Texas

[Mi Ranchito]

That's what I'm most upset about. Worked my tail off to find some that weren't hours away. The EEs were from the feed store, but have the best little beards.

On top of it all my favorite bird, Cherry, is sick again. She was my first Amercauna. I've decided to have her put down, since I can't bring myself to do it, I have to take her in tomorrow morning.

Oh man! You certainly are going through a lot....when it rains it pours they say...you know...I also hang cow bells around the coop...so that if something is trying to get in...the bells will go off and either wake me up, wake up the dogs, and or scare away the critters!

 

[jockeyeba]

That's what I'm most upset about. Worked my tail off to find some that weren't hours away. The EEs were from the feed store, but have the best little beards.


On top of it all my favorite bird, Cherry, is sick again. She was my first Amercauna. I've decided to have her put down, since I can't bring myself to do it, I have to take her in tomorrow morning.

[COLOR=000080]Oh man! You certainly are going through a lot....when it rains it pours they say...you know...I also hang cow bells around the coop...so that if something is trying to get in...the bells will go off and either wake me up, wake up the dogs, and or scare away the critters![/COLOR]

Love the cow bell idea!! I learned the hard way too-lost 7 of my 13 baby AG's by not having hardware cloth on one little area that I had a piece of plywood against held with a conrete block Hardware cloth is the only way to go

 

[jockeyeba]

Ahh, i feel your pain. My first 9 got wiped out after putting them outside.  I am Sorry to hear about that! how did the coon get to them?

   I am so sorry to hear the news.  Please don't give up on raising chickens.  I, too, lost 7 in  the first two weeks of having chickens.  I felt like a monster!  Try to find out where that coon is getting in.  In the meantime, set up a trap to get the varmint.  Just remember how much you enjoyed watching them and the pleasure it gave you.

Lisa

He didn't get in. He pulled them through the wire. I had them in a wire dog kennel. I triple check each section that the chicks couldn't fit through. They were plenty big enough.

There was no dirt disturbed around the kennel. No sigh of any struggle. Nothing.

All I want is to have colored eggs.

For the future if you don't have a safe night place for the babies just put them in a cat crate & set it in the big coop for overnight then put them out each morning

 

[yinepu]

i have been reading up on quail and it says they can live ina wire bottomed cage. Is that simply a HW cloth bottom or is there are specific "cage-wire" they refer to when talking about this?

which quail do you want?

there are people who raise Bobs just on the dirt in big enclosed pens.. others use wire cages.

I used to raise Coturnix.. had mine is wire bottom rabbit cages (they actually laid more for me when I had them in the house.. )
Once I moved them outside I still had them in the wire rabbit cages.. just moved the cages into an open coop so they would have a roof over their heads.

If you are making a cage regular hardware cloth works fine..just use a smaller mesh since it will be easier on their feet and legs. Plus give them a few kitty litter pans with sand or pine shavings to give them a break from walking on wire. Mine would use the sand for dust bathing.. and the pine shavings as "nest boxes"


There are also a few cage plans on here with "roll outs' for the eggs so you don't have to open the cage to retrieve them.. they don't allow for solid surfaces for their feet though.. so I never went that route



btw.. quail will "flush" when you go to open the cage a lot of the times (especially Bobs)... so make sure the cage opens from the front and not the top. Otherwise you may have to chase down a few escaped birds...

My Coturnix would walk out an open door and hit the ground like a rock.. THEN decide if they wanted to fly or not. Lost a couple to the emu chasing them down because they were quicker walking out of the shed than I was at chasing them.. lost the rest to the neighbor's darn dogs. Dogs CAN tear through hardware cloth (my hutches were proof of that) as well as welded wire rabbit cages.. so beware of that when you decide where to locate the cages.

 

[showbarnmom]

For the future if you don't have a safe night place for the babies just put them in a cat crate & set it in the big coop for overnight then put them out each morning

That's the thing. I thought they were safe. I checked to make sure no one could fit through the slots. They were 5 week old LF birds. Even covered the larger slots on the top with plywood.

 

[galanie]

I had Texas A&M quail for a bit and let me warn you about the bottom: If you use 1/4" hardware cloth the poop can't drop through and you'll end up having to scrape or something. I found 1/2" hardware cloth to work best on adults. Little ones naturally would need the smaller wire. What I did was make the cages with 1/2" hardware cloth bottoms but put in a 1/4" mesh on top of that till they got big enough to remove that.

Oh, and put a cake pan full of sand in there for them! They freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a dust bath.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Congrats on the new baby.. and now you know why I'm not on here as much as I used to be!

What all were you interested in?

i need to sort through everyone within the next few weeks.. then start culling out birds

I give up. Absolutely give up. Apparently I am not meant to raise chickens. A coon wiped out all of my babies over night. Just moved them outside. 3 hand picked EEs and 3 SLW that I beat the pavement to find. All of them. All that's left is 1 foot and a small bunch of feathers.

I had ONE frizzle out of the hatched eggs.. a pullet. My neighbor snagged her
Still waiting to see what the hatchery sent me a few weeks back.. so far I don't see any frizzle feathers popping up in the ones I kept

 

[yinepu]

I had Texas A&M quail for a bit and let me warn you about the bottom: If you use 1/4" hardware cloth the poop can't drop through and you'll end up having to scrape or something. I found 1/2" hardware cloth to work best on adults. Little ones naturally would need the smaller wire. What I did was make the cages with 1/2" hardware cloth bottoms but put in a 1/4" mesh on top of that till they got big enough to remove that.

Oh, and put a cake pan full of sand in there for them! They freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a dust bath.

I used the smaller mesh and didn't have a problem.. did you spray yours out with the hose on occasion?

 

[shutterbugkc]

Welcome my husband went to Tarleton many years ago, been there once when he was still Bull Riding

I liked Tarleton so much I went back for a second degree! Wonderful school!

 

[jockeyeba]

For the future if you don't have a safe night place for the babies just put them in a cat crate & set it in the big coop for overnight then put them out each morning

That's the thing. I thought they were safe. I checked to make sure no one could fit through the slots. They were 5 week old LF birds. Even covered the larger slots on the top with plywood.

A raccoon can get his arm easily through holes the size of chicken wire, last year we lost 10 10 week old chicks that had a box inside the cage they were in where they would have been safe but chickens must go bonkers in the dark when something is after them & run around right next to the outside edges of the pen They were all gone just like they went poof