How to keep quail indoors

[animal8]

iamcuriositycat - I agree that the idea of a rabbit hutch was tempting. It was what I first considered before I came across the possibility of keeping them inside. I think I prefer keeping them inside, though, as I would like to be able to see them and I think it would be easier to clean than a hutch. I always found it much harder to clean my guinea pigs than my hamster

Does anyone handle their birds on a regular or semiregular basis? I would like to know so I can decide if it would be fair on them to be grabbing them and moving them every time I wanted to clean their cage. I know some people say that their birds don't really like to be handle, but other's seem to find that their birds are quite tame. Does this have more to do with whether the birds were hatched and raised by their owners? If they imprint like chickens I can imagine that would make them much tamer.

chrishel - Yes, that was kind of my idea as well. Except where the wire part of the cage already separates from the base for cleaning, I figured I could attach the wire floor so that when I lifted the top off, the floor would remain attached and I could just tip away the shavings from the base and then clip the top back on after I had put fresh shavings down

Do you think that idea would work?

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
mine won't get out of the way when I go to clean.. they come over.. hop on my hand.. get in the way.. try to "help".. I push and shove them out of the way.. pick them up and move them.. and they come right back

I havent done anything special either.. i did hatch them out .. and i have been their provider of food, water and clean bedding.. but that's it...

 

[FenDruadin]

I handled our guy all the time when he was indoors. The kids would even pick him up. I won't say he ever loved it but, as my mom used to say, we considered it his "pet duty." In exchange for safe housing, plentiful food, and a long healthy lifetime, all we asked was that he pay his rent in being picked up from time to time. And he certainly didn't seem to hate it.

Now that he's outdoors with a girl of his own, he actually comes over and tries to mate with my hand, lol. A couple days ago, he threw himself into my hand and climbed up my arm. So I certainly don't think it's cruel to pick them up.

And I think the more you handle them from hatching onward, the tamer they are. You can certainly teach them to eat out of your hands.

Enjoy!

 

[chrishel]

I think your flooring idea would work! As iamcuriositycat said, you have to try out different things and figure out what works best for you and what you like best. Just know it can be done!

I don't handle mine that often. They aren't as tame as they could be if I worked with them a lot. I sit in front of their cage and I they will walk right out past me. I've swept with a broom right near one hen and she turned around and looked at it like, "Oh, where did you come from." I though, luckily, these aren't wild birds, they wouldn't survive long.

I let them out almost every day and pick them up to put them back in their cage at night. I talk to them a bit and check on them before they go back in. Some are easier to handle than others. It's all personality at that point. I have one hen that is really docile. She's always come right up to check me out. Some of the hens are more stand-offish. The roos are more proud!

They do imprint, but if you have them together, they imprint on each other rather than you. I haven't spent enough time with mine to have them imprint on me.

Part of the reason I don't handle them often is that we have handfed budgies and a lovebird in the same room and I try not to cross contaminate as much as possible. So I don't handle the cage birds and the quail at the same time. My cage birds come first and the quail are the 2nd class citizens. The lovebird is always on me, so I don't want to touch the quail then have to grab the lovebird out of whatever mischief he's doing.

I would think that if you handled them a lot as chicks and consistently, they would tame really nice.

As a teen, I had a hen that I received fully grown and I kept her alone. She was very tame and would come when I called her. She was never a pet (keep in a battery breeder cage) until I received her. She was just one of those special birds.

 

[animal8]

That's good to know that they can be handled. I think that would make it much easier to keep them (especially if I have to health check them) even if it means they keep getting in my way

They can be such funny things from what I've seen of them. I know that of the two quails that are kept at my college, one of them didn't seem to mind being handled, but the other was always a pain to catch and then she would constantly wiggle in your hands when you're trying to look at her (she was always injuring herself and had t be caught to be checked).

The quails I want to get will probably be aroung 6-8 weeks old when I get them and I hoped to be able to tame them by feeding them meal worms from hand. I've also heard that they can get used to your presence if they're in a place where you always pass by and if you regularly spend time with your hand in the cage, even if you're not trying to 'pet' them

 

[animal8]

chrishel - it's good to know that there are other options out there for me to try in terms of caging and I agree I will definitely have to try some of these out and find what I can work with best. I think if I stuck to getting the rabbit cage and keeping them on shavings at first, I will at least have the option of fitting a wire floor if it becomes too messy for me to handle

What size wire mesh would you recommend? I don't want to have something too small that the droppings wouldn't fit through, but also nothing too big that the quails would have trouble walking on.

I was thinking about the possibility of breeding quail on a very small basis (like one or two really small hatches at first) once I had gotten the hang of looking after quail, so I'm pleased to know that with regular handling they can become quite tame. They would probably be the only pet I have when I get them, so I wouldn't have to worry about spreading diseases to any other pets and I can hopefully dedicate plenty of time to them

 

[chrishel]

The mesh is 1/2" (about 1 cm) square. The poop falls through, and if it doesn't, frankly, it gets stepped on and pushed through.

They are pretty easy to take care of and there's lots of people on this board who are willing to help out! I've learned a lot lurking and searching for topics on the board.

There are also quite a few people from the UK, so maybe if you posted a thread calling out to them, they will identify themselves and you can discuss what is available in regards to feed and such. I know that's something of an issue.

With my pets, my challenge was I can only get feed in 50lb bags. For a small number of birds, it lasts me 6 months so I have a good air-tight container to keep the feed in so it doesn't spoil or get bugs.

 

[animal8]

chrishel - Thanks for that information. I will definitely bear that in mind should I decide to keep my birds on wire. That might be a good idea for me to find some UK members and discuss things like that with them

I managed to find a supplier nearish where I live that sells Poultry Layers Pellets in 5kg bags and I think that's about the smallest I can buy. They also sell 20kg bags, but I can't imagine how long that would last me if I only have four birds

 

[7L Farm]

I can only commit to you that giving any bird more space is the ticket.

 

[animal8]

I was interested in at some point breeding quail (only very small clutches). I have found an incubator that might be suitable to do the job. It's got automatic turning, temperature and humidity control and has a setting specific for quail (so it times the length of the inubation and turns off egg turning automatically 2 days before hatch day). It also only holds 7 eggs, which I thought would be perfect for me as I'm not prepared to be able to keep a whole load of quail at the same time and it also cuts the price down because it's so small. Would this be ideal?

I was wondering about what would be suitable for a brooder, though. I did think about buying a glass tank that would be suitable for all the birds once fully grown and divde off a section with a piece of cardboard for them to stay in while they're younger. I would have shaving as bedding, but cover it with that cheap dishcloth stuff for the first week and I'd have a brooder lamp for heat. Does anyone know the temperature that the brooder should be at? I know you can just how hot or cold it is based on where the chicks choose to huddle, but I wanted to know if there was a set figure. As they grew older, I would get some netting to cover the top to stop them jumping out. Do you think this would be possible? The other thing I was thinking about was to just have a cardboard box with the dishcloth in the bottom and the brooder lamp above this. Would this be a better set up? Then when the birds are big enough I could transfer them into a suitable cage.