Sorry more questions.

[Sess]

I didn't hatch my quails from the egg, so they are a little skittish with me right now even when I tried to pick them up a bit, well that's more so for the 3 new females the first female lets me pet her back and breast and she falls asleep until I try to pick her up and she scoots away like lightening so I'm trying to take it slow with all of them to try and build trust with them so if I do have to clean their cage/change food ect ect they won't try to make a run for it, so far it's working I sat in front their hutch for about an hour talking to them with no fingers through the bars I waited for them to come to me, and I did the fingers, and what I noticed is they get nervous when I open the door because I need two hands to open it, I do all of this very very slowly and I inch my hand in and back off a little if they get distressed and as far as I got now I can stick my arm and my fingers in their box and most of them don't fret just the little one that made a run through the bars the other day but when I stopped she ran for the door and stared at me and I let her peck my fingers a few times and she let me pet her breast a little, I'll be trying to do this every night see if I make any progress, but so far so good they didn't chirp in a distressful way either it was like a soft chirp like you hear the birds in the morning because I make it a habit to change their water dish every morning and night. Have any of you tried to do this with older quails? Did you find it worked in the end? Also I plan on getting them some sand today with crush oyster shells, is there a brand of sand I should look for? I have an exotic pet's feed store that gave me the quails so I'm sure they have some but I don't know if they keep them that long to supply stuff like oyster shell and sand but they can pre-order it for me if need be. Also anything else I should get them and what does D.E stand for?

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC and the quail forums!

Generally quail do not like to be picked up. To them, being grabbed in any shape or form feels like a predator coming down on them. Even raising them from babies, they can still be a bit nervous being handled. Be careful with some of them as since you did not raise them from babies, they may find it extremely stressful and may interrupt their laying healthy eggs or even eating and drinking properly. Stress takes hours to get over and may alter their entire day. Definitely raising them from babies keeps them much tamer and some birds can become cuddlers. Not so much with adults you did not raise.

DE stands for Diatomaceous Earth. It is basically fossilized Diatoms, which are a hard shelled algae. It is used to dust nest boxes, runs aviary floors, it is put in dust bath areas, (only a tiny bit is used) and any area you wish to keep mites and bugs down. Some believe that putting it in feed will help with internal parasites, although this is not yet been proven. What it does is, the powder like substance has microscopic sharp edges that when mites crawl around in or on, it cuts their exoskeleton and kills them. So it is good for dust bathing, which quail need to do every day. Always wear a mask when applying DE as if inhaled, it can cause lung infections. That is why you only add a tiny bit to your dust bath area for your quail as well.

 

[Sess]

Welcome to BYC and the quail forums!

Generally quail do not like to be picked up. To them, being grabbed in any shape or form feels like a predator coming down on them. Even raising them from babies, they can still be a bit nervous being handled. Be careful with some of them as since you did not raise them from babies, they may find it extremely stressful and may interrupt their laying healthy eggs or even eating and drinking properly. Stress takes hours to get over and may alter their entire day. Definitely raising them from babies keeps them much tamer and some birds can become cuddlers. Not so much with adults you did not raise.

DE stands for Diatomaceous Earth. It is basically fossilized Diatoms, which are a hard shelled algae. It is used to dust nest boxes, runs aviary floors, it is put in dust bath areas, (only a tiny bit is used) and any area you wish to keep mites and bugs down. Some believe that putting it in feed will help with internal parasites, although this is not yet been proven. What it does is, the powder like substance has microscopic sharp edges that when mites crawl around in or on, it cuts their exoskeleton and kills them. So it is good for dust bathing, which quail need to do every day. Always wear a mask when applying DE as if inhaled, it can cause lung infections. That is why you only add a tiny bit to your dust bath area for your quail as well.

Thank you for the info do you know if sand from a kid's play ground is good for their dust bath? Our state park has sand so we'd figure just to get some from there and not pay anything.

 

[TwoCrows]

Sand will work just fine. If it contains tiny stones in it, all the better for the gizzards. If you are going to add DE, only put in a very tiny handful with the sand for a small shallow pan of sand.

 

[Sess]

Sand will work just fine. If it contains tiny stones in it, all the better for the gizzards. If you are going to add DE, only put in a very tiny handful with the sand for a small shallow pan of sand.

Okay that's good to hear, I figured that sand from the kid's play ground would be perfect because it shouldn't have dust in it to protect small kids, it's kinda of like the sand you get from the beach. I am going to find some crushed oyster shell and put it in the sand for them they are already dusting themselves in the wood shavings I have in their box so I guess their ready for it, I found the perfect container for them in my mum's craft table it's a long slender plastic box deep enough for all 4 of my babies to dust bathe in if they wished, Also how do you know if their aggressive towards another? I have all females and they all are chicks from the same cage so their being raised with each other is it normal for they peck one another? it doesn't look like she's doing it hard more so to get the other to move because she was to forge in the spot the other sleeps in.

 

[TwoCrows]

Pecking is normal activity as long as it is not aggressive. Make sure they have plenty of room. Crowded birds will turn cannibalistic on each other and peck till they draw blood. So more room the better. Keep an eye on them and you will learn what is aggressive behavior and what is simply using their beaks on each other.

Sounds like you have a good line on the sand. Enjoy your babies!

 

[Sess]

Pecking is normal activity as long as it is not aggressive. Make sure they have plenty of room. Crowded birds will turn cannibalistic on each other and peck till they draw blood. So more room the better. Keep an eye on them and you will learn what is aggressive behavior and what is simply using their beaks on each other.

Sounds like you have a good line on the sand. Enjoy your babies!

I never see them pecking one another very mean like that in fact they seem to play with each other mostly. I know in the mornings when I change their water they get very happy and start chirping and they start hopping over each other like leap frog it's quite amusing, the hutch I have is pretty big for them it was big for my rabbit when I got him and he is larger then the quail but if it gets to crowded I have his spare cage outside which is like a regular rabbit cage you get from petco and it's large sized I was thinking of making it a like a runner extension for them since the hutch has a ramp for them to use to go in and out of it, I play on putting them outside when they get bigger also the hutch has an enclosed part of it with a solid surface I put wood shavings on it to have it keep clean I just cleaned their hand made nest box today and I used a piece of card board to coax them into the enclosed part for a while and closed it off so I can take their food/water/ and box out without stressing them out and hurting themselves it went very well. I truly only want to hold them if I have to move them to adjust the hutch and take my old rabbits wooden hay holder out which is in the enclosed part to make more room or do you think I could use it still for them? I'm hoping if anything they can stay in the hutch and I can use the extra cage as a huge sand box for them to bathe in and leave them in there for an hour a day if we can't find a way to join the two cages, Only tricky part is closing the areas of the ramp so they can only use it to go in and out.

 

[TwoCrows]

I use a rabbit hutch for shelter for my aviary quail. They go in and out during bad weather and cold nights. You will need to train them to do this and the best way is to lock them in for a few days so they are unafraid of being in there. Then when you open the door to their run, they will remember that the hutch was safety and will readily use it.

 

[Sess]

I use a rabbit hutch for shelter for my aviary quail. They go in and out during bad weather and cold nights. You will need to train them to do this and the best way is to lock them in for a few days so they are unafraid of being in there. Then when you open the door to their run, they will remember that the hutch was safety and will readily use it.

Their in the hutch now but I understand what you're saying I'll try that thanks.