Considering raising quail...

[Three Little Bunnies]

Hi!

I would like to raise quail. I have quite a few questions!

1. Hatch or buy? I know that either way I will end up with boys since quail always seem to be straight-run.
2. What breed? I live in southern New Mexico. What breeds are heat tolerant?
3. How much space? I have a coop that is about 2x3 + 1x2 feet. Is that big enough? The attached run is about 3x6.
4. Are quail worth it? Some of the kids don't like chicken eggs, but they love quail eggs since they are so small. That is the main reason, other than show, that I would want them.
5. How many? I was thinking I would want around twenty-five girls and I would keep two guys. I would eat the rest, if I could manage it.
6. Are they loud?

 

[Kale the Quail]

1. if you hatch them they will most likely be easier and calmer to pick up. buying you could do that for a quick add on to your flock if your male doesn't get along with any of the other females. that would be pretty unlikely though.

2. as far as i've observed with my birds heat tolerance isn't really a type thing. they all have different personalitys and some of them like sun and some don't

3. the coop with the run sounds big enough to hold 10 birds. if it were just the coop i'd say 3 birds.

4. Quails are fun to play with. they love bugs and kale and grass.

5. in your coop, as i said, 10 birds with the run. two guys, even in that big of a space will not work out well. they'll fight/ peck each other.

6. they aren't very loud. if the guys are alone for a while without any girl quails they will make a loud crowing noise. sometimes the girls will make little noises. but those aren't too loud

 

[mdees88]

1) If you already have an incubator I would hatch them. Myshire Farm is a good source for eggs though they're running very behind right now.

2)Hopefully some other New Mexicans can respond to the heat tolerance but if you're buying them for egg and meat production I would definitely get Jumbo wild/pharoah Coturnix. I keep mine in Lower Alabama and the heat can be pretty rough and mine seem to manage.

3)If keeping them off the ground on wire floors you can keep the 1 sq ft per bird easily, you can even keep them 2 birds per square foot though some on here may frown.

If keeping them on the ground I'm not sure 1 sq ft per bird is enough simply because of how much they poop. If you plan on changing out bedding often or moving the coop around maybe so. There are plenty of people here that raise them on the ground that can comment on this...

4)I think they are. They are super productive and very easy to care for, but I keep mine off the ground on wire floors with auto waterer's and large feeders so they are practically zero maintenance for me.

5)How many eggs do you want per day? 25 hens should average around 20 eggs per day which is equal to about 5 chicken eggs. 25 hens is a lot, especially if you don't eat any eggs for several days or leave the house for a few days and come back to 100 and something eggs.

6) Loud is a relative term. The females are very quiet. The males crow sounds like a loud songbird. Just search coturnix crowing on youtube to see. If you live in the city with very close neighbors that don't really like you, they're loud. If you live on a couple acres they're not overly loud. If you keep them in the proper 4-5 hens to 1 male ratio, generally the males don't crow too much. If you keep a bunch of males together in a meat pen they can get crow a bunch but they are also good eating size by the time they get ignorant with the crowing.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

5)How many eggs do you want per day? 25 hens should average around 20 eggs per day which is equal to about 5 chicken eggs. 25 hens is a lot, especially if you don't eat any eggs for several days or leave the house for a few days and come back to 100 and something eggs.

That sounds good to me! I have seven people in my family, and we usually go through a dozen or so (chicken) eggs a day.

 

[le_bwah]

That sounds good to me! I have seven people in my family, and we usually go through a dozen or so (chicken) eggs a day.

Keep in mind the space that feeders/waterers and cover/enrichment take up in an enclosure when you decide how many birds to aim for. I'd only keep about a dozen hens in your setup.

 

[Quailobsessed]

2. What breed? I live in southern New Mexico. What breeds are heat tolerant?

I live in Australia (where it gets up to 48 degrees celsius in summer) and I've owned four species of quail. It depends on how hot it gets where you are. I wouldn't say they're heat tolerant, but I think the lethal temperature is above 46 degrees. If it does get that hot, you may need a heat escape plan for them.

If you want them for eggs, I think japanese quails would be a good choice.