Health of Quail in Johnny House.

[hi-tailyn]

I have 3 different size johnny houses on my 500 acre training area. I put 7 dust down twice a year. I have found that if I only use cock birds to train, the hen call the cocks back faster and more consistently. Even in Quail the hen control the roost.
The hens stay healthy and flush quick and hard for quite a few weeks in the johnny house. The males after 1-2 times out start getting fluffy and some start dieing. I have used Sulmet for coxcidousis(sp).
My question is, am I missing something to keep my cocks healthier after they have been out in the environment a time or two. I hear and find a lot of birds that haft to be liberated birds that didn't recall. So some are surviving out in the grass and treelines.
Scott

[postoakshorthairs]

Maybe it's not a johnny house issue...maybe the females suck the life out of the males like other species! don't show my wife this

[tommyboy72]

LMAO. Postoak isn't that the truth.

[snips]

Play nice guys I have been using something that is great, Specto Scour Chek. Last week I ordered it from Jeffers and it arrived next morning at 8 a.m. from Fed X And did not charge shipping. Wow. It is a swine med but great for birds.

[mm]

Are those males beating each other up. I am having trouble with that and they are getting weak. In my case the cage is to small and too many males. I am getting ride of some to see if it helps.
mm

[gunner]

Are you using birds hatched this season? Old birds are good as separated breeders and shooters.

For successful JH call back birds I use the current year's class, 7 to 9 week old birds to be installed in the JH in late Aug.-early Sept. I'll use these birds thru the fall, winter and early spring or until I notice pairing up of birds and belligerence between bobs the following spring, usually in late April. Eight months use of good flying, wild acting birds ain't bad.
At that time they are like wild birds and can bring off young successfully if habitat is good.

I'll use the same medicated feed as the breeder or terramycin added to the water for a couple of weeks at time of transfer from the breeder. A shallow dusting pan with sand and a little wood ash helps stimulate preening and good feathering. Cover in the JH like a piece of slanted board of pine bough will help a underdog escape the wrath from more aggressive birds. Suet cakes, and greens made available to the captive birds will reduce a flocks aggressiveness.

The more the birds are in and out of the JH the wilder and better the birds become for working dogs. I like JH that the birds can be either flown out of without handling and a verenda catchbox to catch the birds to make setups or to doctor and band 'em.

Good birds will help make good dogs.

Bill

[lvrgsp]

Ditto what Bill said......Also how big are the johnny houses and how many birds are you trying to keep in each house?

Chip

[RayGubernat]

I had some of this happen over the summer. The birds woud start croaking off, I'd medicate with LS 50 and they would be fine for a while and then start croaking off again.

A friend suggested that I put a low,flat container(I used an old gavanized puppy pan) and put in some sand nd gravel. He said he has a kiddie pool in his flight pen and he keeps a layer of gravelly sand in it.

Anyway, I put a pan of sand and gravel in the coop and the dying stopped. No medication, no nothing, Just gravelly sand. In a few days almost all the sand was out of the pan so I put more in. Today I went in the coop to feed and water. I put some sand in the empty sand pan and while I was messing with the water containers, less than three feet away, two different birds went into the sand, one after the other. Each was pecking at it, fluffing their feathers and basically splatering it all around.

RayG

[hi-tailyn]

Two of them are 4 x 6 x 6 tall. I keep 10-20 birds at the most in each of them to start off with. After several training days the numbers get fewer.
What I don't understand is the hens are very alive and the cocks don't seem to react to the medicated water.
I will try both the dust pan for sanding them selves and try to get some Spectro Scour Chek and give it a try.
The birds are anywhere from the start, 10weeks -20 weeks old by the time they stop returning to the JH. They usually last about 3-6 weeks then I haft to get another group of birds to restock.
Is there something special that some breeders do to make their birds more resistant to diseases. Why some trial grounds will only let you use birds exclusively from one breeder. My birds are raised in open air flight pens with natural brush and plants inside the pen. Any ideas that I could give the breeder to make the birds any better? They fly like rockets and take off when pointed too close. So the training part of the birds is great for my dogs. It is just keeping them alive longer that I need to work on.
I feed them medicated turkey food, and use the nipple waterers to keep the water cleaner.

I have a 6 x 10 old dog kennel that I turned into a Chuckar pen. Chuckars recall great when I start them at 8-10 weeks of age. I don't have the dieing off that I do with the quail. They just seem to be a heartier bird.



Scott

[ACooper]

I had some of this happen over the summer. The birds woud start croaking off, I'd medicate with LS 50 and they would be fine for a while and then start croaking off again.

A friend suggested that I put a low,flat container(I used an old gavanized puppy pan) and put in some sand nd gravel. He said he has a kiddie pool in his flight pen and he keeps a layer of gravelly sand in it.

Anyway, I put a pan of sand and gravel in the coop and the dying stopped. No medication, no nothing, Just gravelly sand. In a few days almost all the sand was out of the pan so I put more in. Today I went in the coop to feed and water. I put some sand in the empty sand pan and while I was messing with the water containers, less than three feet away, two different birds went into the sand, one after the other. Each was pecking at it, fluffing their feathers and basically splatering it all around.

RayG

All birds need some kind of grit to process the food they eat. Maybe this is why your birds weren't doing as well?

[hi-tailyn]

I may be wrong, as usual, but with the crumble the birds don't need grit. When I could afford it, I fed pellets to my Homers. They didn't get grit. That was the big reason for feeding pellets, besides the waste of some of the grain.
It is not the birds that are kept solely in the JH(the hens) that are dieing. It is the cocks that are used for training out in the environment.
I do plan to put in a dusting pan and try some different medication.
Scott

[ACooper]

I understand the crumble makes the grit less important, but I have found that birds will stay healthier with grit no matter what diet they are on.

[dan v]

My guess is that they are starving. Their whole life they've been looking for some crumble in a pan. Now you've sent them into the big new world, and they can't find the pan the crumble is in.

[murphys42002]

Here is a link to that quail place.You can find out almost anything about raising game birds there.http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php