Water Logged

diatomeacous earth sounds good. I must investigate that.

I've seen wildlife documentaries of animals travelling miles to eat naturally occuring clay rich in minerals. I wonder if that is a similar sort of thing.

Hi Andy,
Yes foodgrade D. E. is commonly used in feed mills here in the US, and I have even seen it in the healthfood stores for human usage! Pigeon keepers, chicken keepers in the know have used it for years apparently, trick of the trade. Apparently even D.E. has some natural smell reducing capabilities, I've seen raves on it, on chicken forums. Ed
p.s. D.E. does dramaticly reduce the fly population, you will notice the difference.

Is this the stuff you mean ?? ... Diatomaceous Earth

I'll just stick to using Jayes fluid for disinfecting my pens as I love the smell & don't have a pest problem

I seem to have given folk the wrong idea though, I was complaining about the continues rain we've had up here over the summer, rather than stating I have a drainage problem in my pen ... a big puddle appears at the end of the sloped concrete paved path after days of non-stop heavy rain but drains away after a few hours, if the rain lets up. Twice weekly disinfecting & hosing on top of the rain doesn't help ...... when is summer coming to Newburgh

I personally hate the US housing system of keeping quail highly stocked in wire pens & crates/cages. I give all my quail access to the ground and have had no foot or health problems (getting their DEFRA blood tests next week), I haven't had any balling on their toes, their feet sparkle after paddling in the puddle . I allow them to eat earthworms, slugs, woodlice and any other bugs they find while rooting about outside - no point trying to stop the birds doing what comes naturally to them, but regularly give them Apple cider vinegar in their water as a natural de-wormer.

you must have blinked Suz, summer has been and gone!

I'm with you on having access to the ground and a more natural environment. You give them cider!!! no wonder your birds are so happy despite the rain

Hi Suz,
They're meant to stand on wire are they? A ground bird? We're actually meant to believe that? All the articles I've seen promise woe and misery if quail are kept on the ground. But I somehow get the impression, this info was written by people who keep high stock density per cage. I feel as you do, they need a large run with access to the ground. How else could you go inside the cage and pet them? Ed

im with you suz all my birds have access to the ground and if your worried about the bugs the birds eat which can carry worms you can give them panacur wormer, when you buy it just say you have a small dog ! the good thing with this product is that you cant overdose it all you do is tip a enough in the water so it looks milky leave in the drinker for 24hrs then remove very easy
you could try that drainage i said earlier suz

Hope the rain stops Suz. We've slabbed our aviaries, and tho they can get very wet when it does chuck it down, they are very easy to jeyes and hose down. All looking great apart from being a bit wet tho!

Rain's been off for shhh.... 3 days ... scared I bring it back ... pens nice and dry, but need to go hose it out today.

Nice to see you back Harrie, did you have a nice holiday?

Yay - it was lovely. Still busy catching up here. We have been back for a wk but not had much time to get on til now.