Coturnix Quail Housing - Me again

[BastyPutt]

Hello again my quail friends, I have one more, very broad question -

After going back and forth, I am settling on Cotrunix Quail, and am thinking about starting with something like 36 of them. Unlike the BobWhite, understand these are flightless and dual purpose, which has heavily weighed my decision. We live in a smaller town and currently have a monopoly on selling chicken eggs. I think we will blow some minds when we offer quail eggs along side them!!

I am not to keen to the laying/grow out cages that I see everywhere. I understand they are a quail and have minimal needs, but I would really like to build something similar to a chicken run for them, where they will be on the good ole' ground and not wire and be able to stretch their legs a bit. With that said, I am just looking for some examples or guidance as to how to go about this, and wondering if there are any good resources. I understand the exterior framing and hardware cloth, but what about their shelter within the shelter? If. just put a box in there on the ground, like a bird house, will they just go in there and rest? Or just sleep around the inside of the cage?

Is there anything the need habitually? Like a chicken needs a roost?

Sorry, I know these are basic, but I am just having a heck of a time trying to find this info!!

I did buy the quail egg turner for my incubator, so I am committed now!!!!!!!

 

[Nabiki]

One thing I'd like to mention is that coturnix quail are not flightless. They usually don't fly far, but I have seen one go over a 10' sound wall and another fly completely over a one story house.

Quail are ground birds, so they don't need roosts, but they will be happiest with small hiding places and a dirt bath.

 

[Nabiki]

I like both Myshire and Southwest Gamebirds. The ones from SW seem to have better temperaments than the ones from Myshire, but I haven't had any real problems with birds that I've hatched from either of them.

 

[Nabiki]

Thank you. I am going to go for it and adjust as needed.

Any recommendations for getting high quality hatching eggs?

A good, high protein (around 24%) feed with plenty of calcium (egg or oyster shell) on the side. One male to 4-5 females.

 

[CliftonQuail]

I have gotten quite a few hatching chicken eggs from eBay. And I love all of them because I dont care if I get an off breed, or even hatch a duck (which happened a few years ago on a batch of eBay eggs, hahahaha!)

I was hoping to get a really solid batch to begin with since it will be the basis the breeding stock. I will dig around eBay a bit. Thank you!!!

Sorry this is so long:

A lot of people recommend Southwest Game Birds and they show next Tuesday as an available ship date. I have yet to order from them, but probably will the next time I order eggs.

I've gotten some from MyShire farms, which is currently showing 2-5 weeks lead time. I'll say that I seem to have some aggression issues with the birds that I hatched from those eggs.

I've also gotten eggs from Sandy Soil Farms. They show next Monday as the first available ship date.

I'm still learning on the incubation process and have never had hatch rate over 50% with any eggs, even my own. I blame my lack of experience, but I only got a 30% hatch rate with Sandy Soil.

MyShire was my first hatch and I got 40%. With my own eggs, I've been somewhere in between. I've used 3 different, relatively inexpensive incubators and have put independent temp/humidity sensors in, but still have wide variations in both.

I just broke down and bought a Brinsea incubator and hope that it will help improve my hatches. I've been running it empty for two days and it's been keeping temp and humidity rock solid where I put it (99.5 deg/40% RH). I've got 4 independent sensors in it and they show less than 1 degree variance and less than 2% RH difference. I'll be setting another batch of my own eggs tonight or tomorrow to see if it works better for me than the others I've tried.

 

[BastyPutt]

I just broke down and bought a Brinsea incubator and hope that it will help improve my hatches. I've been running it empty for two days and it's been keeping temp and humidity rock solid where I put it (99.5 deg/40% RH). I've got 4 independent sensors in it and they show less than 1 degree variance and less than 2% RH difference. I'll be setting another batch of my own eggs tonight or tomorrow to see if it works better for me than the others I've tried.

I hope this works out for you.

Myshire seems to be the darling of the quail hatching eggs game - but def seeing some mixed reviews.

What about ordering chicks? Hoovers has some for next week. Obviosly much more expensive, but may be worth saving the potential incubation headache.

 

[CliftonQuail]

I hope this works out for you.

Myshire seems to be the darling of the quail hatching eggs game - but def seeing some mixed reviews.

What about ordering chicks? Hoovers has some for next week. Obviosly much more expensive, but may be worth saving the potential incubation headache.

I haven't considered ordering quail chicks, mostly because of the expense. I do have an order for some chicken chicks that's scheduled to ship in August. After reading this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/problems-with-shipped-quail.1580627 , I'm a bit concerned about that.

I may consider ordering eggs from MyShire again, but I'm going to try other places first (such as Southwest Gamebirds) because I feel I need to increase the genetic diversity of my covey.

 

[BastyPutt]

One thing I'd like to mention is that coturnix quail are not flightless. They usually don't fly far, but I have seen one go over a 10' sound wall and another fly completely over a one story house.

Quail are ground birds, so they don't need roosts, but they will be happiest with small hiding places and a dirt bath.

Thank you. I am going to go for it and adjust as needed.

Any recommendations for getting high quality hatching eggs?

 

[BastyPutt]

Sorry - poorly worded question. Let me try again

Do you have any recommendations for farms or breeders where I can get hatching eggs.

 

[sleepycat]

Sorry - poorly worded question. Let me try again

Do you have any recommendations for farms or breeders where I can get hatching eggs.

ebay is great and has a lot of options.