Can I free Range Coturnix?

[treldib]

Will they go back to their coop like chickens do? I have a few Coturnix Eggs in the 'bator at the moment and am trying to get ideas for housing. I was thinking a rabbit hutch with a wire floor and a ramp in and out of it so they can free range during the day....horrible idea? Great idea?

Thanks in advance

 

[Robo]

Well you can free range the heck out of them, but they won't come back to you. Here is an example of how coturnix free range. They are like dogs with no legs, you can call it whatever you want but it sure aint comin back to you. If this doesn't answer your question the answer is they will fly off and be killed.

 

[treldib]

Darn...then I guess I've got some work to do...

 

[Robo]

Yeah, when you build your first little coop it is fun, but when you have to fix it or build a new one it is like a chore.

 

[Lelu]

I just got my run set back up in the back yard. I'll post a pic tomorrow. It's basically chicken-wire, zip-tied to PVC pipe (super cheap.... yet effective so far); attached to a rabbit hutch. I had my flock out in it for a couple days before the painters came. they l o v e d having all the dirt to bath in, and they made it out of the hutch just fine... however they never seemed interested in going back in the hutch. I suspect quail may not have the brain capacity to figure out going up a wooden ramp. I've penned them up for tonight, and I'll be letting them out again tomorrow morning.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Some of mine shared a chicken coop with some young chickens and the quail never went back in the coop. I had to go in the run every night to put the goofy things back in. If they have a house that is on the same level they will go in and out, but they won't do it like chickens do. Coturnix just kind of sleep wherever they are, though mine do go to their inside area when it gets cold. Most of the time they sleep in the outside part of their pen.

 

[JJMR794]

You Will Only Free Range Quail Once....