Bobwhite housing?

[mylilchix]

How big of a rabbit hutch would I need for 4 bobwhite quail?

Thanks,
Sonja

 

[jamesrm]

Any sized rabbit pen would work. If you want a flight pen a 1 square foot per bird rule works well.

 

[mylilchix]

Thank you! I have a 2ft. X 3ft. hutch I was planning on using. Will that do?

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
DONT CONFUSE BOBS WITH COTURNIX.... THEY ARE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE RAINBOW! IN THE AVERAGE BOB COVEY 1 SQ FT PER BIRD MEANS SOMEONES ABOUT TO TAKE A WHOOPIN!

SONJA, WHEN YOU SAY 4 BOB WHITE, WHAT SEX RATION? IF PAIRS THEY MAY NEED TO BE SEPERATED AS PAIRS--- IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE BIRDS. SOME WILL TOLERATE 1:1-3, OTHERS ONLY PAIRS! FOR BOBS I ALWAYS RECOMEND AS MUCH SPACE AS POSSIBLE + 10 SQ/FT... THEY ARE CUTE BUT REALLY REALLY MEAN!

 

[mylilchix]

I have 2 females right now, living in a tiny cage (planning on moving them to bigger digs this weekend). I'm planning on getting 2 more females and would like to house them all together.

 

[JJMR794]

It May Work, Then Again It May Not. I Have Several Girls That Do The Sorority Thing With No Problems.... But I Have More That Do Not Play Well With Others! As I Said Earlier--- It All Depends On The Individual Birds With Bobs. Kind Of Trial And Error Thing. Just Watch Them Closely When You Start And They'll Let You Know If Their Going To Tolerate It. These Guys Are The Junkyard Dogs Of The Quail World.

My Advice Is To Move All Into The New Digs At Once. If Everybody Goes Togather On To Uncharted Ground Then There Wont Be Any Territorial Disputes (in Theory Anyways

)

However Put Your 2 Girls In The New Digs Now And Try And Add 2 New Kids In A Month And It Will Be Mayhem! Mass Casualties All- Out- War. The 2 With Seniority In The Hutch Will Be Like "oh No You Didnt Just Come Into My House!" And The Problems Will Intensify From There.... These Guys Arent Like Chickens, They're Not Gonna Get A Whoopin Then Get Over It, The 2 Sr Girls Will Not Stop Until The 2 New Ones Are Removed Or Dead. So Just Keep That In Mind With Working Toward Your Planned Goal

Hope All Goes Well For You!

 

[mylilchix]

Thanks for the advice. I have noticed that these are very feisty birds. I had to get rid of my male after he pecked a hole in one of my females heads. The 2 girls I have now get along well, but they get cranky when there feeder isn't filled quickly enough. I'll move everyone out at the same time, hopefully that will work!

Sonja

 

[jamesrm]

JJMR is correct, had a brain fart, sorry about this misadvice

Hope it works for you.