Best Quail for pets & egg laying?

[badger162]

HI, I'm new here and to chicken/quail keeping in general! Here's my question...

We live in a rented house and we're not sure whether to opt for pekin bantam chickens or Quail.
We want something very tame to ease us into keeping poultry and have heard pekin bantams are ideal, however we live in a city so our garden is small, concreted and our neighbours are very close and get annoyed by noise easily (though they make enough themselves!) so we're thinking chickens might be a little noisy/big.
A few friends have had quail previously, a friend currently keeps chinese painted quail inside but has advised against those as they're quite flighty.
What's the best breed to go for if we want something tame that'll produce a few eggs a week each and take up little space? I've seen Coturnix are tame but that they get to the size of pigeons(?) which sounds a bit big for us, how much space do they need and what type of enclosure? (does anyone have any photos?)
Is there a smaller breed that's similar? What sort of space do they need?
We'd have to buy hatching eggs so what can be done with excess males? As we'd only want to keep females.


Is it possible to keep pekin bantams in the house and let them outside during the day? How much space would they need at night and then how big a space for a run during the day? Is there a better breed for keeping indoors that's as tame as pekin bantams? I imagine keeping chickens indoors is smelly and probably not the best for them?

Please excuse my ignorance, we're completely new to this, any help/advice is very much appreciated!

 

[Magic Birdie]

Well, you mentioned buttons and coturnix, which would be the two I would think you might like. I've never had either (I'm hatching buttons, though), but from what I've seen, they can both be good pets, and they both lay diligently. Coturnix are quite a bit bigger and thus, lay bigger eggs as well. Still, they're pretty small.

I'm no expert, however. I'm just starting out as well

 

[Magic Birdie]

Also, I've heard things about coturnix smelling more...

 

[Quail Jailer]

Also, I've heard things about coturnix smelling more...

The smell is relative to how often you remove the poo or drop tray.
If you were to do so everyday I think you would hardly smell anything.

If you want eggs for consumption, coturnix are your best bet, I have never kept buttons but they are small, cot eggs are small enough that I cant imagine trying to open 25 button eggs to make an omelett. (roughly 8-10 cots).

I usually pull my drop trays on Sunday and Wednesday, my birds live indoors in a building of their own, on Saturday and Tuesday you can smell them
IF you stand right beside the building or go inside. I have not pulled yet today and they aren't bad at all today...it varies a bit.
But my point is, the smell is up to you not the birds.

(if you had a canary and never clean the cage hes gonna start stinking too.)


Good Luck!

 

[Magic Birdie]

Also, I've heard things about coturnix smelling more...

The smell is relative to how often you remove the poo or drop tray.
If you were to do so everyday I think you would hardly smell anything.

If you want eggs for consumption, coturnix are your best bet, I have never kept buttons but they are small, cot eggs are small enough that I cant imagine trying to open 25 button eggs to make an omelett. (roughly 8-10 cots).

I usually pull my drop trays on Sunday and Wednesday, my birds live indoors in a building of their own, on Saturday and Tuesday you can smell them
IF you stand right beside the building or go inside. I have not pulled yet today and they aren't bad at all today...it varies a bit.
But my point is, the smell is up to you not the birds.

(if you had a canary and never clean the cage hes gonna start stinking too.)


Good Luck!

Yes, I agree, but I believe the person I was referring to was speaking relatively, so if you had buttons and coturnix and you kept them in the same type of container and cared for them the same way, they would smell a bit more.

But I'm just relaying something I've heard. It doesn't reflect my opinion on it, as I have had no experience...

 

[badger162]

Interesting to hear your thoughts, thank you!
i imagine the japanese would smell slightly more just because they're bigger?
I think we're considering chinese painted a bit more now, there's a breeder local to us and they have managed to tame their cpq enough that they'll run over to them etc. I think their smaller size is a bit better for us, we have all summer to tame them so i imagine they'd become fairly tame
Of course the cleaning is the major thing that's going to dictate whether they smell or not, do they tend to poop in one area or just wherever they're standing? What's the best substrate for them that's fairly easy to clean?
Thanks so much guys!

 

[Quail Jailer]

they only poop in one spot.


That spot is called EVERYWHERE.

 

[Magic Birdie]

they only poop in one spot.


That spot is called EVERYWHERE.

XD

 

[badger162]

they only poop in one spot.


That spot is called EVERYWHERE.

haha i thought as much! Thanks!

 

[Sill]

The jumbo coturnix can approach pigeon size but still smaller than bantams. If you want smaller go for the different colored coturnix, they tend to be smaller. I have jumbo browns and they are super friendly, not flighty at all. If you are wanting eggs to eat you can't beat them. I've had painteds before and they were not as friendly as my coturnix. A lot of temperament is genetic so if you can meet the parents of the chicks you get that should tell you about how flighty/friendly they will be. Smell will depend on how many birds you have in what size enclosure. The more you crowd them the more concentrated their droppings will be. Cage litter needs to be something that will dry the droppings quickly as wet droppings smell. You could use wire cage bottoms, it keeps them cleaner than solid bottoms with litter. I use wire but do give them baskets and boxes to hide, play or lay eggs in.