Quote: LOL....I am not sure the breed really matters....I think they all have a loose screw up there someplace.But I still love them all.
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Quote: LOL....I am not sure the breed really matters....I think they all have a loose screw up there someplace.But I still love them all.
This is perfect! You should lock all new quail into their "coop" area for a bit before introducing them to a run or levels. This way when you do go to open the door, they will slowly venture out, but will always remember where home is. Now....some quail do prefer to sleep outside in all weather, good or bad, some will naturally return to the coop at night. So you can either try the clicker training thing or manually put them inside IF you want them inside.Mine are Coturnix too! I hope they're not too dumb to use a ramp?
I have them in the new coop. I've put them in the upper section, with the door blocked off, and I'm using it as a brooder for now. I've removed the heat lamp and they're doing fine. They're in a 55 degree garage right now in the coop. So maybe if they learn to associate the upper part as "home" they'll learn to return to it when I take the temporary door off?
The nights have been cold around here lately. Below freezing. I'm still afraid to put them outside. They're 4-5 weeks old now and pretty much fully feathered, but I'm getting them used to cooler temps gradually.
The quail will love being moved to fresh grass, but be aware if you are keeping them for eggs it might affect their laying. Moving their home likely stresses them (even if they'll love it) and when stressed they lay less. So if you're not getting the amount of eggs you were expecting and you are sure feed and light is as it should be, consider keeping the cage in one place when you want them to lay (and know that the cage might need to be in the same place for several weeks before their laying reaches its max.)I reinforced it with extra brackets and mounted the whole thing to a base that I'm going to attach an old rubber stall chain too, for use as a handle to drag it to fresh grass each day (it's only 150 pounds). I'll park the coop near my livestock guardian dog's pasture, and the dusk to dawn lights at night, to keep predators away. (We don't have much of a predator problem with the dog around anyway.)
Aww....they sure look like they are enjoying themselves!! They should do just fine with adapting to colder temps, the way you are doing things.I moved the kids and their coop outside today! It's sunny but only about 50 degrees. I have their vents open and they don't seem to be cold at all. They're really enjoying it!
It is supposed to drop to about 40 tonight, so I'm going to rig up a heat lamp. I'm going to try and use a lower wattage bulb to just try and keep it around 45-50, I don't want them to get too hot.
The long range forecast is showing 50-60 degree days for the next few days and then it may get into the 30's over the weekend so a heat lamp is going to be necessary at night for now. I don't think I'm going to move them back into the garage, I think they'll be okay outside with some assistance.