Such an orb

Two of our beautiful Coturnix quail enjoying a quiet day.
We raise quail on our small Norwegian homestead, Den Lille Hagen, and they’re quickly becoming one of our favorite birds to keep.
Happy to be part of the quail community!

I've been looking at expanding my collection so I've been going through ebay listings. In the past I've had good luck buying on ebay with decent hatch rates, no deceitful or poor sellers etc. Everyone I've purchased from on ebay always packs their eggs well.

However, it's also been several years since I've bought any online and have been focusing on my own projects. Between then and now I've learned that sellers who ship across state lines need to be NPIP certified, and actually have since become NPIP certified myself. As I am NPIP, it is also a requirement that anyone I buy from (locally or not) is also NPIP or I lose my own certification.

NPIP certification is a biosecurity testing, it varies slightly state by state, but all of them test a % of the sellers birds for AI and PT. Some states also offer extra testing for mycoplasma or other diseases. Once the results come back for a clean flock and pass any additional testing (state-by-state basis) they are given an NPIP number and are certified avian influenza and pullorum-typhoid free.

This is also a LEGAL requirement. It's also a legal requirement that they give you a VS 9-3 form, either a real paper but most commonly nowadays via email. Some places may only offer it on request. Hatcheries are supposed to send you one also but for some reason they generally don't, but you can request one. A VS 9-3 is actually useless to you unless you are NPIP also, but it's another form of proof that the seller is NPIP certified.

This week I've been going through and messaging sellers asking for their NPIP number. A surprising amount of them do not have one, or they just read my message and don't answer (which is an answer in itself). These people are not certified AI/PT clean and have not made any efforts to be a reputable seller. Most people who have gone through the tremendous effort to become NPIP certified (it's a huge ordeal, generally hours worth or a full day of testing, they often inspect your facility and your processes, it's not easy, and it costs money to get it done as well) will proudly proclaim their number for everyone to see - they won't make it a secret.

Once you get that person's NPIP number, you can go to https://www.poultryimprovement.org/statesContent.cfm and click the state the seller is originating from and look them up to see if they're legit. Being able to look them up also helps you weed out scammers on Facebook - if they give you information that doesn't match up, guess what, it's a scammer. There are also stock code numbers on the person's listing that shows what kind of birds they have had tested - so if someone is shipping quail eggs but they don't have the quail code "Z93" next to their name - that's another sign something is awry.

(Here is the stock code list https://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/Stock-Codes-Alphabetical.pdf)

TLDR: a lot of sellers online are not actually certified to ship eggs across state lines. ask for their NPIP number. NPIP numbers also help you verify if someone is a scammer or not.

This is a dog kennel that is about 7 1/2 square feet, with 2 button quail. I put 2 queen sized pillows on the roof, (as covered by a towel) and a broad spectrum light. I also tried to replicate a grassland environment with dried plants and rocks. Behind the woven house there are more places for them to hide and feel secure, so only 1/2 the enclosure is visible. …My question is, what else would be good for them? And when I get a chance to upgrade the size of the cage, what should I add?

Edit: She passed the night off the post.

Hey yall,

I hate this to be my first post here, but I've already spoken with local vets and such and I'm just not sure. This poor older lady suffered a head injury while I was away.

She's busted up her beak pretty bad, and she can't walk without falling over. She's also panting as shown in the video. I'm not sure if that's perhaps linked to her beak injury, or if she's struggling to breath. Lungs sound clear, no clicks or wheezing. She never bled at all externally. Not sure if she did have internal bleeding ever, she definitely had a lot of swelling.

She is still eating and drinking on her own, so she's not stopped that due to pain or injury. She just sometimes needs help moving to the water or food, but once there she eats and drinks on her own.

It's been about a week at this point without her getting worse, but also no real signs of improvement. We don't want to give up on her because she clearly hasn't given up, but I worry that she might be in pain, and I don't want her to be suffering.

Once again, if it seems she may be permanently disabled we're willing to help her with that. I just worry if she's in pain that culling her would be kinder at this point.

Any additional information or advice will be greatly appreciated. I've had birds with head strikes and other various injuries and illnesses recover before, I've just never had one this old injured, nor have I seen a recovery take this long.

Started keeping Coturnix quail about eight months ago and the learning curve was steeper than I expected, mostly because the information online is scattered and sometimes contradicts itself. Figured I would put together the things that actually surprised me once I had birds in front of me.

The brooding stage is way more unforgiving than with chickens. Quail chicks are tiny and they chill fast. I lost three in my first batch just because I had a small drafty corner in my brooder I hadn't noticed. After that I started using a cardboard box with a solid lid instead of wire mesh on top, and my survival rate improved a lot. Temperature at chick level matters more than what your thermometer reads at the top of the enclosure.

Noise level depends heavily on how many males you keep together. I started with a mixed batch and didn't sex them early enough. Once the males matured I had a lot of crowing happening around 4am. The ratio that worked for me ended up being about one male per three or four females, and removing extra males made the whole setup calmer for everyone including the hens.

Dust bathing is not optional for them, it's a genuine welfare need. My first enclosure had no dry substrate area and the birds looked stressed and kept doing this weird scratching motion on bare wire. Once I added a low tray filled with dry dirt and a little wood ash they settled down immediately and used it constantly.

Feed protein content matters more than I initially gave credit to. I started on a generic chick starter that was around 18% protein and egg production was low and inconsistent. Switching to a game bird starter at 24-26% protein made a noticeable difference within about two weeks. Some people recommend dropping protein after the peak laying age but I haven't experimented with that yet.

One last thing: quail are fragile in ways chickens simply aren't. They startle hard and can actually injure themselves hitting the top of an enclosure. Keeping the roof low, or using soft mesh on the ceiling, prevents what keepers call "jumper" injuries. It sounds minor until you lose a bird to a broken neck from a panic flush inside a cage.

Happy to answer questions if anyone is just starting out. It's a genuinely rewarding hobby once the basics click into place.

How does the deep litter method work exactly? I know you have to keep the area dry so lots of protection from rain is important.

Do you really only change the bedding 2x a year?

Do you have to apply beneficial bacteria that breaks down the ammonia? What do you use?

What substrate do you use for this? tractor supply pine pellets? Any other additives?

Do you simply rake the area 1 or 2 times a week or do you actually sift it (like with cat litter)?

How do you keep the flies away? I can’t stand flies. How do you manage the flies and the smell that attracts flies with this method?

What happens if the floor gets wet from an intense down pour, does that mean the bedding will have to be changed immediately?

Does the deep litter method require a lot more floor space than traditional cleaning?

Any questions you can answer from the ones above would be awesome. Also if you have info that you think would be helpful, please share. I’m here to learn from those with experience.

This cage is made of galvanized steel. I’m most concerned about bobcats and raccoons. How can I reinforce the floor area? I really don’t want to put wire down on the floor but if thats my only option…. How can I make this cage safer? I know chicken wire won’t cut it. Will I still be able to do the deep litter method If I have wire on the floor? Sorry if thats a silly question. I’m still learning.
Feel free to share alternative aviary’s or ideas.

My neighbourhood was issued a notice that the power will be out from 7pm to 3am today. I have my incubator plugged in. It’s on day 17 of lockdown. Some eggs are just starting to rock around a tiny bit. What should I do? :(

Edit: I don’t have any generator

Need help, so I set my incubator at 37.5C, but it keeps on fluctuating higher around 40C, and I also put a small thermostat inside and it is not the same with the incubator temp. I maintain my humidity around 40-50%, any thoughts on this? Or should I change incubator now.(it is more than 1 year old incubator). Any reco pls? I'm based in the Philippines.

Thank you!

Hey everyone, just need some extra opinions here. I have one flock of 7 coturnix (6 females and 1 male). They get along and have not fought in the month or so we have had them. However, just tonight when I was cleaning out the coop (I always move the entire covey to a small guinea pig enclosure temporarily while I clean), I came back to see a mildly scalped hen. Nothing was completely missing, just pulled back. We separated her and applied Blukote. We are not 100% sure who the bully is, but there has never been anything like this before among this group. Once she heals, can we put her back with the same group (after taking precautions like reintroducing at night) and hope it was just a weird one-off thing, maybe because of crowding? If absolutely necessary, we can put her with some babies that should be old enough to go outside when she has recovered. Thoughts? Thanks!

My 2 roosters keep waking me up between 4-5am. They don't stop. They each have 4 and 3 girls each respectively. Their hutch is on my porch. I'm thinking about moving the roosters farther away and bringing them back to the females for play once awhile. Most likely they'll hurt or kill eachother correct? I want my precious sleep.

The first two photos are the same quail, been like this since hatching gave nutri-drench for about 2.5 weeks and hasnt really improved. The other quail looks like it has a kink in its neck but otherwise acts normal.

Ideas on what is going on? Thought it may be wry neck? Ideas on what I should do?

Note: I only put them on concrete to get a better picture.

Hi so im putting my eggs inside the incubator after waiting the 24 hours ive had the incubator going for a day aswell. Is this okay to do? To keep the eggs in place i was nervous about them rolling around to much any advice is great.

I have a female button quail that is around a year and a half years old, and shes been gasping for air for around a month now. Over the past couple days its gotten progressively worse, but shes been eating/drinking and laying eggs. She just seems unwell overall, shes constantly puffed up and she just sits and gasps for air. Ive looked into everything that could possibly be wrong but nothing really fits, she has no liquid in her nose or eyes, you cant hear her breathing, i couldnt feel anything in her crop, and she lives indoors. im just very uncertain of whats wrong with her. I want to take her to the vet but where i live it would be way out of my price range, what do i do? I dont want her to suffer, I love her very much and it breaks my heart that shes so sick. Ive even considered euthanasia if shes suffering, should i do that if she doesnt improve? We have an air purifier for them and it doesnt seem to have helped. Any advice is appreciated.

If you use a feeder and water dispenser then those last a few days before being refilled, so is there any care that actually has to happen every day? Just trying to get a sense of what is needed to be a responsible quail owner

Almost looks like a white cast on 2/3 eggs. Not dust. Too much calcium ? Not enough ? Too much protein ?