Bobwhite quail questions

[mgneel]

I have been looking around the forum decided to join in and try my had at rasing some quail. The only thing kind that i can find around where im at is bobwhite. I want some cotrunix but i cant find any. so i guess im going with bobwhite. The question is the pen size for coturnix work? Ive got a 2ft wide x5ft long x1 ft tall pen. Does it need to be taller and how much space do bobwhite require. I know that coturnix the space is 3/4 sq ft per bird what is if for bobwhite?

 

[TheRealTimShady]

well that would work...its a little short for bobs tho, as they tend to be a bit flighty birds...if you do go with that i would put some padding on the roof and not keep more then, 5-7 birds in there total, probably just 1 male and the rest female. as male bobs can get VERY aggressive..


remember you can always order eggs from someone on the forums

 

[mgneel]

I was gonna put a pad on the top because i was reading where they will jump up and break their necks. I would order some but just starting out i was gonna see how things go maybe later try my hand at incubating some eggs. I dont have much room for a bunch just a few.

 

[TwoCrows]

That ceiling is going to be too low for Bob's and as mentioned in the previous post, you are going to need to pad that ceiling or extend it upward. As far as square feet per bird, Bob's need 3' or 4' square feet per bird or more. They are large, energetic, spastic birds. So from the size of your pen, you will be able to house a pair of Bob's. You can not house two pair together during breeding season, spring to fall, as they will kill each other. And I have never had luck with keeping 2 or more hens with one cock, strictly one male and one female together, although some people have done it. (It is the females that can kill the other females).

As far as housing them in the non breeding seasons, you could probably keep 2 pair in that space. Good luck!

 

[7L Farm]

I raise Bob's & coturnix. The coturnix do fine in small pens. My bob's live in a big flight pen its 300 sq ft. with 7 ft ceiling & they still hit the roof. The Bob's are very skittish & flush very easily. I'd build a bigger pen with high ceiling. Here's my pen I have 50 in there now.

 

[quailmale]

I'm going to catch the devil for saying this but everyone does it different

. I have a 16'l x 6'w x 3't pen that I built, I keep around a 100 to 125 at a time in there with no adverse happenings, yes I lose about 6 per hatching in there but mostly for unknown reasons, no pecking, no blood ect. I have graduated over to the Bob's for several reasons and they are rough on each other, If you only put 2 Quail in a 2 x 5 most that raise them in qty would need several acres to raise several hundred at a time, look at the commercial guys like Wadleys in Georgia they raise thousands and there bird density is greater than 2 per 10sq ft. A GQF breeder cage is only about 12 x 15 inches and most keep 1 Roo and 2 or 3 Hens in each one. There is one thing I make sure of though and that only one hatching of the SAME age is in there at a time that makes a great differance.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
This is very true. Here is a pic of one of my 6 x 16 x 3 (96 sq. ft.) pens with 159 birds in it. I have only lost one (started out with 160) since these were put in there, and I expected more when mixing three different age groups. The pen had a partition in the middle with some 54 day-old birds on one half, and some 31 and 24 day-old birds in the other half when I combined them. Even though both sides had new real estate to roam at the same time, the first 24 hours was very eventful, and 2 of the youngest birds had some pretty heavy pecking done to them. One survived, one didn’t. After that first day, all have been civil. Now, will the civility remain in the “crowded house” come spring? I highly doubt it, as Mother Nature will step in and utter chaos will take place. However, these birds won’t live to see that anyway, as they will be covered in gravy sooner or even later! The oldest group is almost 12 weeks old now. I have found that the 1 sq. ft. per bird rule can be cheated the larger the pen is.

 

[quailmale]

I guess great minds are linked together...My pen looks almost identical to yours, and I even have a swing down gate in the middle to seperate it into 2 pens for whatever reasons. All I have is a picture with it about half built but you'll see the resemblance, built it about a year ago. It also has 2 doors on each side. That green screen in the picture is for the ceiling so when they flush all they hit is that plastic mesh floor-sides is covered in 1/2 x 1/2.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

no photo

 

[quailmale]

Sorry about that I had to go outside to the UPS man, but it's there now.