Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[appalachianchic]

Don't know if this has already been answered but do adults need heat in winter? I live in WV and am getting me some quail eggs soon. Also what about dust bathing? Grit or oyster shell? Also can I or should I put live plants in the pen?

 

[orumpoultry]

Hoss I love it!!!

 

[Sill]

Don't know if this has already been answered but do adults need heat in winter? I live in WV and am getting me some quail eggs soon. Also what about dust bathing? Grit or oyster shell?

They are fine as long as they are dry and draft free. If you give them heat and the power goes out they will not have sufficient feathering to stay warm. Yes they love to dust bathe, use a sand box if they will be on wire. Grit only if they will be eating seeds, don't need it for crumbles. Oyster shell 24/7 or the shell quality can suffer.

 

[hannah8]

...

Thanks for all the info. I didn't know how many different types of quail there were. I have some coturnix , but the white ones is what I want next . I am up in Ontario canada. Quail are not too popular down here. Hard to find even. I started my first dozen eggs in my new incubator today hope they work out. Anybody have experience clipping their wings . ? I have been watching mine lay eggs . It's funny to watch . U can tell they are getting an egg when they start closing their eyes. And looking like they are forcing . Lol[/quote
Where abouts are ya? Im also in omtario!!!!!

 

[hannah8]

Great recycling project! 
What are the poop trays made of?

What would work good is those trays the give you at food courts to put your food on

 

[clawstar]

Can coturnix live with bobwhite and valley quail???? Also I have a netted in dog run, with a sand/dusting corner and gravel floor, it keeps my quails feet so clean and pretty!!!!

 

[hosspak]

Don't know if this has already been answered but do adults need heat in winter? I live in WV and am getting me some quail eggs soon. Also what about dust bathing? Grit or oyster shell? Also can I or should I put live plants in the pen?

Yes, yes, only if needed, you can but they may disappear...

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Don't know if this has already been answered but do adults need heat in winter? I live in WV and am getting me some quail eggs soon. Also what about dust bathing? Grit or oyster shell? Also can I or should I put live plants in the pen?

Mine are fine outside, and this time of year it is routinely in the single digits and negative numbers here. They have run in sheds and hides where they can escape the weather when it gets really cold. Their favorite spot is inside a dogloo dog house I have set up in the pen with them, followed by the tangles of pine branches and hay I leave for them to hide in. The pen will look empty when I go out when it's really cold, but as soon as they see me with food they suddenly materialize out of nowhere!


My favorite rooster in the snow..



Our primary flock overwinters with the pheasants


They like natural hides as much as the man made ones!

 

[dc3085]

Providing domestic poultry/game birds with a heat source during winter is dangerous. If provided with a heat lamp or other heating device they will not grow a sufficient amount of down to tolerate your ambient weather. If you heated a flock through a cold winter and the power were to go out, they would freeze to death pretty fast. Any species of quail commonly kept in the states will tolerate weather down to 0 degrees as long as they are kept dry and drafts are blocked out.

The only exception in commonly kept quail are button quail which need to be kept above 45* F because they are adapted to a much warmer climate.

Valley quail range through many high elevation areas of the Sierra Nevada mountains, bobwhites are native to Wisconsin and Minnesota (although rare there today), the largest wild coturnix population is in northern China, and Russia. They are well adapted to the cold. If you see them shivering don't worry about it, shivers are the body's natural method of heating, it doesn't mean you need to warm them up. Even my quail shiver in the winter months and I can't recall it being below 40* F more than once or twice in the last few winters.

 

[appalachianchic]

I don't offer heat to my chickens, turkeys, ducks or pigeons but was wondering about these guys. Would something like quinoa or red clover be okay for them as a hiding spot/food source. Both plants can be used at the end of the season as tillage to spice up my garden spot. I am also planning on planting millet but not for a food source but for a treat and not in the pen. I have a large flight I am using for my pigeons until spring and I can build them a bigger one. I am going to clean it up and use it for the quail after I install a new bottom of 1/4" wire. It has a hutch on one end that I plan on putting up a board over the edges of the doors to keep sand in there for them. Will they lay here, what about dusting? If there is sand there, will I have to provide grit? How big will the oyster shell have to be for them? I buy it in bulk and it is pullet sized (according to the bag). There is a long flight up off the ground that I wrap in plastic in the winter but not the bottom to allow droppings out. I can wrap the legs in plastic to help keep drafts down there and add a layer of pine shavings on the wire to help with insulation. Should they have a water bowl or can I teach them like I have my pigeons to use a water bottle.