Coturnix Quail as Pets and Hatching Eggs

[cosmomomo]

Hi all! I guess I should give some brief background info. I have hand raised chicks from day old peeps before and they became incredibly tame. I am now away at college and will be moving into an apartment next year that will allow pets (birds included). I have a lot questions about quail.
If I get them as chicks and handle them frequently, do they usually tame well? As in, I have hopes that I could put a flight suit on them and have them fly/run around the apartment supervised and be able to be held as well as live in a cage while I am not home. I have seen one on instagram that is supposedly a bobwhite quail and it is incredibly tame.
My next concern is acquiring said chicks when they are that young. Would it be best if I bought some fertilized eggs and hatched them myself? I know some people from home that have farms, so I could give them the ones I decided not to keep. I would love to have a hen be happy and alone, but I realize that is not fair so I'd prefer a male/female pair. I also realize they cannot be sexed as chicks so I don't want to find someone with chicks and end up getting two males. The noise they would make is of most concern.
I've been doing some research as far as a habitat to keep them in, but I am hearing conflicting reports as to what breed is naturally the calmest. I think Coturnix Quail have come up the most as being tamable.
I have plenty of time to figure things out, my current lease doesn't run up until June 30th, 2015. They just seem so precious and I want to make sure I am making a good choice! Hopefully someone has some good answers for me Thanks!

 

[funsized72]

Hi all! I guess I should give some brief background info. I have hand raised chicks from day old peeps before and they became incredibly tame. I am now away at college and will be moving into an apartment next year that will allow pets (birds included). I have a lot questions about quail.
If I get them as chicks and handle them frequently, do they usually tame well? As in, I have hopes that I could put a flight suit on them and have them fly/run around the apartment supervised and be able to be held as well as live in a cage while I am not home. I have seen one on instagram that is supposedly a bobwhite quail and it is incredibly tame.
My next concern is acquiring said chicks when they are that young. Would it be best if I bought some fertilized eggs and hatched them myself? I know some people from home that have farms, so I could give them the ones I decided not to keep. I would love to have a hen be happy and alone, but I realize that is not fair so I'd prefer a male/female pair. I also realize they cannot be sexed as chicks so I don't want to find someone with chicks and end up getting two males. The noise they would make is of most concern.
I've been doing some research as far as a habitat to keep them in, but I am hearing conflicting reports as to what breed is naturally the calmest. I think Coturnix Quail have come up the most as being tamable.
I have plenty of time to figure things out, my current lease doesn't run up until June 30th, 2015. They just seem so precious and I want to make sure I am making a good choice! Hopefully someone has some good answers for me Thanks!

They tame pretty well if you handle them and get them used to it. I'm trying to do that to my chicks right now

. To get day olds you should either see if anyone near you are hatching quails or just do it yourself. I think doing it yourself is easier. Coturnix quails cant be kept in male and female pairs cuz the roo with overbreed and kill the female. You should have 3-5 females per male. Eggs are about 50/50 on sex so in order to get 5 females and 1 males you need approximately 15 eggs assuming you get a 100% hatch rate although you most likely are not. You should get 20 eggs just to be safe and eat the leftover roos. Good luck!

Oh and i heard that a good place to get big coturnix quails is James Marie farms if you are planing on using them for eggs and meat.

 

[cosmomomo]

So would it be better to keep a female pair? I would be keeping them in an apartment, so I don't think I would have space for more than two. I also wouldn't be using them for meat, but if I hatched out eggs I would keep my two favorites and give the rest of them away.

 

[funsized72]

So would it be better to keep a female pair? I would be keeping them in an apartment, so I don't think I would have space for more than two. I also wouldn't be using them for meat, but if I hatched out eggs I would keep my two favorites and give the rest of them away.

I think a female pair is fine. But I thought you wanted fertile eggs because if you incubate them, you now have an incubator and quails live like 3 years. Plus quails are so cute and tiny that they are like chips, no matter what you want you just cant have a couple.

 

[cosmomomo]

I think a female pair is fine. But I thought you wanted fertile eggs because if you incubate them, you now have an incubator and quails live like 3 years. Plus quails are so cute and tiny that they are like chips, no matter what you want you just cant have a couple.

Haha I wasn't very clear with that. The only reason I mentioned a male/female pair was because I had been reading that they do better in pairs like that. Idk why I didn't think of two hens, duh, all of my chickens were hens

. I was just thinking that a single one would get too lonely when I wasn't there. I would like to borrow an incubator to hatch out the few I would want as pets, or have someone else hatch them. And believe me, I know I would LOVE to have a bunch of them! But I can't expect to be allowed to have a bunch of little quails running around an apartment. Maybe one day when I have my own home and a yard.

 

[funsized72]

Haha I wasn't very clear with that. The only reason I mentioned a male/female pair was because I had been reading that they do better in pairs like that. Idk why I didn't think of two hens, duh, all of my chickens were hens

. I was just thinking that a single one would get too lonely when I wasn't there. I would like to borrow an incubator to hatch out the few I would want as pets, or have someone else hatch them. And believe me, I know I would LOVE to have a bunch of them! But I can't expect to be allowed to have a bunch of little quails running around an apartment. Maybe one day when I have my own home and a yard.

Oh you probably read to have them in pairs for buttons and bobwhites but for coturnix you cant do that the hen will die.

 

[Sill]

Two coturnix hens will do great together. Where are you located? You can often find day old chicks on Craigslist, cheaper and easier than getting your own incubator since you only want a few chicks. I think if you explain to the breeder you want pets they will take back any you don't want. If you pick up six or so chicks you should be guaranteed a couple of hens. You can tell the sex of the browns at 2 1/2 to 3 weeks of age, other colors you need to wait until they crow or lay an egg or vent sex between 6-9 weeks. The roos usually start crowing a bit by 6 weeks and by 9 weeks you can't wait to get rid of them.