The 10th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!!

[BullChick]

I still have a fresh bag of hamster food I don’t know what to do with. I really don’t see why I shouldn’t give it to the chickens.

 

[MagpieDucks]

Would they go in on their own at night, if they have a run? (that is the ONLY reason I do not have ducks, we are in critterville)

My ducks go into their coop by themselves every night. They just take a little bit more training than the chickens do, but they will eventually figure it out. They do tend to go to bed a bit later than the chickens though.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I still have a fresh bag of hamster food I don’t know what to do with. I really don’t see why I shouldn’t give it to the chickens.

I think I still have a bag of hamster/gerbil food lol I gave the hay to the chickens a while ago.

 

[BullChick]

I think I still have a bag of hamster/gerbil food lol I gave the hay to the chickens a while ago.

I have found that anytime I give away animal supplies, I need them again soon after.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I have found that anytime I give away animal supplies, I need them again soon after.

Very true, same with when you throw something away you've kept for years and then you need it the next day lol

 

[ShrekDawg]

But I'm not sure if I'm gonna get gerbils anymore. Idk.

 

[lomine]

I have been thinking of ordering from them too. I saw a couple of their listings on eBay recently. They really do have beautiful colors.

Which colors were you looking at? I'm partial to the Pearl, Scarlet, and Snowie. Their Silvers are really nice looking too.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I saw a thread once where the quail were on top and the chickens were on the bottom of a coop.

The theory is that quail can get sick if they are exposed to chicken manure. Apparently it only happens if the chickens have whatever it is that makes the quail sick. Chickens are not supposed to get sick from the quail though.

Interesting! I wonder how true that is? If that were the case, it really wouldn't matter if the chickens poked around the outside of the cage.

I read this article last night and it terrified me and almost made me not want to get quail. We have an area pretty separate from the chickens and wind and I don’t mind bio security and separate shoes or whatever but it terrified me. The part about coryza.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-issues-and-keeping-your-quail-healthy.67379/

Yup, this is one of the articles I read that kind of put me off of quail. There's no way that I could pull the kind of isolation of the species from one another that this article speaks of with my hens free-ranging every day.

I brood my quail in the barn (with heat) until they are ready to go outside. The chicken/duck coop is also in the barn so the quail are exposed to chicken dander and poop (from the chickens that jump the coop wall). The chickens can also go around the quail run, which is on the ground. Though I've had a string of bad luck with my quail, I've never had a quail get sick.

I've been thinking of ordering hatching eggs from Myshire. They have such beautiful colors.

Thanks for your experience, too! I'm glad to hear it isn't a recipe for total disaster to keep them in close contact!

WOW, Myshire's has some beautiful varieties! Is it typical for quail eggs to be sold in groups of 30, though?

Mine have a wicker rabbit hideout to play with.
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Really good idea! I might do something similar for my OEGB hen. Poor darling has been laying her eggs in the middle of their pen. Of course, she did turn her beak up at the little cardboard box I provided for a nest. I'm sure I have something like this around.

 

[lomine]

Interesting!

WOW, Myshire's has some beautiful varieties! Is it typical for quail eggs to be sold in groups of 30, though?

I don't know, I haven't done that much shopping around yet. I want to order at least 3 or 4 colors so it would be a lot of eggs for me. I could easily sell the extras though since no one around here has those colors for sale. Any that don't sell get invited to dinner.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Will be getting eggs in about two months for black copper marans much too late so still going watch along they are pretty close about 40 miles from me