So what would you have done differently?

[Emilys3guppies]

When setting up your quail, what would you have changed, and why?

I hope she doesn't mind me using her as an example, but ShelleyD2008 mentioned that she started her quail in a tractor and then moved them because of worms and meat...and then she realized she couldn't eat them so she's moving some back. This is good info!

Are there any other examples of things you started doing because you thought it would work but had to change up? Bedding type? Coop position? Anything that comes to mind.

What a wealth of information you folks are. I hope you don't mind my newb status and constant badgering for knowledge.

All the best,
Emily

 

[Appaloosa Hill Farm]

I put my guys in a large elevated cage made with 1x1 inch wire and thought, because of the size of the cage and the height from the ground, that the birds would be safe. I was wrong. I lost 2 to a raccoon that reached into the wire and grabbed them, tearing them apart. Needless to say, the entire cage was wrapped in hardware cloth that day. Also, when I first got my birds, I put a standard waterer in with them. And then had to clean it out several times a day because they'd throw food, bedding (before my wire bottom cage), and poop into it. THEN I read a thread about using water bottles (the kind for hamsters, rabbits, etc) for them and made the switch. MUCH MUCH better!! Wish I'd done that from the start. OK, so not really a very exciting post, but these are the things I would have done differently.

OH!! And I would have had colored zipties on hand to mark the males as I noticed them (I have A&Ms).

 

[JJMR794]

i second the motion on the hardware cloth.... also i now pinion all my babies so no more flying away! i recommend any cages have doors or openings to the front--- not the top! as quail instinctively flush up, and the door is best with a overhang and bottom lip--- they will just pace back and forth in front of the lip rather than walking right out the open door, and the overhang helps keep them in if they do flush towards the door. auto feeders keep food handy 24/7 but also waste alot of food, as does the autowatering system, i have not tried the gerbil bottles but want to soon(we all have our budgetary limits!)

THE A&M'S SEEM TO BE THE HARDEST COTURNIX SPECES TO KEEP WITH THEIR MORE AGRESSIVE ATTITUDES THEY PECK WORSE AND I HEAR THEY ARE EGG EATERS.

ANY BOB WHITE, I DO MEAN ANY SPECES OF BOB WHITE IS AGGRESSIVE AND FLIGHTY, THEY ARE BEST LEFT FOR LATER AFTER YOU ARE EXPERIENCED WITH COTURNIX.

VALLEYS ARE FRAIL AS YOUNGSTERS--- WITHOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WITH BIRDS YOUR LOSSES MAY BE EXTREME....

GAMBELS, BLUE SCALE, AND OTHERS --- SORRY YOUR ON YOUR OWN AS I HAVENT BRANCHED OUT THAT FAR....

 

[monarc23]

My lesson was to pinnion rather than clip the feathers... because with just clipping you can't keep an eye on every bird (if you own a hundred or more) and know hwen each individual bird is moulting back into their flight feathers. Had it happen in teh winter where one of my roos moulted and took off, lost him for several hours and an entire night... got him back, but after that everyone was pinnioned and it saves a lot of stress.


I also had my original pen on the OUTSIDE of a fence, where they were harassed by numerous animals walking under the hutch, after a few months of this I moved them inside the bird fence, and now ofcourse nothing can walk under unless it gets past the electric fence first and the live trap.

That lights very much so seem to keep predators away, I use the solar lights for walkways I put two on each side of each pen

That feeding adult game feed to adult birds, if the protien is too low doesn't work as well as just continually feeding t hem ALL (even adults) starter feed with more protien meant for game birds

OH and I agree with JJMR... A & Ms atleast my strain were crappy, egg eaters, they layed good, but managed to eat almost every egg they layed in a day. Mind you this was my ONLY pen that ate their eggs and every hen did it so I ended up culling all the hens and only keeping the roos as breeders for my tuxedo pens.

I also no longer keep pharoah coturnix, they are much more skiddish than their jumbo counter parts, the size of egg and the amount of meat on teh pharoahs just isnt worth it for me to keep them here.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I think my A&M are the only ones I don't have problems with pecking in!! All my other pens have bald heads and bare backs, and at least once a month I'm having to take a bird out and put her in the isolation cage. Pretty much as soon as that one is healed up, there is another one from another cage needing to go in!

I have started using pelleted bedding mixed with shavings in my brooder boxes, it cuts down on the stink a lot. I will never again hatch quail chicks in the winter, unless I have somewhere to put them outside that is warm. They are the nastiest birds I had this past winter! Even more stinky than the ducks

One tip, if you have children, make them a sandbox. This is my plan for my son. I am going to make him a sand box, since a load of sand is about $15-$25. I will take sand from the box for the quails dust pans, then just get another load when the box gets low. This will save a ton of $$, since I've been payind $3 a bag for sand at walmart

A bag lasts maybe a week, if I'm lucky....

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

One thing we learned when growing them out this year for the freezer is don't set the eggs 16 day apart, we ended up with way way go many at the same time.

Steve in NC

 

[saddina]

Build the cage yourself.

I had a friend, really good at building, and an engineering major. I handed him a printionout of EXACTLY what I wanted with a minor change (needed the door to hinge on the other side), he offered to build it for my bday gift. He decided to "upgrade" the plans, and changed a few deminsions, made the run 6 inches taller etc. The changes meant that instead of getting 4 pieces from a 2x2 we now got 3 etc. More plywood, beams and thicker wood later, the tractor design I gave him is too heavy to move (upgraded my 2x2's into 2x4's) the 24 width hardware cloth wouldn't fit the new 30 inch height etc, etc. Costs twice as much, with a large scrap pile because he wouldn't stick to the 2, 3 & 6 ft lenghts I'd given him plans for.

I have built a large bunny cage and quail pen with the scrap from the coop, think I needed to spend $10 more for hinges and hardware cloth.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
Oo oo THAT orrrr if you're a classifieds or craigslist junkie watch out for "free rabbit hutches"

All my pens I got deals on, my rabbit hutch was free, and my two 6 hole pens were $80 total (had them transported here) which I don't find bad at all considering the pens are welded and professionally built. Ofcourse I had to add hardware to them to make the wire walkable for the birds, and to keep them safe from outside monsters but all in all worth it!

Esp when i suck at making a straight line with wood cutting tools

 

[saddina]

Yeah Hubby, who is normally quite indulgent with my hobbies, just about killed me when the price went 200% over what I said it'd cost. (printed out the $100 a-frame 5 hen plans, got a $300 bill). When you tell hubby $120 is the high end of your budget and someone else "adjusts" things as he goes along..... :fume

Add insult to injury, same guy owes me 10k, and has conviently forgotten. Before you ask, that was the cost of a 6k car and a year of free rent, we had it in writing. He's now claiming he and I had an "relationship" (not true, Mr Saddi is nowhere near that indulgent), and rather than have a scandal, carrer to think of and all that we're having to eat the loss.

 

[quail newbie]

What I would have done differently...First I would have split up the boys and the girls alot earlier. I would have considered the fact that a house cat WILL chew through chicken wire (had to see it to believe it) and the last thing is I will never ask my brother in law to watch the birds while we are on vacation! We JUST got home and all of the food and water bottles were empty and two birds had to be sent to the quail hospital (a rubbermaid tote) for some r&r. One of them looked like they had picked on him all weekend, he was hurt all over. I even had a pen set up just in case. I don't even think he checked on them