, I dont go out and collect wild worms...redworms dont even grow around here in the wild. I get my redworms from breeders who raise them for the consumption of repitiles and birds. Same with my mealworms and crickets. So unless theres an outbreak of peoples caged birds getting sick from eating raised insects, I'm not concerning myself with this. Theres several breeds of caged birds that will not breed without eating natural foods (or that some arent able to get them to breed without) and I have not yet heard of any dying from these such illnesses. I am very aware that earthworms carry things, as does the grasshopper AND cockroaches. Learned about the grasshopper from a nature show..lol. My birds ARE NOT on the ground.

 

[Akane]

Raised insects for feeding aren't without their risks either. There was an outbreak of caged pets getting ill off pet store and raised meal worms and crickets. The meal worms especially. They are often raised on ground up corn based feed and some people/businesses were getting the cheap leftover corn which had not been stored properly or were letting their feed stay too moist. This allowed the growth of mold/fungus and mycotoxins (aflatoxins, fumonisins) which cause moldy corn poisoning (similar neurological symptoms to rabies) in livestock. The insects were not dying but passing the toxins on to pets. Caused a big ruckus and resulted in lots of dead reptiles and small pets. I first heard it on the gerbil breeders board.

I do occasionally buy pet store insects for my animals but not commonly. I'd rather they caught wild ones. If you don't keep a lot of animals confined in a small area I think the risk of parasites is worth the benefits of the fresh food and not all that much higher health risk than potentially purchasing a bad bag of feed or container of insects.

 

[monarc23]

I am not in the mood for this today. Anyone who has fed their birds bugs from petstores and such is at just as much a risk as I am. I too only feed occationally but that's MAINLY because im just starting my breedings of the redworms up (i've had them for months but started out with a small left over batch after fishing and feeding my snapping turtle). As for wild bugs, well if that bug has been exposed to chemicals...then again theres a risk and flying insects you cannot guarrentee where they were before your bird caught and ate them. Ergo, theres a risk with everything you feed them, but why worry about it to the point you dont allow them anything natural at all. NOt a question. Just like how dogs can choak on dog kibble and die, or eating a raw bone incorectly... everything has risks. I'm not taking away my birds random enjoyment at eating something heathier than quail "kibble" sorry if you guys dont like it oh well. You feed yours what you want I'll feed mine what I want within reason. I just think it's wrong to say that you shouldn't feed insects to them at all. But then again my animals eat better than I do.

 

[wilds of pa]

monarc23,
First off this was not the discussion about raised insects..
We were talking about bobwhite on the ground under our pens, not purchased bugs/insects. I mentioned that i didn't like them eating worms/bugs from under the pens

If your raising these insect id feel a bit more secure about feeding them, esp if using oat meal as the substrate as with meal worms. Which i can say ive honestly used for some stubborn poults.. My turkeys are on soil as i have way to many to raise on wire, but its not with out its consequences being raised this way. Our turkeys are on a strict worming program.

As for the bobwhite, i can raise them on the wire and choose to only for my reasons..

As for red worms, i believe they do grow here in pa as well a few other types of worms...id tend to think they are just as able to carry anything as with a nitecrawler.

I know are chickens are very smart and they will not eat worms ever, Ive tried giving them some while working in the gardens and they never eat them but shake their heads at them, this also goes for slugs as well, however my turkeys and pheasants will swallow them up in seconds flat..

Charlie

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
I hope you werent thinking I have a problem with you raising them on wire. I raise my coturnix on wire and wouldnt have it any other way. I was considering however makinga quail tractor of sorts, but I know nothing of worming quail and dont want to OD, or not worm them correctly so I decided against it- i'd have a hard time finding DE worthy of a "natural" wormer also except online so rather than get myself into a heap of trouble no quail tractors here

.

 

[monarc23]

I'm almost positive red worms can't be found in my state. I know they were releasedin Ontario and can now be found wild there...and I think I remember reading something about California as well. That's neither here nor there...but just replying to what you said.

 

[wilds of pa]

No i didn't think that, just i think the topic got off track,
there are many that raise them on the ground. esp game farms. However most of there birds are raised for certain amount of time and released or butchered for human consumption.

It is just a personal preference for me. Ive never had a problem with worms in my bobbies. The trick is to keep the load down, we worm using chemicals at certain times and also use DE as a preventive..our chickens are wormed as well and I'm not so worried about them. However my main focus with worms is in my turkey flock, turkeys are very touchy from my findings with them for the past 6 years..

There are red worms here in Pa, we used to dig them here near a old potato factory, also possibly 8 different subspecies of European earth worms here.

Charlie

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Quote:
No redworms in PA? No worries of me moving there then.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
would you mind telling me what chemicals you use to worm your bobs? I'm curious to know for future reference if I want to do a worming just to be on the safe side. I'd really appreciate it. It's hard finding info on here about game birds and I'm not sure If I can worm them the same as chickens or not.

As for turkeys, I can imagine i've read a lot about how they can be fine one day and the next day dead whatever works...well works!