Quail and doves

[iamkingtim01]

I was recently given five Coturnix from a friend of a friend of a friend about a month ago after he decided he didnt want them any more. I wanted them for the fun of raising them and hopefully getting a few eggs too. After the third day, they stopped laying.

This site also helped me figure out that two of the five were males. I put all of them in a home made pen that they sort of disappeared in. After adding a few white doves, the quail started coming out and started laying again. I had three eggs today and was happy to find them right out in the open where they apparently wanted me to find them. I don't know if it was the addition of a light supplementing the sun giving them about 14 hours of light or if it was the doves that made them happy. Either way, im getting eggs again. I think it is a little of both.

I know 3 to 2 isn't the best setup for getting eggs, but its working for now and I want to get more females to increase the egg production. I have also started to add in some crushed up clam shell for calcium. In southeast Louisiana we don't have rocks, so they make roads out of shell rather than gravel so it's easy to get shell to add in.

Has anyone else mixed Coturnix and doves? They seem to be getting along fine. Also, does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep them from wasting more feed than they eat? I have a feeder with a "scatter guard" on it, but that thing seems to be a joke.

Also, any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[FenDruadin]

Cool! Glad they're laying for you. I suspect it has to do with the light as much as anything, plus it takes a while for quail to settle in after a move and start laying again.

It's neat that they seem to like the doves. Quail are commonly kept in flight cages to help keep the ground cleaned up of excess feed, so it's not unusual for quail & flighted birds to co-habitate in captivity.

I'd love to hear what others are doing to prevent food waste. I haven't figured it out yet, that's for sure. Chickens are bad enough, but they have a different pattern of scatter. Where chickens primarily scratch with their feet (guards are good at preventing that), quail like to scatter with their beaks--which the scatter guards don't prevent at all!

Having said that, I'm frustrated with my chicken chicks at the moment, because they seem to be scattering as badly as quail do--there's more feed in the tray beneath their brooder floor than in their little bodies. Grrrr!

 

[iamkingtim01]

Thanks for the input iamcuriositycat. When the weather gets a little better, I am going to try an idea that I came up with to capture some of the seeds that they fling out. Between 5 quail and 4 doves, I am going through almost 2 pounds of food a day. 90% of that is flung to the ground and they dont have access to the ground right below their pen. I dont want them to be able to pick food from the same spot that their poop falls, so I made that area inaccessible to them. The local squirrels have discovered the spot where the seeds are falling and dont seem to mind the poop at all. If I can come up with something that works, I am going to post pics and hopefully make a million dollars.

 

[loves2hatch]

A thought for food flinging.
Now I just have quail temporily and they are young only 5 weeks and only 11 of them. They will be going to my dad's farm next month. Right now I have them in a rabbit cage that has wire above a plastic tray that slides in & out seperately from the bottom deep pan which also slides in and out. I slide the wire floor half way in and set the food and water on top of that, when they spill their food they go underneath the wire and pick thru the pine shavings and eat what they spilled. They love digging thru the shavings and some just run underneath to eat the food as it is being spilled vs going up to eat out of feeder.

I realize most people have more quail and don't clean as often as I do since right now they are in my basement. But, My suggestion would be to make a wire box to set your feeder on. A little bigger then the feeder but not big enough for them to get their whole body on. Ideally, the majority of the food will fall into this box with little to no poo and you can just reuse the food that falls into this box.
Maybe use something like very small wire 1/8 -1/4 inch on one of those plastic drawer things that slide in and out. Then you could slide the drawer out to get the uneaten food and hose down the wire.

I think this would catch the majority of the food, what do you think?

 

[iamkingtim01]

I think I sorta came up with an idea something like what you're talking about. I am having a hard time picturing what you're saying though. for the time being, I have been placing two one pound feeders on a small TV tray type thingie and it seems to catch the majority of the feed that is scattered out. I have been reusing the food from the "TV" tray by placing it back into the feeder. It is not totally working, but I only have to add about half the feed I used to now that I am recycling. My rabbit has found the area that the seeds fall into and has made a meal out if the seeds several times. Also, some squirrels have been doing the same thing.

 

[loves2hatch]

I got the idea off of here from when I had baby ducks playing in the waterer. Someone posted this idea with pictures I think it may work with food for quail.
I know it worked excellent and stopped the duck brooder from having water everywhere and I didn't have pine shavings in my waterer anymore either.
Here's a link to the original idea. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641902/created-a-water-saver-for-my-duck-brooder
Hope this works.

 

[iamkingtim01]

Interesting idea. The last photo of the entire setup really brings it all together. The putt out drawer is an excellent idea. I am going to make something like this. Awesome thanks.

 

[iamkingtim01]

Well, I was in hobby lobby today and saw this pan and got an idea. It's the kind of pan that those Christmas sugar cookies come in. It cost $4 and is the best idea I have had so far. It is catching the scattered seeds and will allow me to recycle them.

In one of the pics there is actually a quail eating. See, it works!

 

[jak2002003]

That is a lovely cage. You made it right? I wish I could make something like that. I am bad a DIY!

I have doves and quail, and also finches and quail together. The quail with the finches are the Chinese painted quail.

The doves will like it more if you take out the long branch and make it so there is a shorter branch at each end of the cage going from front to back, rather than lengthways. Then they can get exorcise flying from one side of the cage to the other. If you put a nest basket at each end of the cage then the doves should breed. They are very easy to breed and you can keep or sell the offspring. Make sure you give them some stuff to make their nests from.

The quail will also like a pan with sand for a dust bath - the doves will use this also. You can put in some cardboard boxes with holes cut in them and stuffed with hay for the quails to hid in and lay eggs. They like to hide and it makes them feel more secure so they will lay more eggs.

I would also make sure you clean up under the cage for spilt food every day, otherwise you are sure to get mice and rats.

Also give all the birds some grit and crushed oystershell for calcium for the eggs.

Well done on you cage. Shame you are so far from me I would pay you to make me one!

 

[loves2hatch]

And to think I took all those Xmas tins I had like that to Goodwill! Nice idea. Probably could make a feeder pretty easy with one of those and pvc pipe too.
If you want more of those tins check your local Goodwill type stores. They are really cheap there, But you don't get any cookies with them.

I think the dollar stores carries them empty too.

On another thread, I saw someone made warmers for waterers by using these tins. they drilled a hole and hooked up a light bulb inside them, put the lid back on set the waterer on top of it. It kept the water from freezing. Everyone on here is so creative. I love this place!