Quail questions

[Pennae]

hi i just bought 2 dozen eggs and ive put them in the incubator they've got 14 days to go and ive never had quails so heres a list of questions i need answered please

are they noisy?
how do you incubate them?
how do you raise them?
how do you sex them?
can they free range?
and pretty much any thing you need to know about them and raising them
thanks

 

[Halloweengirl13]

Not noisy compared to chickens or female ducks

Incubation is the same as other birds but coturnix are around 18 days, buttons are around 16-17
Bobwhites are same as chickens 21

Raised same as chickens but they require higher protein

Sexing depends on the quail
Coturnix- boys will start to get orangey reddish chest feathers at a couple weeks
Buttons reddish butt feathers ( or if you start to see blue feathers coming in elsewhere)
Bobwhites the boys eye stripes will eventually start to brighten but it takes longer around 10 wks

Free range ....no

We keep our coturnix in rabbit cages and our buttons are in medium small-bird cages with lots of hidey holes.
My boyfriend has a pair of bobwhites and they are in an extra large dog kennel. Ours are in a sun room off the main house. We have our baby buttons in a large aquarium in our living room.

They like mealworms and small crickets
Grass, fruits and bird seed as treats.my coturnix will take it from my hand the others flee in terror until I remove my hand from the cage.

 

[Pennae]

any thing else

 

[pippo]

What else do you feed them high in protein? We give ours (king quails i think they are) finch food (as they are in the aviary with finches), fruit, lettuce and other scraps approx 2 times a week

 

[kingmt]

Telling us the type of quail & there mutation will help is help you. Not knowing this there is to little information to give you advice. They also don't all incubate the same ether. I have some experience in Coturnix & they probably need the highest temperature to incubate right at 100F up to about 101F is still good. Much higher might cook your eggs much lower will cause a late hatch & sick chicks that seem to die for no reason.

 

[Pennae]

ive got cortunix quails and i have my incubator at 37.5 degrees celcius

 

[cmobley]

I have coturnix sometimes on here their called cots. I use purina game starter for all of them as in males and females i give oyster shell on the side for my girls this cuts down on feed cost and if i have to leave my wife neighbor whoever knows its only one feed. Noisy the males are or i will say mine were very noisy always crowing hollering but nothing annoying once i put him with his females he hasnt crowed since the females ive never heard a sound other than a purring sound. Sexing the Pharaoh color is simple females have spotted chest males have no spots and a rusty orangish color his face is also darker on the sides. I wouldnt free range at all some people do but i wouldnt. Their eggs are pretty small but recently i started gwtting one giant egg from one of my girls.

 

[cmobley]

the male is the first pic female second pic. My pen is 6x3x18 i have had 40 quail in this set up with no problems. The small cages to the left are quarantine cages if sombody gets beat up or acts sick or if i just have to many males after a hatch and they cant get along they get a spot for 8 weeks. My females started laying from 5 weeks to 10 weeks so if after 6 weeks you dont have a egg dont freak out their all different. If you have anymore questions ill try to answer them best i can im still learning to so i definately dont know it all but ill help where i can.

 

[Pennae]

ok thanks

 

[kingmt]

are they noisy?
Yes but not very loud.

how do you incubate them?
Turn it up to 37.7-37.8 according to my conversion. It will take ~16-18 days.

how do you raise them?
Not sure exactly the question but best IMO is on wire with less then 8 of ceiling. They also need high protein 28% feed.
There is other things depending on what your asking.

how do you sex them?
Depends on the color. After they are hatched show us pictures & we'll try to help.

can they free range?
Only if you don't mind them flying away & being eaten by other animals.