best breed for a newbie?

[slackwater]

I'm thinking of dabbling in quail...I do have chickens, but the chickens free range in the yard and I'm thinking of keeping the quail in a rabbit hutch on our deck (not frequented by the chickens). I do have young kids who would love to be able to collect eggs, and it would be a bonus if the quail were "calm" (although they don't need to be "hold-able," per-se). I'd like to hatch them myself, and have the recommended 1 roo to 4-5 hens.

Thoughts on the best breed for the job?

 

[norm0709]

I have bobwhites and can tell you that they are not calm birds. Mine are in GQF breeding pens with roll out floors and don't mind the egg collecting much but get a little upset when your hand goes in there with them. They really don't like to be fooled with as they are wild animals not to mention the stress from messing with them will effect the egg laying. If you decide to go with bobwhites be prepared to loose some because they love to jump straight up and bash their heads against the top of the pen and it will kill them if they do it enough.

 

[Attack Chicken]

The first quail I hatched was Coturnix quail. Ended up with eggs at a raffle prize drawing

They seemed very calm. I'd take them out in our 10ft x 10ft dog pen when they got older. I could just walk between them and they wouldn't flip out. I was able to pick some up. For my first quail they were awesome!

 

[kingmt]

Coturnix are holdable if you mess with them much. I didn't mess with them much but if they thought it would get them hand feeding they would climb in your hand. They may be a tad messy to stay on your porch though. Also it is very hard to dabble in quail if you are hatching yourself.

 

[slackwater]

Why are they hard to dabble in, if I hatch my own? B/c I will end up with more than I want initially?

 

[jenjscott]

Exactly, you go from dabbling to covered up very quickly.

 

[slackwater]

That's what I did with chickens, and now I have runners coming also - so I may have to cool it with the quail, or DH will kill me

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
Out of 10 quail hatched I have 4 females maybe 5 I am waiting on a white do,nt know its sex yet so as of now I have 4 males with no girlfreinds I need to weigh them a couple of the brown males look to be jumbos one of my goldens looks like a jumbo

 

[kenman]

The Coturnix would be my choice to begin with. Mine are very calm and are prolific layers. They don't jump out of the cage whenever I open it (Bobs and Valley's, oh my!). The reason you will be covered up is that they are very easy to hatch (my opinion). They grow very quickly. You add these up and you get a lot of birds in a hurry. Someone has rightfully called them the roaches of the quail world! However, properly managed, they are a blast. The roosters crow at you like they are the biggest boys on the planet, the hens just go about their business. My advice, start with 3-4 hens and a rooster, and see how you like them.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
Any color or size of coturnix will be your best bet here... specifically coturnix japonica (jap quail, or regular standard coturnix-- not buttons which are chinese quail). If the children are to be getting eggs out of the pen or handling the birds I recommend pinioning them at about 3-4 wks of age.