Beginner at quail.... advice/tips would be much appreciated

[bantamboy93]

So i've never had quail before. But they're awfully cute looking and from what I've read online and talked to ppl i know, more economical than chickens. I buy chicks, feed them for 6 or 7 months before they will lay... These quail will be mature in 6 or 8 weeks...

and cost the same grown as my chicks do.

A man not far from me has coturnix quail. And i think i'm going to get some. And i have a few questions


Do they eat a lot?

Will they be fine in rabbit cages?

Do I need nest boxes like I would chickens?

Can i just use my chick waterers and jar feeders for these?

 

[gamebirdboy]

Quote:
Yes, but they waste a lot of feed.

 

[bantamboy93]

suggestions on waterers/feeders then???

 

[gamebirdboy]

The waterers will be fine, as chicks they will need marbles in them though. For feeders you can use the plastic trough feeders. They work really good because they can't throw the feed out.

 

[bantamboy93]

how much space do they need? i'm seeing lots of pics on here of quail cages. and they're soooo tiny.... i would be afraid of overcrowding. It looks like the people have too many birds in a cage... Not criticizing at all... It just looks that way to me. I guess quail have lower space requirements than chickens do???

 

[gamebirdboy]

Yes, most people say 1 sq. ft. per bird, but you can go a little less. I wouldn't go below .75 a bird though.

 

[bantamboy93]

What about incubation? I have an incubator. A still air. And the man i talked to today that has the quail said that the hens won't set like a chicken will. So i have to incubate. Any difference in incubation/brooding eggs/chicks between quail and chickens?

 

[gamebirdboy]

Coturnix generally won't set. 99.98% of the time they won't. They are fairly similar. They incubate at the same temp, but humidity should be 40-50% for the first 14 days and then 60-75% for lcokdown. For brooding they are almost exactly the same. They need a shallower waterer with marbles because they drown easily. They also need game bird feed.

 

[snyd08]

they need starter! 24%gamebird starter/ chick starter work too. get the 24% tho for broilers and gamebirds. think of them as mini chickens. i find that jap quail are very hardy and great for beginners. if youve hatched and raised chicks/chickens quail are on a small scale and a bit less needed. they lay w some use wherever but some use nesting boxes. i use grass hay and shavings for bedding so they make little nests of their own. i usually get a pile of eggs in one nest.

 

[Jschaaff]

I am total newbie here, but my coturnix quail eat a lot...and even though I read about it before I got them, I am shocked at the amount of food they waste. Hoping hubby will help me make a couple pvc pipe feeders this weekend, so we can stop wasting so much food!

I use a small galvanized chicken water in one pen, and plastic (the red bottom -white top kind) waterers in the other. Same ones I've always used for my chickens when they're small (bleached and sanitized of course).

My hens JUST started laying, and some still arent, but they are making nests in the hay I gave them (have to be careful with hay, I read on another post this week, that it can mold easy..and since quail eat hay, that's really dangerous, but I change it every couple days), actual nests like my chickens do with the hay in their laying boxes, and I'm finding two eggs in there, or one egg in there, and one in the cardboard box I filled with shavings. Though I know it is not a requirement that they have these things,and that they will happily lay their eggs anywhere, thus far, mine seem to like having the laying box and the hay for nesting.

I also put sandboxes in my pens and they love them..they empty them daily, and the sand fairy refills them each morning when she fills their food and water

Like another poster said, you want 1/2" wire on the rabbit cage..any smaller, and the poo wont fall through (some of my quails poo doesn't fall through now, on 1/2" wire

!!!) but any larger, and you risk them sticking their heads and becoming dinner for a predator...

I also prefer to give my birds a lot more square footage (any type, laying hens, meat birds, quail...doesn't matter) than the "requirements"...that's just me. Others seem to have very happy birds with the minimum 1 square foot per bird. You have to decide what you are happy with, but never go smaller than the minimum.

-Jessa