Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

make that 4 , with 5 more hatching

theyre in an esky with a globe for warmth now

For those of you that raise quail, is there much smell or noise from them? And like how many do you keep?

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I have overwintered about 5 dozen cortunix quail. Half whites and half browns. Fairly hardy birds considering the winter we had. I didn't loose any to the cold. Most had a hutch to get out of the wind but not all. Noise... well when they start their crowing the males will just call back and forth to each other all day and all night. They are not terribly loud like a rooster. If you don't get to many your neighbors may just think you just have some wild birds cutting up in your yard.
Their growth is awsome but I find they are very messy eaters, spilling more than they eat. I have chickens that pick up after them so it doesn't go to waste. The older they get the more friendly they get, will climb right into your hand, they do recognize the hand that feeds them! I got started with ebay eggs and now with the temps where they are you will probably get better viability than dead winter or summer from a ups warehouse. And yes the bunnys are the hardest on the heart to harvest.

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Bill try building some of these feeders :

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/v ... ?id=130209

its all I use now and they waste sooo much less food
I also put a square of plastic under it for them to stand on when they eat - whatever they knock out or drop they tend to pick up straight away

Thanks Boris, looks fairly simple, just hole saw two rows of holes spaced intermitenly then cut a little slot. I'll put them back on layer rations after these are made, I cut them to chicken scratch to save a little cost. Do you feed grit to your quail???

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The purpose of government is to provide service,
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no, just straight turkey starter

theyre gonna be getting black soldier fly larvae as soon as I've made a havester

I put a dozen white quail eggs in the incubator as they started laying again and the temps are so I can acclimate the chicks outdoors easily now.

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There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
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I lost about 4 brown quail yesterday, and 5 more last night and 3 more this evening Birds seem healthy then just sit down and die???? I'm going to bring some to the Parish health unit to be tested for West Nile virus/encephalitis. Kinda crazy none of the other birds seem ill. Browns are all sitting down and not active anymore.

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There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
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Parish no longer excepts birds for testing due to State Budget cuts but does accept dead bird counts to know when to step up mosquito spraying...
I left a message with the LSU Vet. school of medicine if they would be interested
I guess I will just compost them and any birds harvested will be cooked well to be sure any pathogens are dead!...I won't be eating any of the brown quails anytime soon!

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There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
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Well - the one thing good I see out of it, is that the government is will to make some budget cuts.

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I would rather the cuts be here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQZmbxhP ... re=related
or just maybe 2 or 3 $25k toilet seats would be enough!
Lost 7 more brown quail and a laying hen, I don't expect to see any of the 7 or 8 brown quail thats left to be alive in the am as well as a rooster that is setting blinking constantly. I sprayed deet all over the birds and the hen house but it's probably too little too late. If this continues another day or two which I fully expect, I will kill and bury all the birds.

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There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6945

West Nile you think? I have not heard of any cases this early. How many birds are we talking about?

Sorry bro!
Mark

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Lost about 17 birds so far, not sure what it is anymore, I know they use chickens as sentinal birds to let them know if a virus outbreak is present in an area but I thought is wasn't usually fatal to chickens as it is in blue jays, crows and raptors. It doesnt look like a respitory illness as symptoms in some web sites show as common fatal killers of poultry. May be St. Louis enciphalitous which causes a sleeping tired symptom and the recent rain after the dry spell brought out the mosquitos pretty good in my area may have infected them. Both St Louis and West Nile can be spred to humans and I don't want to chance my family or neighbors to it. I left calls to the state Veteranarian as well as the county agent per the USDA website links to report sick or dead birds.

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There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6945

time to cook em all just incase

No dead birds today at all and birds generally look more active. Sick rooster back up banging the hens again. Hope it's over, will wait acouple days to see. I set up a bug zapper in the pen although it's really not that effective on mosquitos.

_________________
There is room for all God's creatures,
Right next to the mashed potatos
The purpose of government is to provide service,
The purpose of the media is to provide vasoline.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6945