Safe distance between chicken and quail

[EastTex]

Okay, so I have (and adore) my 24 quail. But I really want to do a permaculture/food forest garden. The problem is that this whole sheet mulching process (while super easy and effective) is like a termite buffet in my area. Studies show termites like cardboard more than anything else ever. I mean, I mulch with leaves because wood mulch is a bad idea. It's ridiculous. I also suffer from an absurd abundance of Bermuda and bahaia grass. So, I have been told by my husband, who used to raise chickens before we met, that if I just leave chickens in an area for a while, they will eat the grass down to the roots and prepare my soil for planting. No tilling, no sheet mulching, NO TERMITES. This is super appealing. However, my heart belongs to my quails. And I don't feel super comfortable having chickens around them because of the disease issues.
So, all that to say: what is the safe distance to keep the chickens away from my quail aviary to keep them safe from chicken diseases? Is it even possible?

 

[paneubert]

It really is just a physical separation issue. As long as they cant get within spitting distance, or wind blowing poop/sneeze/dirt distance, you should be ok. At that point wild bird diseases (like from the random finch/crow/sparrow eating from the same feeder and pooping in the same area) are about as much of a concern as chicken diseases.

 

[EastTex]

Really?! Wow! I could really do this then.....awesome! Praise the Lord, a termite-free option is available!!! Man, I am so excited and happy guys! I did tell the husband that if we get chickens, they are all the way his responsibility and he can't go anywhere near my quails! LoL. I told him it was in the interest of bio-security, but really, I just really love my quail and feel like equal chore responsibilities.

 

[JaeG]

If you could hatch your own chickens the likelihood of them carrying diseases that affect quail are greatly reduced. Plus you can have them out from a very young age where they will learn to eat every bug in sight. It's one of those situations where you may never have a problem, but you can't tell what diseases your chickens might be carrying until your quail get sick.

Be warned - chickens (well, birds in general) can be very addictive! We started out with Japanese quail. Now we have chickens, Button quail, Bourkes parakeets, and Society and Java finches (plus their offspring). And a ringneck dove who flew in one day and landed on our heads - obviously not wild. It's a lot of fun! I just have different shoes for the chicken run and aviary (which are at opposite ends of our section).

 

[JurassicBawk]

My quail area and my chicken area are about 25 feet apart. In the afternoons I always fill up food/water for the quail before handling the chickens, but have had no problems between them because of proximity or cross-contamination. The only time I had issues with sick quail was when I had a small hutch of them literally inside the chicken coop for a couple days for their own safety when I was moving their whole area after a predator attack took out a fence. And even then the only thing that happened was the quail's eyes got swollen, but once I moved them back to their area they went back to normal and were fine.

And yes, they're all addictive. I have had quail for 4 years because I'm not allowed to have chickens, then I finally snuck in 4 chickens last year. Now this past weekend I somehow added in 2 young Dutch bantam mini chickens, so eventually I'll have 3 sizes/colors of eggs. I think I've about hit my limit, but if/when a Bantam eventually goes broody I may have to put some quail eggs under her... lol.