Coturnix Quail

[Picco]

I'd like to try to hatch these this summer. Does anyone know a good place to get a variety of breeds?

 

[roosters97]

i have some there fun!

 

[cgjsmith]

we just hatched some out!unfortunatly there all dying o us We have bob whites and love it!! We got ours locally! I agree I love watching them. C

 

[Dodgegal79]

Cortunix is a breed of its own, they are all the same. Check gamebird hatcheries. Make sure they are not too imbred.

 

[brooster]

Strombergs has eggs so does cbfsuperquail and lake cumberland. I am hatching some right now, i got them from basia.

 

[Picco]

I like the Texas A&M white, the Italian speckled, the tuxedo and the wild type... basically I like the way they all look. Do you know if any of the breeds are better than the others temperament-wise? I just want to have a few as pets with eggs being a bonus. I'd like to get a mixture, but the only place I have seen that sells an egg assortment is Stromberg's. Does anyplace sell assorted chicks?

I would also like to know more about housing and care. Most of the stuff I find online is for production. I'd like to keep them outside (in NY) in a rabbit hutch style coop, or in a separate pen within my chicken coop. Can they tolerate subzero temperatures? Also, what is a good diet for them, can I feed layer feed or do they need more protein? I'm also thinking about keeping a pair or trio of females in my room to have as house pets. I have plenty of guinea pig style cages, would these be ok? How well suited are they for living indoors, are they loud or messy (compared to parakeets for example)? I'd also have to figure out what to do with the extra males.

If anyone will have a few hatching eggs available in May please let me know.

 

[Poultryraiser]

Hello,
I have a buddy ho has button quail out side in winter in AZ but she had to move them insid because it was to cold were we live it gets in the 20's.
So Im gesing it will be to cold out side. They will get out of a rabbit hutch if the squares are over an inch.
I keep mine in a larg reptile cage made of tuff screen and they are inside birds. In the summer time they go out side on the screen porch.
They need a mix of foods. Like fresh green,gamebird food,crumble,seeds mix,meal worms or crickets are good for them to. Trio or pair? It depends on the male if he is picking on the one female 2 much then there should be 2 females. So he is not picking on the same one all the time.
keeping them inside is what I think is the best. In a guinea pig cage will be fine. They are not loud like parakeets I have parakeets, button quail are quiet. They are a little messy with bathing dirt but other than that they are good indoor pets!

Hope I was healpful

 

[Picco]

Sorry for the confusion, I didn't mean button quail, they are much smaller. I like those too but I've heard they are more flighty. What I was asking about are Japanese coturnix (pharaoh or bible quail), they are a similar species that is bred for meat and eggs.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

If you want eggs, go on ebay, there are always a few sellers on there. We bought some off ebay last winter and had a great hatch rate. There are several varieties available, I like the chocolates and the golden manchurians. They arent really that loud, the males 'crow' is kinda like a parakeet chirp. When we had them, we kept them in quads. They lay lots of eggs starting at about 6 weeks, but their lifespan is kinda short.

 

[ksacres]

I'm getting some Texas A & M eggs, they are developed to be all white birds with all white meat. Provided I can hatch the eggs, I will have some available within three or four months.

There's not a great variety of color out there. There's the wild type, the golden (manchurian), and Texas A & M (white), and I think that's it. I have never heard of a true Cortunix being a tuxedo or any other color. I do know that the Texas A & M sometimes have a little black, though they should ideally be all white. There's also some that have bred white birds, I'm thinking they weren't cortunix, but English quail, or some such thing? Texas A & M have been selectively developed as a table bird, I plan to raise a lot as meat. They are supposed to be very efficient, but I guess we shall see.

I have always heard that Cortunix quail make the best pets and they are less flighty than other types, but I'm sure handling makes a great deal of difference.

Button quail are the ones that come in a great variety of color, but they're not for eating as they are very small.