Best Quail for me?

The first thing I have to start off is with they can't be kept outside. I have nosy neighbors and there are far too many stray cats wandering about. I was planning on clearing out a section of my basement for them. The basement is large and it's only a storage basement and not meant for really living down there, so it's pretty cleared out. With just a section of the basement they could very easily have 40-60 square feet of clean space. We don't want many though, just enough to have a steady supply of eggs. Note that we aren't keeping them for meat. Would this be doable? Also what would the food cost be and what other necessities do they need? What would I use for bedding? Would also prefer non flighty or aggressive birds. I've been looking into this for awhile and just want to cover all bases any tips for keeping quail indoors would be appreciated too.


P.S: Forgot to mention it can get pretty cold where I live in the winter! What temperatures can they stand?

Your best bet would probably be Cotournix... I have Bobwhite, and I think they would be too skittish to keep inside, but I could be wrong... I've read of most successful with quail indoors being Cotournix; they're more docile and less flighty...

First, the temp.. They can withstand pretty cold temps; they have good coats with feathers... The bobs can withstand our winters outside, and it gets to -20 pretty easy all winter, so a basement would be fine. They could use supplemental heat as chicks for extra warmth, but as soon as they mature they should be able to keep body temp up... One thing I should add us, use red lights for brooding; white light can make them aggressive.

Food, game bird, or a feed with 20-24% protein... I thing game bird is like, 22... Mine go through about a cup or so a day, and there are 15, so about 1 lb a week for all 15 sounds like a fair assumption...

Clean water at all times.

Bedding, most use shavings for bedding. Sand can be great for the floor, or a product called PDZ, since you are in a house... PDZ will absorb odors, too, and east to sweep up and away.

Need cages/ hutches to separate breeding pairs, or males apart from males. As long as you keep the males sorted out, aggression should be limited as long as they have appropriate space.

Netting hung from ceiling or top of brooder to prevent "boinking", flying up too fast and hitting heir heads on ceilings, possibly breaking their necks.

I think I covered most if it; I'm sure I left something out though