I'm Getting my quail eggs this year!

Hey everyone!

so i've been a member for a while and i had chickens last year only to find out just how cruel a racoon or opossum can be by loosing all six of my gals with nothing but a bite on the neck. my husband found them, i never saw but i was devastated.

we have come up with a plan for next year on chickens so i thought about incubating, well.. thing is i have never incubated eggs before lol. I always missed out on that project in elementary school, but now i have a 3 year old that is starting to understand that birds and reptiles hatch from eggs and i think he'd get a kick out out if for sure!

There is a breeder in my town that has courtunix quail, very nice guys, selling the eggs at 5 a dozen or a buck a chick the first week and gaining a dollar every week after. I have seen them the last three years i've lived here and i adore them, so the gears started turning.

I personally want pets, i know they are good to eat as well, but for now, pets, and i only want to hatch a few so i'm not completely overwhelmed, i was thinking maybe 3? one for me, my son, and my husband (who had a button quail and absalutely loves them).

We have an incubator, we have a safe location in the house for them, we have a brooder ready to go, heat lamp, and all the supplies needed to hold food and water, so all that is left is the food and the eggs! May i add that i'm completely thrilled my husband is allowing me to get them this year!

I was hoping to get some tips and tricks, i don't want to skip out on things they need, but although i've researched i'm still lacking stories and what others imput would be on hatching them being as this will be my first time hatching any egg to that matter.

Also, before i forget, do they like toys? i could imagine they have treats too?

Thanks so much for reading!

~~ Rosa ~~

I would suggest you get at least 10 eggs - preferably more - because chances are not all will hatch, and if you end up having 1 male and 2 females or - even worse - 2 males and one female - then you will likely se over breeding and/or fighting. Perhaps you can make an agreement with the breeder that he will take back any surplus chicks when they are old enough for you to sex (around 4 weeks, usually, for wild colored birds). You can have 3 females together without an issue and I think 3 males might work as well, as long as there are no females around for them to fight over, but if you only want 3 birds, you shouldn't mix the sexes. If you want both sexes, you should aim for 4-7 females for a male.

For the tips and tricks - feed them a game bird starter with at least 24% protein and crush it so the chicks can eat it. Put marbles in their water for the first week or so, so they can't get wet.
Toys - I don't think so. But environmental enrichment like dust baths and plants to hide behind will be appreciated and you can hide treats like live insects and small seeds (think millet and such) in the dust bath or elsewhere and they'll love scratching around for them.

DK newbie said:

I would suggest you get at least 10 eggs - preferably more - because chances are not all will hatch, and if you end up having 1 male and 2 females or - even worse - 2 males and one female - then you will likely se over breeding and/or fighting. Perhaps you can make an agreement with the breeder that he will take back any surplus chicks when they are old enough for you to sex (around 4 weeks, usually, for wild colored birds). You can have 3 females together without an issue and I think 3 males might work as well, as long as there are no females around for them to fight over, but if you only want 3 birds, you shouldn't mix the sexes. If you want both sexes, you should aim for 4-7 females for a male.

For the tips and tricks - feed them a game bird starter with at least 24% protein and crush it so the chicks can eat it. Put marbles in their water for the first week or so, so they can't get wet. 
Toys - I don't think so. But environmental enrichment like dust baths and plants to hide behind will be appreciated and you can hide treats like live insects and small seeds (think millet and such) in the dust bath or elsewhere and they'll love scratching around for them.

Click to expand...

I agree.

My coturnix quail aren't really the best pets though. I treat mine as pets, all seven have names, but they hate being held and just don't like people that much. If you get them as chicks, I'd suggest holding them a lot to get them used to people. I got mine as adults, so hopefully that's the reason mine are so shy.

DK newbie said:

I would suggest you get at least 10 eggs - preferably more - because chances are not all will hatch, and if you end up having 1 male and 2 females or - even worse - 2 males and one female - then you will likely se over breeding and/or fighting. Perhaps you can make an agreement with the breeder that he will take back any surplus chicks when they are old enough for you to sex (around 4 weeks, usually, for wild colored birds). You can have 3 females together without an issue and I think 3 males might work as well, as long as there are no females around for them to fight over, but if you only want 3 birds, you shouldn't mix the sexes. If you want both sexes, you should aim for 4-7 females for a male.

For the tips and tricks - feed them a game bird starter with at least 24% protein and crush it so the chicks can eat it. Put marbles in their water for the first week or so, so they can't get wet.
Toys - I don't think so. But environmental enrichment like dust baths and plants to hide behind will be appreciated and you can hide treats like live insects and small seeds (think millet and such) in the dust bath or elsewhere and they'll love scratching around for them.

Click to expand...

so sorry its taken me so long to reply, I just got my eggs today, the gentalmen that sold me the eggs gave me an extra dozen eggs, i think i will hatch them all and see what comes out and what dosen't. i'm super excited i start the adventure tomarrow!