What a nice job their doing in your green house! Those quail are totally taking advantage of their mother hen, what little opportunist lol Take care you two, Bisous, Christiane.

Hello Sue, Thanks for those very inspiring videos. I live in Denmark and I intend to keep quails in our greenhouse. I will look forward to your videos and advis. All my best, Joana

adorable

@Pavlovafowl

6 жыл бұрын

Hi there and thanks for your comment, I appreciate it! All the very best, Sue

Great video. I've been wanting to raise quail for a while , I'm thinking some very expensive gifts will hush up my neighbors.

Thank you Sue for all the great info on your channel. I have ME and have been implementing all your advice re organic chickens and quail. I try to do things exactly as you do because yours is the best channel on humane organic poultry. We can't get organic quail or turkey feed in the UK, so I would be very grateful if you could give me a list of the things you feed. I sprout grain for higher nutrition, palatability and digest ability. I also grow microgreens, but would like to know the other ingredients you use for quail. Mine will live in an outdoor aviary. I have raised some with a broody bantam for a friend, and have another brood with another hen for myself, hatching in 2 weeks. I'm as excited as you were with your quail hatching her own eggs! which I hope mine will do. I'm working on their habitat presently. I hope to hear what foods you give them. Many, many thanks for all your info, keep up the good work! Kind regards, Kat.

@Pavlovafowl

5 жыл бұрын

Hi Kat and thank you so much for your lovely comments, they are really appreciated. In the UK the only organic quail feed, I have come across is from Marriage's and I when I spoke to them some years ago, it was only as a one off special order and in huge quantities. There is no organic certification for quail in the EU, so until there is, no company will produce organic feed. That said, I think we are better creating our own, as organic pelleted food relies heavily on grain and legumes for the protein content and in my experience and researching around the subject, quail need invertebrate protein. Setting up compost bins where I can 'harvest' invertebrates works well for me and I have a compost bin within my quail run, where I raise woodlice and earwigs on a sort of self-service basis! Ant nests are wonderful too, particularly appreciated by my quail are the flying ants and their eggs, I find that having a thick layer of leaves and humus in the quail area generally encourages ants but I do go and dig them up from around the garden and also I find ant nests in containers and under flowerpots in the greenhouse. I do tend to have a general food for all my poultry but the quail get added protein. I have this film which shows a typical week's Winter diet: kzread.info/dash/bejne/qY5tl8-Ff8bOl6Q.html which could be of interest to you but obviously the quail may reject some of the ingredients and so that gets passed back to the chickens. My quail do enjoy the same root vegetables as the chickens but the quail seem not so keen on fruit but like the chickens, love green leafy vegetables of all kinds. I do have friends who have an organic shop, so I do collect all their 'debris' and so the quail get plenty of variety. If I didn't have that resource then I would spend more time growing food for them. I find some individual quail are more fond of certain foods than others are in my flock and also the quail chicks raised with hens tend to eat foods the hen has shown and/or foraged for them to eat. Although this some times causes confusion, I had one hen who did try to make her quail eat bread (I get it occasionally from the organic shop and soak it). In the end the quail chicks resorted to hiding the bread, which I thought was so sweet! The same mother hen also stopped them from eating compost worms too! However, some of my recent quail have been eating brioche from the shop but that has lots of butter and egg in - so I guess that is why! I'll try and list everything I do feed and then and I'll get back to you again. Hope this is useful and all the very best from Normandie, Sue

WHAT IS THIS GORGEOUS HEN TYPE?

@Pavlovafowl

4 жыл бұрын

Hi there, she is a bantam Cochin Frizzle and she's a beauty I agree! I also have a male version of the same colour and he's pretty spectacular too. The Frizzle was first identified in the 17th century and is considered a separate race in some countries, whereas in others it is considered to be a separate type i.e. a naturally occurring genetic feather mutation of certain breeds, so a Frizzled Polish, Frizzed Cochin etc.,. I have written a whole raft of articles on both Frizzles and Cochins, which have an amazing and very dark history if you are interested and the articles also have the relevant films that go with them: here's the link to the page if you are interested: holistic-hen.blogspot.com/p/individual-chicken-breeds.html#.XoXGG3cv6V4 Frizzles and Cochins are fabulous birds in their own right, they have wonderful caring/nurturing instincts and make great mothers and fathers, when left to their own devices in a natural environment. I've had Cochins hens adopt and 'baby-sit' other mother's chicks in the forest garden, when there is a large brood and some of the smaller chicks were getting cold and lagging behind. It is for this reason they are a great choice for quail, as they are quick thinking and adaptable. If you can find some, get some, every home needs a Frizzle - that's my motto! P.S. They make great pets! All the very best, Sue

Hi Sue, thanks for your reply. I'd really like a list of other organic food for the quail, when you have time! We can't get triticale or any organic quail or turkey food in the UK.

I have tried them with sprouted alfalfa, and quinoa, I wondered if chia seed would be ok sprouted? I'm not sure if the expanding goo they exude might swell inside them!? In the UK you can only seem to get triticale in large field-planting quantities. Yes indeed MTHFR can be a very problematic snp, especially affecting the methylation cycle. Dr Ben Lynch has some interesting info, but I can't afford DNA testing to see if I have that snp. I'm taking methyl-folate in case.i also inject B12 weekly. I have a sauna bag for detoxing, but have to be well enough to use it. I eat a low carb paleo diet and am looking forward to the quail egg nutritional benefits. Thank you again for your tremendous insights Sue.

Great clip Sue.. Will you end up closing the open wall when it snows ?

Hi Sue, Thanks for your videos, Can this hen stay with them forever? Do you need to separate them?

@Pavlovafowl

Жыл бұрын

Hi there Sam, Thank you for your comments and you are very welcome. There is no problem in leaving the hen with the quail for as long as she wants to be with them, the more they learn from her, the better. Usually though after a certain time the hen loses interest in being with them and wants to go back out into the garden. However, if your intention is to try and free-range your quail under your supervision, then the first step I always take is to let them out with the hen in the garden or as I used to, in an old-fashioned meadow, which was very suitable. This can sometimes mean that she will go back to her flock sooner but it gives the quail chicks the added benefit of free-range. My next step, even before the hen leaves them, is to get the chicks to bond with me but at the same time not to break the bond with the Mother hen. This way I can then free-range the chicks when the hen has left. You will find various of my 'supervised' free-ranging quail videos on my site. All the very best from Normandie, Sue

They are lovely do you know if they are all female yet. Has anyone started laying eggs?

Maybe they would love to get rid of a cover crop between plantings of vegetables and you could sit and watch that. I like to see poultry on grass. I think they look good. They like it too. All just part of a constant growing plan all year if possible .Domesticity not boring.

@Pavlovafowl

7 жыл бұрын

Hi there, that would work well for geese, I'm sort of presuming that is what you are raising because you have no videos but not for quail who need a high protein and in my case invertebrate diet, otherwise they become fractious and they also do not lay. There are two ways in which my quail get grass, they either are taken out free ranging in an old meadow, which is only 30% grass, so they are eating broad leafed weeds but mostly searching for invertebrates or I bring the meadow mowings to them. I have a new area for my quail, densely planted with vegetation and bushes, thus a safe breeding area and also tall enough and well established enough not to be destroyed by quail feet and beaks. My quail get a large percentage of vegetable matter daily both root veg and leafy but putting them on a cover crop would just mean them digging it up for protein and in a very short time, in fact that is why I use them in the greenhouse for clearing weeds and greenfly etc.,. they are quick and methodical. All the very best, Pavlovafowl aka Sue

@mothergoose6087

7 жыл бұрын

Sounds like you have an interesting time in your greenhouse and with your quail. I would love to be able to do something like that too but have not the ability or opportunity as of yet but I can dream can't I? I like to watch on KZread but I would probably need help to invest in a little land with greenhouse. I so love the idea though, but I'm really not well physically.

Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply and video link to one I hadn't seen. Mama hen has been foraging the quail chicks (raised for a friend) in the compost in the polytunnel. She is giving them great invertebrate nutrition, but I need a basic feed also. My adopted hens, unlike the ones I have raised, dont eat worms or slugs so is teaching them not to, as you said some do. I've been cutting them up and trying to get the chicks interested. They are getting wood lice etc. from her. I was wondering if the quail can be fed millet, quinoa, sesame sunflower heart, ground dried peas and lentils from the health food shop, and other high protein seeds? I know that you don't recommend a grain diet for them, I offer them microgreens trays to eat, but my adopted hens don't see this as food, so she advises the chicks not to eat some greens /veggies. How do you overcome This? Sorry to badger you with questions, but you are so knowledgeable about their nutritional requirements. I have studied human nutrition for my ME and had great improvements, but don't know enough about quail. I can see you have a full-time job in your forest garden, so this is my last question! Many thanks, Kat.

@Pavlovafowl

5 жыл бұрын

Hi Kat, You ask away, I have no problem with that, I just may not always be able to get back to you quickly. My mother hen, who stopped her quail chicks from eating compost worms, did not actually succeed in the long run as they had already tried and acquired a taste for them. The great thing about quail chicks is that being precocial, they are neither so dependent on the hen, as her own chicks would be, nor so obedient where food choices are concerned. The fact that your hen is teaching foraging in general is a real plus on its own. It is the volume that counts with quail, in my experience and that is why many result to ready-made feed because it is really hard work to do otherwise. However, although you obviously get less eggs from quail that have home-made nutrition and a natural environment and thus revert to a 'wild' bonding/nesting/laying cycle, these eggs will make good healthy chicks and great therapeutic-grade eggs for you to eat/share/sell. All I can say is try them on various foods because my contention has always been that birds know more about their optimum nutrition than humans ever will. I do think though many people use alfalfa sprouts as a base for quail, I use triticale because I can get it easily here organically certified and in bulk straight form the farm, I'm paying 35 Euros per 100 kilos. You should be able to find organic triticale in the UK, try asking at your nearest organic farm but there should also be a on-line organic farmers' directory. On another note, my sister and I were involved in researching around an undiagnosed illness for my father, some years ago and we came to the conclusion that there were/are a whole raft of conditions linked to the MTHFR genetic mutation. That was just the start really and there are obviously no two people who have exactly the same combination of symptoms but certainly they are similar and for me they all hinged around deficiency and toxicity ( including the inability to detox easily): the two key factors in getting my father's health back were a chronic vitamin B12 deficiency and toxicity to aluminium. Hope some of this is of use and all the very best from a sunny day in Normandie, Sue

congrats! you have a new subscriber! me.

@Pavlovafowl

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks! What a great name you have - love it! I subbed you back and 'rung' the little bell icon so I will get updates. All the very best from France, Sue

@nefariousvii5255

6 жыл бұрын

you have a great name to! I will also Run the bell icon!

P.s. I used to raise organic mealworms and will do again for the quail.

@Pavlovafowl

5 жыл бұрын

Hi Kat, I find mealworms a fantastic food for quail, mine are mad for them! All the very best, Sue

Did it work ok with fence + plastic walls? (I understand you have moved them into a glass green house now..)

@Pavlovafowl

5 жыл бұрын

Hi Helen, Yes until they started nesting and I was afraid that something could break in at night because normally I put them all away in a wooden coop in the greenhouse. However, when they paired off, they firstly wanted to be alone at night and secondly once they had a nest with eggs they obviously wanted to sit. That is why I moved them to the glass greenhouse, although the first year I just put a set of wooden planks over the front of the greenhouse door, as the plastic greenhouse had an open wire fronted door to let direct sunlight in for the quail and I had no problems but if you have rats or anything that will burrow under or bite through plastic then I'd put them away at night. All the very best, Sue

What kind of chicken is the one in this video?

@Pavlovafowl

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Jen, She is a Frizzled Cochin Pekin bantam and if you want to know more about them I have several films on my channel kzread.info/head/PLHgq6wrWg6defPKQcXWG2C-lYjPihIFX2 and articles on my site: holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-cochin-craze-story-of-addiction.html#.Xy0cn3cv6V5 . I find them fascinating and the story of how they got to the West from the Summer Palace involves in one of the darkest periods of our history. They are wonderful birds and every home should have some! All the very best from Normandie, Sue

Please see this 🙏🙏 I need help. I have a quail that has been sitting for over a week now. I devided the cage to keep the other 5 females and 1 Male from her. She seamed to be working herself really hard to keep them from her. Did I mess up?

@Pavlovafowl

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Lynn, I have recently had the exact same question on my site: The Holistic Hen and as I went into quite a lot of detail I am going to copy it to you here and add a few things in brackets, where relevant and remove the bits that are seemingly not relevant in this case. Firstly, congratulations on belonging to a very select club of people (and coturnix) who have achieved this! 'So there are no rules except what you can gather from observing your individual flock dynamic (and which you seem to have already done by what you tell me above from her behaviour) because it is quail behaviour that will inform on everything. However, I can tell you how mine behaved, so that could be useful, my space may be different but things did happen in line with the two academic studies I read: these are the only ones I found, as to reiterate this is an extremely rare occurrence and there is very little written material. So is your sitting quail pair-bonded with your male? I found that the male guarded the female on the nest when pair-bonded but she did start to chase him away at one point and he had no hand in bringing up the chicks. Other females of mine seemed to have a bond with the broody quail or at least with the nest, one female (a friend of the bonded male) guarded the nest too and other females seemed to have been involved in laying in the nest. My broody quail did not chase them away. In the academic studies and I can confirm from my own observation, if you have another bonded pair you should remove them (i.e. if any of your other females are bonded to your single male) as they are the ones who will cause territorial problems and thus stress in your flock. If you read through this article you will see how and why my experiences tell me there are absolutely 'no rules' holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2016/07/tips-and-strategies-for-hatching-and.html#.X0AAAncv6V5 As you will gather from this article, both ourselves and the quail are in unchartered territory. One thing though - keep everyone's invertebrate quota up because aggression and nervous behaviour, I have witnessed, time and time again, is related to amino acid, mineral and vitamin deficiencies- in which invertebrates are rich. However, a good quality home-raised hen's egg boiled will also be a good substitute. If your flock are well-nourished and emotionally stable, then they are less likely to resent newcomers, for me that is something proactive we can do - get the food and environment right. That your bird is broody, shows you have achieved this, so now it is just a matter of maintaining this for the others. Hope my ideas are of use and please make sure you write up and/or film your experience, they so help to promote natural non-caged quail keeping. This both encourages and helps the keepers and gives coturnix a much better chance with humans than they sadly usually experience. All the very best, sending a big hug to your mother-to-be quail and please do let me know if I can provide any more information and how things work out, Sue" Lynn hope this helps and do get back to me and let me know!

@lynnhurst8331

3 жыл бұрын

@@Pavlovafowl Thank you bunches 🐣❤ I don't think she has pair bonded but the Male does show lots of interest when they lay. Update: One of the other females jumped my barrier and did try to get in the basket but mom wasn't having it. Although, she wasn't terribly aggressive with her but the one that made it over was stressing and calling for the others (I think ). While I was getting her back over the barrier the male snuck through and mom was very aggressive with him so he went back over too. I had also been worried mom wasn't eating or drinking because she was in the basket every time I seen her, even at night but thank goodness I saw her moving around and went over and she was eating. I slipped around the corner of the enclosure will she was eating and bless her heart she has let them lay eggs in the basket. I counted 28 but she's been sitting for 10 days already without me being able to see under her so I don't know which ones to pull.

@lynnhurst8331

3 жыл бұрын

The eggs are hatching !!!❤🐣 When we decided to leave her be, there were 6. We candled last night and there was 26 fertile. I'm so afraid that if they all hatch that it will overwhelm her. Do you think she can raise them all. I'm like a proud mom but I do want my quail mom to be able to raise as many as possible.

@Pavlovafowl

3 жыл бұрын

@@lynnhurst8331 Hi there Lynn How exciting! I was never notified of your previous message so only just saw it. The behaviour seems to indicate that like happened to me the nest is communal - so you may have staggered hatching as eggs will have obviously been laid after the start of sitting. There is a mechanism (largely not well documented or understood) whereby eggs hatch together even when laid at different times and more importantly after the start of sitting. It is presumed to be a safety mechanism, whereby particularly in the case of quail where they are precocial and ready to move a few hours after hatch, the whole brood is ready to go at the same time with no egg left. I think though it may depend on how long a space there is between the first eggs laid in the nest and the last egg added. As a communal nest you should have a good chance of co=-parenting but that will depend how the mother feels about this. I have seen a video of a wild quail on KZread with an enormous brood of chicks, so it is a do-able feat! However, you are right to think about contingencies. I would get either, a way of incubating the rest - should she leave whilst they are hatching or still not pipped - basically because she is pressured by the chicks wanting to eat. You can also make sure she has food very near and plenty of choice - so that will keep her sitting. Something I have also done with a protracted hatch is to create a safe border around my nest, so that the mother allows the hatched chicks to run around and still sits the rest. When I did this with a hen the hen did get up off the eggs and take a really good look at what I had created - actually 'controlled the perimeter' as it were , to make sure the chicks would be safe was how I interpreted it. She then went back and sat on the eggs and allowed the chicks to come out and 'play' in that space and continued to sit another 5 days until everyone had hatched. However, I would have a plan that includes the idea that she might stop sitting, so a broody hen or an incubator? You can finesse the quail chicks after they hatch under the quail mother at night. Alternatively you could put some of the hatched chicks in a brooder, whilst the rest hatch. The main thing is to have a plan ready and above all that the chicks are warm enough - in my experience that figure of 95°F - 35°C is crucial during the first week. Hope this helps but your quail has a determined personality by what I am gleaning from your comments so I would think she is up for the task - it is just how well she will be able to cover them all and also how she will judge the hatch. The question being: will she wait for them all or be persuaded to move - quail chicks are really noisy and adamant when they want food and heat - the noise they make is intended to get a result for themselves as individuals! Really good luck and keep me informed when you can - and do try to film or write this up - it is crucial to pass this wonderful information and experience to those of us who love quail to have a natural life, which sadly few of them do. Big Hug to all from Normandie, Sue P.S. There is still no complete research on the male's role in the brooding but in pair bonds in hens and cockerels/roosters there have been instances where, for example, when a sitting hen was killed by a predator, the male took over the hatch - this is rare but who knows what those original and innate emotional ties are to the bond and to the offspring in the male - the great thing I have observed in birds is their understanding of continuance - they want their eggs/chicks to survive.

@lynnhurst8331

3 жыл бұрын

@@Pavlovafowl Thanks a bunch 🙂 I will update later

Can you let the quail in the greenhouse when there are veggies growing?

@Pavlovafowl

8 жыл бұрын

It depends. I find if I give the quail enough greenery and they need a lot in their diet, then they will use the greenhouse vegetation to get their 'meat' ration, clearing up all the green and white fly etc.,. without eating the leaves. It is the same with my hens, they are all free to roam in our forest garden but if they do not have enough grass and leafy veg to eat, they will start eating the flowering plants. You need to experiment because quail can eat the tough leaves of things like summer squash and pumpkins which other poultry such as chickens wouldn't eat. You may need to cover some things to stop them being eaten until they are above the level of quail height - such as tomatoes. Quail also love the zucchini/ Summer squash fruits, they actually use them as a natural internal parasite preventative and medicine - they eat the seeds as well as the flesh. You really need to supervise them and see what they do. I'm just about to do the same thing, as I'm planting up one greenhouse and moving the quail into a new section. I'm going to let them back into the whole area when the vegetables have grown up but I will still supervise at first because sometimes they are very good at working out how to get at something they find intriguing! All the very best and thanks for an interesting and pertinent question, Pavlovafowl aka Sue

@lalonunez517

8 жыл бұрын

Sue thanks so much for the reply. Next question is what is your favorite breed of quail?

@Pavlovafowl

8 жыл бұрын

I really do like the coturnix. I find them very interesting and as time goes on they seem to have become more and more natural in their behaviours and 'wild' within the spirit of the forest garden setting, although due to predators they have more restraint than the chickens and pigeons. I'd like to try to raise other breeds, it's just here in France we seem limited, even some of the Coturnix colours are very rare, hopefully this will change. All the very best, Sue

The sound at 4:04 is the male calling the females to eat.

@Pavlovafowl

8 жыл бұрын

If you listen again - it is actually one of the quail getting angry. I know the sound you mean, it is similar to the one used by the mother to call her chicks but with different motives. In the quail, though you are right, it is very similar to this angry sound, less raucous, and rather thinner and reedier but he would usually be standing on tip toes and presenting the food in my experience, when he makes that sound. These quail are actually pecking each other to get at the food, in particular at the end of the film a female attacking a male over the plate. The males here are also rather young to be involved in quasi-chivalry. Sorry to be pedantic but I'm actually, at the moment putting together a whole series of films on bird language so I've sort of got my ear trained, as it were. All the very best from Normandie, Sue