Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[mckeesbackyard]

Thank you. Just got done vent sexing them & I have 15 males & 5 females

Am hoping that I am wrong & more females will turn up..?

 

[dutchbunny83]

Hi everyone!!!

Really don't know anything about quail other than I love their little eggs.
The incubation thread was saying they are more efficient than chickens in pounds of eggs vs pounds of food and the meat is supposed to be better than chicken???
I was told they start laying around 2 months and the boys can be processed at the same time?

I've noticed most people keeps theirs in cages, is it because they like cages?
I'm more of a free range type person and while these obviously can't free range I was going to build them a coop/covered run versus a little cage.

I just ordered (an ABUNDANCE!) of eggs since they seem to be only sold in large quantities.
They should be here in a week so trying to learn all I can before then (I tend to do things on a whim....)

Anyway, nice to meet you, I'll be catching up on the first 98 pages of posts!!!

 

[Weirdness555]

Hi there, welcome to the quail forums They do produce a lot of eggs, and they often start laying around 6 weeks yes. I have not tried the meat yet but I really want to! But we don't hatch so I'd need to find some in the butcher XD

Cages are ok for them but it's mostly for the convenience of the keeper. I keep mine in an aviary under budgies, this set up works well, but if you aren't interested in keeping flight birds then a half height version might be better, maybe 2 foot or so high. You can do a couple of things to make these safe: Either build them completely enclosed in wire then add soil/bark chips etc over the bottom wire so they aren't standing straight on the wire, or you can build it onto a concrete base so nothing can dig up under the cage. You can add some substrate over the concrete too.

In these conditions all of the poo will stay in the cage rather than falling through a wire bottom, so you will need to allow more space per bird. We have 6 birds in approx. 42sqrft of space. You could probably keep a few more than this in that space though, but I wouldn't go above 10.

I hope this helps

 

[dutchbunny83]

Question:
This is my first chicken coop-- only had the 4 of them in there about 2 months until I built something way bigger (never had chickens before, ordered eggs & bought a pre-fab coop.)

How many coturnix quail could I keep in here???
I plan on raising them the laying then keeping some favorites for eggs and processing the rest.

The open part to the ground (which I will enclose with hardware cloth) is about 2.5' wide and about 5' long. Then there's an upstairs with a pull out pan that's about 2.5'x2.5' then 2 nesting boxes in the back. The picture makes it seem really tall, but it's deceptive....

 

[Weirdness555]

The quail will probably not use the upstairs part, but it might make a good food store...

 

[dutchbunny83]

The quail will probably not use the upstairs part, but it might make a good food store...

Really? I know they like hiding in things, I thought they'd like it up there, plus the nesting boxes.

How many can I fit in there comfortably until processing, than how many girls can I keep in there for layers???
I really need to know how many I can keep and how many I can rehome.
Thanks!

 

[mamashomestead]

 
The quail will probably not use the upstairs part, but it might make a good food store...

Really?  I know they like hiding in things, I thought they'd like it up there, plus the nesting boxes.

How many can I fit in there comfortably until processing, than how many girls can I keep in there for layers???
I really need to know how many I can keep and how many I can rehome.
Thanks!

What types of things do they like hiding in? I thought I had read this awhile ago but I googled it just the other day, and came up with nothing.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I have no idea, haha, I am new to quail!
But from what I've been reading people said they need little "caves" or shelters built in for them to go in.
Someone had a bunch of those guinea pig/ chinchilla plastic house things for theirs to go in. Other people just built little houses with a tiny door.

I have chickens but just ordered quail eggs on a whim and trying to learn real quick the best set up/ sq ft per bird so I can get something built while the weather is still nice

 

[Weirdness555]

They like to hide in things that are small, to them being inside the chicken house bit would not be like hiding, it would just be being in a place they couldn't see out of. We use "Playstix" which are wooden sticks put together on bendy wire, so we bend them into tunnels, they like those. Also guinea pig shelters, and old 6 inch pipe, stuff like that.

I am not sure how many you could keep in there. We have approx 1 quail per 4 square foot in our aviary, but we could fit more in, maybe up to 10 in our 3x6 foot section. less than 1 per square foot because when they're on the ground not raised wire there is a lot of poop if you go 1 per square foot. I would also put some kind of substrate over the bottom wire layer, to absorb the poop and to make it kinder on their feet if you don't intend to move the coop. I assume you won't be moving it as it looks heavy. If you are going to move it then provide areas where they can get off the wire to rest their feet and you'll need to move it about once a fortnight I'd have thought.

Looking at the picture I'd think you could probably get about 8 quail in there quite happily as adults. If you put them all in there at 4 weeks old (when they come off the heat) then let them grow out in there, you will be able to pull some out and butcher them as you see fit, and eventually you'll be able to judge whether or not they have enough space.

You can rake the substrate over about once a month (judging by our set up, maybe more often with more birds) to mix in the poop, and remove it all together after about 3 months (makes great compost) and replace it.

If you leave it bare wire, you could hose it into the grass or whatever is underneath, but you'd need to move it regularly to let the grass recover.

Also, in my experience, they will lay anywhere except in nesting boxes. They will lay in their hidy holes though. Egg hunting is a fun pass time once you get the hang of checking each of their regular egg spots

How many eggs did you order? Remember that they won't all hatch (in all likelihood) and about half will be males (maybe more if you're unlucky). 8 may sound like not many but during summer that's 8 eggs per day, 56 eggs per week (minus the off day off), they will soon stack up and you'll be giving them away just to get rid of them.

I hope this helps

 

[dutchbunny83]

They like to hide in things that are small, to them being inside the chicken house bit would not be like hiding, it would just be being in a place they couldn't see out of. We use "Playstix" which are wooden sticks put together on bendy wire, so we bend them into tunnels, they like those. Also guinea pig shelters, and old 6 inch pipe, stuff like that.

I am not sure how many you could keep in there. We have approx 1 quail per 4 square foot in our aviary, but we could fit more in, maybe up to 10 in our 3x6 foot section. less than 1 per square foot because when they're on the ground not raised wire there is a lot of poop if you go 1 per square foot. I would also put some kind of substrate over the bottom wire layer, to absorb the poop and to make it kinder on their feet if you don't intend to move the coop. I assume you won't be moving it as it looks heavy. If you are going to move it then provide areas where they can get off the wire to rest their feet and you'll need to move it about once a fortnight I'd have thought.

Looking at the picture I'd think you could probably get about 8 quail in there quite happily as adults. If you put them all in there at 4 weeks old (when they come off the heat) then let them grow out in there, you will be able to pull some out and butcher them as you see fit, and eventually you'll be able to judge whether or not they have enough space.

You can rake the substrate over about once a month (judging by our set up, maybe more often with more birds) to mix in the poop, and remove it all together after about 3 months (makes great compost) and replace it.

If you leave it bare wire, you could hose it into the grass or whatever is underneath, but you'd need to move it regularly to let the grass recover.

Also, in my experience, they will lay anywhere except in nesting boxes. They will lay in their hidy holes though. Egg hunting is a fun pass time once you get the hang of checking each of their regular egg spots

How many eggs did you order? Remember that they won't all hatch (in all likelihood) and about half will be males (maybe more if you're unlucky). 8 may sound like not many but during summer that's 8 eggs per day, 56 eggs per week (minus the off day off), they will soon stack up and you'll be giving them away just to get rid of them.

I hope this helps

Thank you so much for the help!
I ordered 120 eggs!!!!!!!!!!!
That's the amount they were selling.
If they all fit in the bator I'm estimating about 60 to hatch.
I have a friend that will gladly take some off my hands, but trying to decide the number to keep and what type of shelter to use.
It does move around pretty easily. I've never used it like a tractor, but we've had it set up in all different places around the yard.
I have always used it as a grow out pen for my chicks. Summer hatches are always out in there within a week since it's warmer outside than the brooder most times.
I hate the idea of them being on wire. We live in the city limits and all the chicks I've kept in there nothing has ever attempted to dig into it.
The main predator we have are hawks so my poor chickens have to stay in their covered run when I'm not home. Though I have a 12'x12' tomato garden that recently died off, but I've left the dead plants and cages in there because the chickens love to scratch around underneath and I feel like all the plant on top is keeping them covered from the hawks' eye.
We have 2 cats that think they are my birds' watch dogs so they're pretty good at keeping other things away, I saw my cat fight off a possum bigger than he was!
You really think they need a wire bottom?

I've been on here all morning trying to come up with plans for another shelter for my meat quail, then use this for the ones I raise for eggs possibly breeding?
I don't know...