Carpenter ants in hutch; considering freeing quail

[HutchButch]

I have four quail who are about 18 months old. They are housed in a hutch I built for them from wood and hardware cloth inside in an outdoor enclosure within the house. Unfortunately, we have noticed considerable carpenter ant activity on and around the hutch. I tried tidying up the area to flesh out the ants and discourage their presence with no luck.

After weighing my options and doing some number crunching, I am strongly leaning toward selling/giving away/freeing the birds. They are more of a financial expense than I had anticipated. I know there are hutches made of composite material and metal and other hardware, but I don't want to spend more money than I already have on the quail. (The ants are attracted to the feed I give them as well as the wood anyway, so it isn't like swapping hutches would do much for certain). I'll be looking to my local feed store to see if they'll buy the quail first. If all other options are exhausted, I'm considering releasing them.

Does anyone have any advice on how I should tackle this issue?

 

[tlcmurphy]

Do not set domestic birds free, they will be killed! Give them away or sell them to someone who keeps quail.
@Nabiki

 

[Nabiki]

Definitely do not set them free. It is illegal for one, and if they are coturnix, they will just die.

Where are you located? You could post an ad for them on your local craigslist, or someone here may be close enough to you to take them in.

 

[WingItRanch]

Definitely don't release them, please. Born in captivity animals should never be dumped in the wild.

Quail should be relatively easy to sell or give away. If you post your location, I wouldn't be surprised if someone from your area will take them.

 

[HutchButch]

@WingItRanch @Nabiki I live out of state, but the location where I have them is in Broward county. Should I post in a different section of the forum? The sooner I get them out of the house the better.

 

[nuthatched]

Put up on Craigslist or Facebook.

 

[WingItRanch]

Broward County, FL? If so, here is the state thread for Florida: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/florida-always-sunny-side-up.305793/

You may also want to try Facebook or something like that. Good luck!

 

[Nabiki]

Facebook won't allow the posting for animals. They even consider eggs to be animals.

 

[TeresaW]

I'm surprised the quail don't eat the ants. Maybe there's too many of them?

 

[Nabiki]

I'm surprised the quail don't eat the ants. Maybe there's too many of them?

I think carpenter ants are among the ones that secrete formic acid when they die. Have you ever smelled that? It is so nasty. I can't imagine that they taste good.