Quail or No Quail?

[cosmosue]

We have raccoons, opossums, and snakes, the only predator we have had issues with is 1 snake. We had an issue with raccoon but that was before the quail and they were dealt with for now.

One snake got in the hutch (we keep them double locked because raccoons are smart) and killed a rooster, but now the snake was dealt with (well for now) and we use a special treatment that is all natural that snakes HATE, so no snakes.

So we have only lost 1, due to the snake who is no longer an issue. Nothing else has bothered my quails.

 

[cosmosue]

I guess some quail startle easier than others, mine do not startle as easy and have never injured themselves jumping up. I have heard people say they can break their neck but I’ve never seen it happen with any of ours we have all Coturnix quail, it is not personally a concern of mine. They are quite low key and pretty laid back. Maybe we are the odd balls I don’t know maybe it’s because we spent so much time with them as babies maybe ours are just laid back by nature I don’t know, but we fell in love with them as chicks and yes we have butchered some of the males as there were too many but that’s one reason we got them, as food.

We keep most of the hens, the largest roos and the prettiest birds, it makes for good breeding.

But I love all birds and have been obsessed with my feather friends for over 25 years, everything from the quail to love birds, and all things in between lol.

I have a cardinal I rescued and healed up/treated myself even after being bitten by a cat at only 10-12 days old he’s survived and he’s over 2 years old now and he’s a family pet.

 

[redshoulderfox]

I raised coturnix quail for 5 years and I'd have to agree with what everyone has said here for their advantages. In my comparison to raising them vs caring for other people's chickens they are way easier and the coturnix lay more eggs than most chickens.
But there are some cons you should consider;

They are very injury prone:
Those little bodies are much more fragile than chickens. When I kept mine in the run I had a bird who spooked when I was trying to get her back in the hutch and she landed wrong on her wing which spun like a wheel when she stood back up again. Something to watch out for less flighty stock as well as birds you have handled a lot will prevent that problem.
They are very disease prone:
Their small size in combination with a low gene pool from not enough breeders breeding them makes them a little more disease prone than chickens in my experience.
But as with any animal the better genetics should result in healthier animals. I had numerous birds from James Marie Farms who lived to 3 years and one of my males I believe lived to 5 (He was kept as a pet by the person I gave him to). I comparison I picked up 4 pullets at a poultry show who all died the year I got them.
Wire cages is the way to go for coturnix at least:
I started keeping my birds in a rabbit hutch with shavings and allowed them to have access to a run during the day. But they have been raised for so many generations in cages that this was not great for them. While they clearly enjoyed the run they quickly got bumblefoot and balls of dirt and poop would collect on their toes really fast and rot would develop underneath these balls in a matter of days. I had a lot of trouble keeping up. When I switched them to wire cages in a hutch the balls on the feet problem disappeared and bumblefoot was uncommon. But if you let them live to old age like I did they will develop problems in their hocks sometimes to the point where they had trouble standing up. If I had it to do over again I would try run during the day and all wire at night. Also unlike chickens they won't put themselves to bed. If you care for them after dark you will find little balls of feathers scattered around the run. Good luck getting them in.

Also predators love these tiny morsels of meat so proper predator prevention is a must. I used hardware cloth layer with chicken wire layer on all sides and the floor and roof which worked really well. DONT USE JUST CHICKEN WIRE though. I've had birds cut themselves all the way to the neck bone.

I know this is a lot and kinda all over the place. But if it's helpful and if you have any other questions let me know.