Coturnix and Space allowances...

[mhwc56]

i'm just curious about how much space people think is acceptable for housing quail and why...........

FOR EXAMPLE: i have a cage that's 18sq.ft. which houses 14 ADULT birds..3 roos /11 hens. if i put more than that in there i inevitably end up with HENS fighting and injuries.
in another pen i house 2 IMMATURE birds / 1 sq ft. without trouble .
Some of my ADULT hens wont share their mates and will attack the other hens .Others want a large grouping of more than 1 male and many females to a cage.
i have observed over time that spacing is very important to the health and well being of my coturnix. When they're happy and not stressed they produce more eggs, grow better and are healthier overall.

 

[shelleyd2008]

3 males and 11 hens is too many males. Generally, I give (gave

) mine about .75 sq. ft. per bird, but that depends on how big the pen is and how big the birds are.

For example, I once had 12 jumbo browns (2 male, 10 female) and 1 'normal' brown female in a cage that was 3' x 4'. Plenty of room, you would think. But the bigger girls picked the littler girl to no end, even though they'd been together their entire lives. I moved her into an 18" x 24" cage that had 2 males and 2 females (all 'normal' sized) and they got along fine.

I've also kept up to 6 'normal' sized birds (1 male, 5 females) in a 2'x2' cage with no problems, or 12 jumbo birds (2 males, 10 females) in a 2'x4' cage with no problems.

My biggest cage is almost 3' by almost 8', the most number of birds I've had in it was 40. Some jumbo, some normal, who knows how many males but the m/f ratio was way too high. I had a little bit of feather picking, but no fighting. So it really just depends.

The space requirements are 'guidelines'...you just have to see what works best for you.

 

[mhwc56]

yah, i thought 3 roos was too many also but every time i'd take 1 out they all act stupid and start pounding each other again...

weird birds
This just seemed like a good topic to post b/c beginners are always asking the question about space alotments.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
this is the best answer I have read lately it really depends on a lot of variable factors such as if they were brooded together as chicks are if just a buncha different birds are thrown together Leyland Hayes actually recommended .5 sq ft /bird for coturnix and I think he was dealing with jumbos the best "rule" I have ever seen is there are no rules with birds only guidelines

 

[rittert3]

Well sounds like cots don't generally do well in quads (which was my plan). I hope when I get them my quad will do ok in my 8 sqft cage. I would think they would having 2sqft/bird.l I think I may have more problems with low fertility than bald hen heads.

 

[mhwc56]

Quote:
1 roo /3 hens is usually a good ratio.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
1 roo /3 hens is usually a good ratio.

Yes, 3 hens is the 'average minimum' for coturnix males. Some you can keep with less, but generally you want to have at least 3 females. I dumped all my coturnix pics from my photobucket, or I'd show you a pic of 3 girls with one male. They were looking pretty rough before I added a few new girls to the pen!

 

[thekid]

Quote:
1 roo /3 hens is usually a good ratio.

Yes, 3 hens is the 'average minimum' for coturnix males. Some you can keep with less, but generally you want to have at least 3 females. I dumped all my coturnix pics from my photobucket, or I'd show you a pic of 3 girls with one male. They were looking pretty rough before I added a few new girls to the pen!

Some people are even saying 8 is the minium amount of females!

 

[Stellar]

Quads have worked really well for me, also pairs. Trios not so much. In my bigger colonies I have 2-3 males to 8-10 females. It all depends on the birds and their behavior.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yes, 3 hens is the 'average minimum' for coturnix males. Some you can keep with less, but generally you want to have at least 3 females. I dumped all my coturnix pics from my photobucket, or I'd show you a pic of 3 girls with one male. They were looking pretty rough before I added a few new girls to the pen!

Some people are even saying 8 is the minium amount of females!

I've not seen anyone here say that, it's always been minimum of 3 or max of 5 hens per male. Though you can keep more or less females, it just depends on the males and temperament of the group.