South Carolina

[phoneman]

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This is probably a silly question, but why do you raise quail? For eating them or hunting them? Just never thought about it and now I'm curious! Someone asked me the other day if they can come hunt doves on our property. They said we have about 500. I didn't even know! I think my knowledge about birds ends at chickens with just a teeny bit of guinea.

I'm raising for eating, eggs, maybe some for a release program, and of course FUN!!

My brother is going to work on building a flight pen to condition them for hunting eventually....and thats for the Bobs not coturnix. The Japs are just for fun and breeding.

john when i used to raise quail i keft them on 1/2 in wire on the outside run and the coop had a plywood floor and pine shaving was in there. also last sat. i bought 8 sussex 4 cornation and 4 split they are better than nice. and the 2 i had you to pickup for me looks like a rooster and hen. they are growing like weeds. thanks john

 

[CarolinaChickenKeeper]

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Hate to be graphic, but what color are the squirts? Without knowing, it could be from just drinking a lot of water in a short period of time. Since it's so hot out, they are consuming more water; therefore, have more fluids to get rid of....if she is not coughing, wheezing, puking, etc, etc, etc--could just be from water. BUT, as always, that's just my 2 cents worth

No red, just liquid, some white. I know gross!! Just not wanting her to b sick. She acts ok. I first noticed it bc her bum was dirty. Then I saw her actually taking care of business.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

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Best thing would be to just seperate her so you can watch her and see if it continues. It can just be from something she ate. Have you given them any treats lately? If she is by herself you can see if it continues and go from there.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

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Hate to be graphic, but what color are the squirts? Without knowing, it could be from just drinking a lot of water in a short period of time. Since it's so hot out, they are consuming more water; therefore, have more fluids to get rid of....if she is not coughing, wheezing, puking, etc, etc, etc--could just be from water. BUT, as always, that's just my 2 cents worth

No red, just liquid, some white. I know gross!! Just not wanting her to b sick. She acts ok. I first noticed it bc her bum was dirty. Then I saw her actually taking care of business.

Do you have Sulmet handy? It is an Antibacterial. If it continues you could put her on a regiment of that and it would cover most problems. Do you have access to someone that could look at a stool sample under a microscope? See if she has a case of worms or cocci? If mine get bad squirts that does not go away I try the sulmet--might be over kill in some cases but it seem to work for me.

Does anyone on here use Tylan? Not recommended unless they really appear sick though....

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

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That's cool! Where did you get those birds from? Yeah those 2 grew really fast even in the short time I had them. I'm glad you may have a pair instead of 2 of one sex, esp roos. Why did you stop raising quail?

 

[Joycats]

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No red, just liquid, some white. I know gross!! Just not wanting her to b sick. She acts ok. I first noticed it bc her bum was dirty. Then I saw her actually taking care of business.

Do you have Sulmet handy? It is an Antibacterial. If it continues you could put her on a regiment of that and it would cover most problems. Do you have access to someone that could look at a stool sample under a microscope? See if she has a case of worms or cocci? If mine get bad squirts that does not go away I try the sulmet--might be over kill in some cases but it seem to work for me.

Does anyone on here use Tylan? Not recommended unless they really appear sick though....

I used Tylan last year with a respiratory problem and it cleared it up really fast. I'm getting ready to order some more for a turkey with a sinus infection. I've been treating him with something else but it doesn't seem to be taking care of it.

 

[Joycats]

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So you ARE keeping them on wire.....mine are outside too. But my floor is wired with 1/4 x 1/4 and the poop doesn't fall through. Recently they've had some spilled food that piled up because of the rain we've had. Everything was wet and yucky and the poop and food sticks to their feet and makes a terrible mess. I have shavings down for them in their nest box and they mostly lay eggs in there. Occasionally they will lay an egg outside on the wire but not much. The nest box is easy to keep clean with shavings but I hate the wire floor. I'm just thinking that I would like to move mine to the ground and have sand on the ground. I have sand in my duck yard and it drains fast and stays fairly clean and dry. I really hate cleaning that wire and it's really hard to clean with them in there as they will jump out.

And I meant to say feel free to ask questions. I'm glad to help if I can. I love keeping the quail, we eat the eggs when I can keep some. Their eggs are good sellers. And there is nothing cuter than baby quail! Tiny little things but full of personality. I've found that they overheat quickly so I always try to keep the heat lamp on one end of the brooder so they can move away from it. And you don't want to overcrowd them. One other thing, they are so small you have to watch what food you feed them. They can't eat some chick crumbles. If you can't find a mash (a finer ground chick food), then you may need to grind your chick starter for them. Hope this helps, just things I had to learn the hard way on my own so I always like to share.

Well, yes and no. They won't totally be on wire 100% of the time, but yes they will have access to the wire-open air- section of the pen 24/7. The mesh I'm using is .5 x .5 --I've seen on the quail forum that most ppl use that size so the poop will fall through. I plan to put the food and water in the enclosed section to keep them out of the weather (food won't get wet, water won't get to hot=algae). Will one milk crate as nest box work for say 5-10 hens? Do you suggest me putting down shavings on the floor of the enclosed part or leave it as just a hardwood floor, so to speak?

ETA: I'm going to feed them game Bird starter 28-30% protein because I can readily buy it as needed from my local feed store. That should take care of having to worry about grinding up into smaller pieces. I was going to ask you about selling eggs. How much do you sell yours for? By the dozen? Do you sell them as hatching eggs or eating? Is there a price difference is you do sell them both ways?

THANKS JOY! You're a big help!

Glad to help. I probably should have used 1/2 x 1/2 wire but I was afraid it would be too big. They are very small birds so you won't be able to put them on that wire until they're pretty much grown (which of course happens by 6 weeks of age). I don't have a pic of my pen but it's basically a square frame, up off the ground and I have a nest box that goes all the way across the back of it. Doors in the front open out for me to put the food and water in, the wired floor part has a completely covered roof. The nest box opens up for me to get the eggs. The shavings work great as the birds make their own nests in there, I don't divide it up in anyway. I'm not sure what kind of milk crate you're referring to but if it's what I'm thinking about I'm not sure how they would get into it. The hens nest together, usually in the corners. I collect their eggs daily. If you keep them dry and give them plenty to eat and drink they will be fine. I also bought a heated drinking bottle (like for rabbits) and they stood in line to drink from it last winter during the freezing temps. They MUST always have water. Just watch the babies when they hatch. Even the game bird starter that I bought was too big a crumble for them to eat that first week. I just put it in the food processor and ground it up finer for them. They eat a LOT! You will be surprised how much food you'll go through.

Forgot your other question about egg prices. There aren't many places around here selling them. The local asian market sells them for 35 cents each so I sell mine for about 25 cents each. I found quail boxes that hold 10 eggs and some that hold 30 eggs. The 30 egg boxes sell for $8 a box. I'm selling the 10 egg box for $3 because those plastic cartons cost more. And I've been charging the same price for hatching as eating eggs because so far I never have enough of the eggs for either.

 

[Joycats]

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Good luck! Coturnix are pretty hardy and they grow fast. I have them but I made the mistake of keeping mine on wire. What a mess. I highly recommend sand for the substrate. I plan on moving mine to the ground as soon as possible. And I'm considering adding some Bob White quail too.

This is probably a silly question, but why do you raise quail? For eating them or hunting them? Just never thought about it and now I'm curious! Someone asked me the other day if they can come hunt doves on our property. They said we have about 500. I didn't even know! I think my knowledge about birds ends at chickens with just a teeny bit of guinea.

Susanne, I started raising quail for their eggs. The eggs are highly nutritious and tasty. They're in high demand. The coturnix quail are mature and laying eggs by 6 weeks of age and they lay eggs pretty much year round. I don't eat any of my birds. I would never release the coturnix quail but I am thinking of raising a few bob white quail. Those could be released here. The coturnix quail are used for meat in many restaurants but I still can't bring myself to raise animals to be slaughtered. My heart gets in the way. There is some information about the nutritious values of quail eggs on my website if you'd like to read it sometime.
http://www.joyfulsoundsfarm.com/egginformation.htm

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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Absolutely!!! I may freak the neighbors out but I would love to have 3 separate pens of Guineas for eating eggs and to hatch out keets.

 

[Lroach711]

Well, I found one of my blue orpington roos dead this morning. Just lying on the wire inside the chicken tractor.

He was walking around eating and crowing yesterday. I aslo had to pull my BLRW pullet out of there and put her in the barn because she was acting so weak. I'm so frustrated. I've battled intestinal parasites with them for a while now. They're on sulmet at the moment. I didn't have ANY of these problems with the ones I raised out in the barn. Those have since been moved to the coop and are doing great. I just don't understand why I've had such a problem with these

And I'm kinda at a loss as of what to do in the future. I love the idea of the tractors because I can move them around and they don't take up very much space. But if I'm going to deal with my chickens dying all the time (I'm assuming it's bc of the coccidia that I thought I'd gotten rid of), I just don't want to put them outside on the grass til they're older. I kinda just feel like crying. I'm doing everything I know to do and I'm still losing chickens. This makes 4 out of that pen that I've lost. And one of the ones left is still acting pretty sick. The other 2 seem fine but heck, so did the rooster that died yesterday. I may walk out there tomorrow and the other 2 be dead. UGHHH...

sorry for the rant...I'm just so frustrated.