➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[muddy75]

in our rearrangement and cleanout of the run this weekend, (never again will I put straw or shavings in my run! ) we have devised plans to turn my little coop into my outdoor quail pen. (the one on the left in this pic). we flipped their positions and moved the small one back behind the swing. it currently has a 2x2 roost and 3 separate boxes. I’m planning to put a removable hardware cloth floor over a portion of the floor and have room to separate into 3 pens if needed to keep male/female ratio correct. in the spring we will either hardware cloth the swing area to give the quail a separate run or build a smaller run just around and under the coop.
(and hopefully hubby will get around to putting shingles on the roof).

 

[007Sean]

Also, IMHO and FWIW, the 1:3 ratio has become a generalized guideline that's been thrown out there for years. If kept in small cages it probably is 'best'....but I run huge enclosures and I realize not everyone has the room to do that but I have no problems with birds harassing or killing eachother and I run a 1:2 and sometimes 1:1 ratio...these are Bobwhites and Chestnut Bellied Blue Scaled quail. My Gambles and Mountain quail I run a 1:5 ratio.
Everyone's situation is different and must adapt what works best for them.

 

[Sara L]

I had to put the top on the brooders today. I went down to check on the birds and there was a not-so-thrilled chick standing in the middle of the quail room. I scooped him up and had to triple-count all the chicks to make sure I wasn't missing any others. Their wing feathers are in enough to get some lift apparently. But the chest feathers aren't in yet so I don't know how many are boy/girl yet.

Also, I got a meat rabbit, a non-pedigreed Chinchilla/Flemish Giant mix. Her name is Pepper and she is supposed to be pregnant, due at the end of the month. The buck she was put with was a New Zealand Red, so the babies should be interesting colors. She likes celery and banana chips.

 

[007Sean]

Within a week those little rascals can start getting airborne! every year durning breeding/ hatching season, I seem to forget that and come home to a whole room full of chicks running around... mess. then I remember, oh yeah, put the screen on the top of the brooder.

 

[WVduckchick]

View attachment 1635275 in our rearrangement and cleanout of the run this weekend, (never again will I put straw or shavings in my run! ) we have devised plans to turn my little coop into my outdoor quail pen. (the one on the left in this pic). we flipped their positions and moved the small one back behind the swing. it currently has a 2x2 roost and 3 separate boxes. I’m planning to put a removable hardware cloth floor over a portion of the floor and have room to separate into 3 pens if needed to keep male/female ratio correct. in the spring we will either hardware cloth the swing area to give the quail a separate run or build a smaller run just around and under the coop.
(and hopefully hubby will get around to putting shingles on the roof).

I’m going to convert a chicken coop/run to a pigeon loft/aviary with some creative modifications too. Always adjusting...lol!

Some good exterior paint would probably protect that roof too, if shingles are more difficult. Or tin/plastic roofing? Just thinking of options I could do without hubby help.

 

[muddy75]

I’m going to convert a chicken coop/run to a pigeon loft/aviary with some creative modifications too. Always adjusting...lol!

Some good exterior paint would probably protect that roof too, if shingles are more difficult. Or tin/plastic roofing? Just thinking of options I could do without hubby help.

i may do that! this one is designed with hinged roof so we’ve been reluctant to add the extra weight of shingles! the big coop is extremely heavy and about killed us moving it yesterday!

 

[muddy75]

I had to put the top on the brooders today. I went down to check on the birds and there was a not-so-thrilled chick standing in the middle of the quail room. I scooped him up and had to triple-count all the chicks to make sure I wasn't missing any others. Their wing feathers are in enough to get some lift apparently. But the chest feathers aren't in yet so I don't know how many are boy/girl yet.

Also, I got a meat rabbit, a non-pedigreed Chinchilla/Flemish Giant mix. Her name is Pepper and she is supposed to be pregnant, due at the end of the month. The buck she was put with was a New Zealand Red, so the babies should be interesting colors. She likes celery and banana chips.
View attachment 1635392

my brooder never got a lid so unfortunately my cue everytime to move them has been finding a chick trying to get out or retrieving 1 that has escaped! my christmas chicks are getting moved this week as they are really close to finding the top of the brooder! hubby wants to reclaim the shed space where my brooder sits so will either make a new smaller 1 with lid or switch to brooding in my indoor hutch.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Within a week those little rascals can start getting airborne! every year durning breeding/ hatching season, I seem to forget that and come home to a whole room full of chicks running around... mess. then I remember, oh yeah, put the screen on the top of the brooder.

I forgot my last hatch too. 31 quail pick-up was a blast! Those little jokers are so dang fast!!!

 

[WVduckchick]

I thought someone lied to me when they said they could fly over a 14” deep brooder wall at 7 days old. Boy was I proven wrong.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good information. We have a couple of extra rabbit hutches that I could convert, but I'm not quite sure yet. My husband choked a bit when I mentioned that it take 5 quail eggs to equal 1 chicken egg. He was not enthused with the idea of cracking 20 eggs open to make an omelet. And, we'd either have a semi-perminant brooder going on in our basement, or we would need to find a way to run electricity to our rabbit hutch area.

We just ate one of our Dorking cockerels that other day and it was really, really good, even better then the Cornish X we raise (and we're big fans of those). So, I'm thinking of starting a small flock of Dorkings, with the hope that the females go broody take care of the chick raising for us, and we can get self-sustaining meat that way. I would like to get away form the big batch of mail order CX chicks each Fall.

You are the second person to mention Dorkings as tasty birds recently. We might have to get a few hens soon.