Are quails noisy?

[Ratassasin]

I've just had to get rid of my chickens due to some miserable neighbours. My five year old daughter was devastated so i thort quails would be a beter option but someone has thrown a spanner in the works by telling me they can be quite loud is this true?

 

[Weirdness555]

I think it depends on the species. Coturnix quail are very quiet, the cockerel's crow sounds like a wild bird, and it doesn't carry like a rooster, and our hens hardily make any noise at all. Sometimes one will make a very soft cluck-cluck-cluck noise. I don't think our neighbours know we have them.

 

[Sycamore27]

Before ours started crowing I went on youtube and searched 'coturnix quail crowing' and listened to what they sounded like in a few different videos to get a bit of a sampling. Honestly when they started to crow, even when we had two males competing with each other for four hens, they were more quiet than I had thought from the videos.
What ever species you plan on keeping/can get in your area I would suggest looking up videos of what they sound like to get an idea. Account for the loudest video you find just to be safe.

If you're still on speaking terms with the neighbors (I'm sure I wouldn't be...) you might try bringing them a video of the quail crowing at three quarters volume and ask them if they find the noise excessive.
Just curious, but how did they have any kind of influence to nix your chickens? Repeated noise complaints?

Good luck!
Jessie

 

[veggiecanner]

I have a spare male in a cage and he is noisy. His cage is on top of the others at head level. By the time I finish feeding he has given me a head ache.
I am now convinced I did myself no favors by saving him from freezer camp.

 

[Sycamore27]

I have a spare male in a cage and he is noisy. His cage is on top of the others at head level. By the time I finish feeding he has given me a head ache.
I am now convinced I did myself no favors by saving him from freezer camp.

When you're right on top of them they can be very loud.
Also, I noticed between the videos on youtube that were so much louder than ours and the few that were quieter it looked like people had pulled the roo away from his ladies to make him crow on demand. I'd bet your guy hears the ladies downstairs and assumes since he can't see them that he has to project to impress them!
Cheers,
Jessie

 

[Chick Charm]

If noise is their primary objection you could stick with all females. Females are very quiet. I personally find the call of the male coturnix and the bobwhite enjoyable. But cranky neighbors may be your nemisis.

Wish ya the best.

 

[Ratassasin]

Thanks for that quails it is then! I was thinking of getting ten hens and one cock is this a good ratio? And as for the neighbours they didn't have the guts to put a name to the complaint

 

[Chick Charm]

You can have whatever ratio you want. For eggs all you need is females. For fertile eggs you would want a 4-6 hens to roos ratio. I love hearing my Cots call in the morning and it kinda blends in with all the other bird noises.

 

[Sycamore27]

Thanks for that quails it is then! I was thinking of getting ten hens and one cock is this a good ratio? And as for the neighbours they didn't have the guts to put a name to the complaint

Depends on how many of your eggs you want to hatch or just eat. If you just want eggs to eat you don't need a roo at all of course. Or you could keep 5 hens and 1 roo in one cage for fertile eggs and 5 hens in another for eating eggs, but if you have more than six hens you'll want more than one roo to maintain fertility if you intend to hatch. I'd say two pens, because you don't want to put the 2 roos together, 5 hens 1 roo each would be best if you want ten eggs a day and want them all to be fertile to gather larger hatching batches in shorter time.
Cheers,
Jessie

 

[Ratassasin]

If I get 10 females now just for eggs,could I add a male at a later date with out any bother so I could have fertile eggs