- Jul 26, 2014
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Hi All,
Where I live, it commonly gets above 100 degrees by midsummer. The quail are able to tolerate it alright, but they're constantly gular fluttering (just a ornithological term for bird panting) and quite uncomfortable.
In the evening, I soak some patches of their aviary soil so it's a nice cool retreat for them to dig under. I'm also trying to encourage them to step into a pan of water by tossing rice krispies into the water. The quail will wade in after the treats. I don't think they really correlate the cooling effect with the water, though, so they don't use the water pan unless I have a treat floating in there. Maybe after a lot of repetition, but something tells me quail kinda don't get water. As an aside, if any of you have any anecdotes of quail water bathing I'd love to hear them.
When I'm away in the afternoon, they have to stay in the coop, away from the water pan and cool aviary soil. Is there something I can do to help them keep cool in the coop? They do enjoy a slice of cold watermelon, but that only goes so far.
Where I live, it commonly gets above 100 degrees by midsummer. The quail are able to tolerate it alright, but they're constantly gular fluttering (just a ornithological term for bird panting) and quite uncomfortable.
In the evening, I soak some patches of their aviary soil so it's a nice cool retreat for them to dig under. I'm also trying to encourage them to step into a pan of water by tossing rice krispies into the water. The quail will wade in after the treats. I don't think they really correlate the cooling effect with the water, though, so they don't use the water pan unless I have a treat floating in there. Maybe after a lot of repetition, but something tells me quail kinda don't get water. As an aside, if any of you have any anecdotes of quail water bathing I'd love to hear them.
When I'm away in the afternoon, they have to stay in the coop, away from the water pan and cool aviary soil. Is there something I can do to help them keep cool in the coop? They do enjoy a slice of cold watermelon, but that only goes so far.