cold-resistant quail - what's my best option?

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Ettina

Ettina

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Apr 9, 2015
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OK, so a bit of background first - I have absolutely no experience raising poultry of any kind, but I have been doing a lot of research lately into what it involves.

I've been thinking of getting into farming quail (or at least trying it out and selling my quail if I don't like it). I started out really wanting to raise Japanese (Coturnix) quail, but then had a reality check, realizing that a) I have no room for full-time indoor quail housing, and b) I live in Saskatchewan and winter temperatures usually get down to minus 40 or even minus 50 Celcius at some point (for Americans, that would be about minus 40 to minus 70 Fahrenheit). I doubt a quail species native to Japan can survive being outside in minus 40!

So, I need a cold-hardy species of quail. My first thought was to look for a bird native to Saskatchewan. Ruffed grouse are native here (I've even seen a few on the side of the highway near where I live), so they can definitely handle our winters. However, I've heard they are really difficult birds to handle in captivity, and checking Saskatchewan regulations I'd need a license to keep them, so that's out.

So, my next thought is Bobwhite quail - they are not regulated and I've been told they're a lot easier. Plus, their wild range extends almost to the Canadian border, so they can handle some cold. But can they handle a Saskatchewan winter?

There are a few ways I could help them keep warm. Obviously, the fact that I'll be feeding them all they need, rather than them having to forage, will help. Plus, we have a tree in our backyard, which would reduce the wind-chill. And we also have a shed, which if we clear stuff out of it we could let them in it at night, and maybe even put in a heater. I might even rig up something so the quail can go in & out at will - can quail use a cat flap?

What do you guys think? Does this sound workable, or would I absolutely need indoor housing for winter for my quail to survive?
 
Ettina said:
OK, so a bit of background first - I have absolutely no experience raising poultry of any kind, but I have been doing a lot of research lately into what it involves.

I've been thinking of getting into farming quail (or at least trying it out and selling my quail if I don't like it). I started out really wanting to raise Japanese (Coturnix) quail, but then had a reality check, realizing that a) I have no room for full-time indoor quail housing, and b) I live in Saskatchewan and winter temperatures usually get down to minus 40 or even minus 50 Celcius at some point (for Americans, that would be about minus 40 to minus 70 Fahrenheit). I doubt a quail species native to Japan can survive being outside in minus 40!

So, I need a cold-hardy species of quail. My first thought was to look for a bird native to Saskatchewan. Ruffed grouse are native here (I've even seen a few on the side of the highway near where I live), so they can definitely handle our winters. However, I've heard they are really difficult birds to handle in captivity, and checking Saskatchewan regulations I'd need a license to keep them, so that's out.

So, my next thought is Bobwhite quail - they are not regulated and I've been told they're a lot easier. Plus, their wild range extends almost to the Canadian border, so they can handle some cold. But can they handle a Saskatchewan winter?

There are a few ways I could help them keep warm. Obviously, the fact that I'll be feeding them all they need, rather than them having to forage, will help. Plus, we have a tree in our backyard, which would reduce the wind-chill. And we also have a shed, which if we clear stuff out of it we could let them in it at night, and maybe even put in a heater. I might even rig up something so the quail can go in & out at will - can quail use a cat flap?

What do you guys think? Does this sound workable, or would I absolutely need indoor housing for winter for my quail to survive?
Click to expand...
Coturnix in the wild exist primarily in Northern China and Russia, they're as cold hardy as any quail are. The colder it is the more down they'll grow. There are a lot of Canadian keepers on here so I'm sure someone will chime in with whats worked for them.

The battle you'll have is the when you give birds a heat source (and with those temps you'll probably have to) they sometimes won't feather sufficiently for the ambient temperature and will crutch on the heat source. In cold country this is not a problem until your power goes down, then the birds are left to fend for themselves with insufficient protection from the wind. If you have a generator or other aux power then it's a lot less of an issue.
 
Thanks for your reply.

So, you recommend putting a heater with a generator in their coop for winter, then?
 
In your climate, if you allow them to adapt in the fall to your cold temps, you may not need as much heat as you think. My Bobs have seen minus 30 here and while I did add a heat lamp, it was still minus 20 in the coop. Quail are pretty hardy birds. If it is planning on getting down to minus 40, you might consider some source of heat, but if you let them adapt, they may survive just fine if you give them the proper environment.

You will need to stay away from wire floors. The cold wire will give them frost bite. So bed them down in wood shavings or grass hay. Keep them out of all wind and snow. So keep them in a garage or shed you can close up at night. Wind is a killer. It sucks the heat right out of the birds. So is any rain or snow. So dry and no wind, lots of deep bedding.

If they can keep their feet warm and all snuggle up together, heat might only be needed for nights of minus 30 or more.
 
Thanks.

Would shredded paper work as bedding? I ask because we have piles of scrap paper around the house, if I could just use that it would be pretty handy.

I know what you mean about the wind - as a kid at recess I'd always go straight for whatever wind break I could and huddle up there on the cold winter school days.
 
I have never tried shredded paper, however it might work. I know my parrots eat paper. LOL I am not sure if quail would do this. You could give it a try and see how it works. I would bed them deep in it however as it will have a tendency to stay wet when pooped on.
 
So, you mention staying away from the wire floors here because of the cold. I am in the Vancouver Lower mainland. If we had 5 days a year of -10 Celsius I would be surprised. Our average winter low is -2 Celsius. Having said that, until I read your post, I had basically finally decided on the wire floors (seems there is a lot of differing points of view on this issue). Now you have me rethinking the wire floors. I've been told that the birds are not too smart, and won't necessarily go into the coop (solid floor area) for warmth. So -- any thoughts on this temperature range and the wire floors? (Thinking solid back, sides, and roof.... wire floor & front in run... solid floor & front in coop area,
 
You have to train birds to use a coop. Once they are used to using it, they will go inside during harsh weather, although sometimes I still have to run my quail inside on nights I know it is going to be brutally cold.

The easiest way to train them to use a coop is to lock them inside for a couple days. Make sure they have plenty of light and ventilation, food and water. After a few days, they will have learned that sleeping in there is a safe place to be.

I have my birds clicker trained to go into the coop. When I had 50+ quail, there was no way to round all these birds up from an aviary and get them into their coop. So I put a tray of mealworms in the coop and clicked my clicker telling everybody "into the coop". Of course they were at first, scared of this clicker noise and ran in the opposite direction of it and into the coop! Their reward was this tray of meal worms. But over time they learned that when they heard this clicker, it means I want them into the coop. It also helps to move them if there is any emergency in the aviary and I need them out of the way.

As for wire floors, as you can imagine, metal wire holds no heat. This wire is going to suck the heat out of the feet and will cause frost bite on the feet. Imagine holding on to cold metal all night long if you slept outside. It is going to freeze your hands. Birds lose all their heat through their feet. So if you keep the feet warm, the birds stay warm. So bed them in something warm like pine shavings or grass hay. They will all snuggle in deep together on those cold nights.
 

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