Can I ask some dumb beginners questions?

[jessyfromdenver]

Hi! I'm new to raising food producing animals and I feel like I've been reading tons and have decided on quails because of our space restrictions and HOA rules and the fact that I can really raise them for eggs and meat. I feel like I've been reading a ton on them but I still feel pretty lost. Can I ask some beginners questions to all of you experienced quail owners? They might be dumb, but I figure you'll all have mercy on me.
We bought a setup from a guy in a local urban homesteaders club I'm a part of, but we still need to get our waterers and feeders. Should we put anything down in the bottom of the cages to make things, I don't know, more comfortable? The guy we bought them from said he just put news papers beneath them to catch the poop, but it seems cruel to just throw them in a wire cage with newspaper below it. Do they need any straw or something to perch on or anything? Or is this just a silly notion from somebody who has only ever kept animals as pets? Lol. I do plan on eating these birds, but I want them to live humanely while they do live, you know?
Also, what do you all feed your quail? I had wanted to do organic feed but from what I am reading on these boards that's next to impossible. So what's the next best thing? And I should supplement the feed with greens and meal worms, right? Anything else?
Finally, I'm very ignorant about the breeding/harvesting eggs part. So, if I want eggs, should I keep the males apart from the females, then only get them together when I hope to breed them? Or do you just keep them together all the time and assume you're always eating fertilized eggs? I don't know how that is supposed to work! The only breeding I know about is human breeding! Lol!
Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

No you can't. Because there are no dumb beginner questions.

 

[jessyfromdenver]

Ha ha. But seriously, I don't know the answers to these questions. :-(

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi! I'm new to raising food producing animals and I feel like I've been reading tons and have decided on quails because of our space restrictions and HOA rules and the fact that I can really raise them for eggs and meat. I feel like I've been reading a ton on them but I still feel pretty lost. Can I ask some beginners questions to all of you experienced quail owners? They might be dumb, but I figure you'll all have mercy on me.
We bought a setup from a guy in a local urban homesteaders club I'm a part of, but we still need to get our waterers and feeders. Should we put anything down in the bottom of the cages to make things, I don't know, more comfortable? The guy we bought them from said he just put news papers beneath them to catch the poop, but it seems cruel to just throw them in a wire cage with newspaper below it. Do they need any straw or something to perch on or anything? Or is this just a silly notion from somebody who has only ever kept animals as pets? Lol. I do plan on eating these birds, but I want them to live humanely while they do live, you know?
Also, what do you all feed your quail? I had wanted to do organic feed but from what I am reading on these boards that's next to impossible. So what's the next best thing? And I should supplement the feed with greens and meal worms, right? Anything else?
Finally, I'm very ignorant about the breeding/harvesting eggs part. So, if I want eggs, should I keep the males apart from the females, then only get them together when I hope to breed them? Or do you just keep them together all the time and assume you're always eating fertilized eggs? I don't know how that is supposed to work! The only breeding I know about is human breeding! Lol!
Thanks in advance!

Some people keep quail in pens on wire all their lives, others use bedding on top of the wire and some folks keep them in aviaries on litter floors. It is entirely up to you and how you choose to keep them. If you want to add bedding to wire, grass hay works well. It stays on top of the wire for the most part. Timothy hay also stays on top of the wire well. Alfalfa hay will fall thru too easily. Straw is thick and will stay put well also.

Quail don't perch or roost per say, but they will climb on branches and do appreciate a natural environment. So you can cut branches from one of your trees and prop them up in the corners of your pen so that the leaves hang down and add hidey places to sneak around in, hide from things they think are after them, and hide from you of course. LOL

Quail love the extra goodies other than gamebird food. Greens, lettuces, veggies, grass, quartered fruits, meal worms, etc..These things not only add to their health and diet, but breaks up boredom and adds to their mental state. They also help with bonding with you as when they see you coming with that bag of goodies, they will be thrilled you are coming.

You cannot do the "conjugal" visit thing with your males and females for fertile eggs. It takes 2 full weeks of mating to get fertile eggs. So you will either keep the males and females always together or always apart. You can keep females all together in one area and males together in another, as long as they do not SEE each other. This will cause fighting. Out of sight out of mind. You do not need any males if you only want eggs. Females will produce eggs reguardless. If you are keeping Coturnix Quail, and you are keeping males with females, you will need to keep them 1 male to 5 to 7 females. Never keep less than this with one male as he WILL mate them to death. And never keep a lone male with his harem of females. The lone male could be killed.

Good luck with your quail ventures! Oh and welcome to BYC and the quail forums!

 

[jessyfromdenver]

Thanks everyone! This is super helpful!

 

[James the Bald]

I didn't see any dumb beginners questions...

Edited to add: Your quail are better raised in a pen on a wire floor than most commercially raised chickens, turkey or the cattle they make veal with.

 

[Sycamore27]

Hi! I'm new to raising food producing animals and I feel like I've been reading tons and have decided on quails because of our space restrictions and HOA rules and the fact that I can really raise them for eggs and meat. I feel like I've been reading a ton on them but I still feel pretty lost. Can I ask some beginners questions to all of you experienced quail owners? They might be dumb, but I figure you'll all have mercy on me.
We bought a setup from a guy in a local urban homesteaders club I'm a part of, but we still need to get our waterers and feeders. Should we put anything down in the bottom of the cages to make things, I don't know, more comfortable? The guy we bought them from said he just put news papers beneath them to catch the poop, but it seems cruel to just throw them in a wire cage with newspaper below it. Do they need any straw or something to perch on or anything? Or is this just a silly notion from somebody who has only ever kept animals as pets? Lol. I do plan on eating these birds, but I want them to live humanely while they do live, you know?
Also, what do you all feed your quail? I had wanted to do organic feed but from what I am reading on these boards that's next to impossible. So what's the next best thing? And I should supplement the feed with greens and meal worms, right? Anything else?
Finally, I'm very ignorant about the breeding/harvesting eggs part. So, if I want eggs, should I keep the males apart from the females, then only get them together when I hope to breed them? Or do you just keep them together all the time and assume you're always eating fertilized eggs? I don't know how that is supposed to work! The only breeding I know about is human breeding! Lol!
Thanks in advance!

They will be fine on the wire with no bedding, you can put bedding in the cages but it's a trade off in cleanliness and ease of cleaning. If you are willing to either clean very frequently or add new hay atop the old daily to cover droppings until ready to clean you can do it that way. In my own opinion unless you actually see foot problems it's unneeded and more likely to cause disease from the birds standing in their waste than anything. Just my own view though. What they do love that gives their feet a rest off wire is a pan with sand or dry dirt to dust bathe in. I've also used cut up card board boxes and rabbit igloos for them to hide under and find most of my eggs under there.

If you can find organic game bird starter or turkey starter (24-30% protein is the important thing to look for) than you can do organic of course, I've seen one company online that carries this but I would honestly be surprised if any of your local feed stores will order it as it was a small company. Shipping to my house was too expensive for me to go that route personally. Make sure your game bird starter is un-medicated and grind it a bit smaller for your chicks until they are a few weeks old. Personally I would wait until 4+ weeks old to feed mealworms, as they do go after each others toes when they first try them and get all excited and tender baby chick toes can be badly injured.

You want to keep your birds together once you know who you want where, recombining groups can be ugly. Keep your roos with your hens and make sure your amount of space per bird and gender ratios are right to keep things peaceful. As long as you egg check daily and pop what you're not going to incubate in the fridge you won't know the different between a fertile and infertile egg when eating it. You will have to incubate eggs. If your females and males are the same age once your girls have had about a week to settle into laying you can fairly safely bet they are all fertile and start saving some for incubation.

There is a lot of good info here on the forums, so if you think of specific questions as you go along doing a search here is a great place to start.
That "Search this forum" link under the Quail header has become my best friend since I got mine!
Good luck!
Jessie