Coturnix square footage?

[mhwc56]

Just my opinion but,personally, i find it extremely OFFENSIVE whenever i read about/see an animal exploited as chickens , etc. are commercially.
We should be ashamed of ourselves when we think exclusively in terms of "the bottom line" when it comes to another breathing ,feeling ,living creature !
you can still get good results when you use caring,respect and compassion in raising meat/egg animals ...

 

[Sumatra503]

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True, but i'm pretty sure no one here trets their animals that way, so your anger is aimed at the wrong people in the wrong direction.

Nothing but spoiled here for the most part.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

No they are Jumbos. Texas A&M is a Jumbo and they use Chukar flats for the eggs. So they have good size birds and large eggs. But they can get bigger, the birds and the eggs.

I don't have to use sandboxes to get them extra calcium. But that is the easiest way for me and those big egg shells need extra calcium orthey will take it from their bones.
But do you ever notice your birds stretching. They lift the back of their feet and stretch tall, head up, beak up. That is the main reason my breeding cages are 12" tall, not to tall but not to short either. Everybody and thing likes to stretch out evidently.

 

[mhwc56]

oh i realize that the quail are not "abused " here as a rule. just adding an opinion. NO offense to anyone here intended..

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

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Yup, that's what brought a lot of BYCers here. Wanted to raise the birds ourselves or needed to for whatever reason. But I also understand "the bottom line" all to well,that's what keeps business going and we have lost a lot of them the last few years.

Remember back when chicken was an expensive food. Couldn't feed the masses at the old costs @ #, that's for sure. The Jumbo Coturnix were developed to help fill the side market, to give people another choice. Because cheap chicken gets pretty boring after awhile.

And the standards of today for animals are very different than even just a few years ago. No way would I have paid a $1,000 vet bill for a cat 10 years ago. Or taken a chicken to a vet for any reason. I would have been laughed right out of town. Now its expected around here. Heck on the pets its getting to be the law.

 

[Sumatra503]

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Of course I notice them stretching. They also stretch their wings out fully and flap to stretch as well. I keep my isolation cages low and small, because these are my injury cages and i don't want them moving around much. My other cages for separating males and certain pairs or groups are 1.5'x2.5'x15". My aviary is 5'x5'x7' tall.

These measurements apply to a commercial operation and are not the ideal requirements for raising quail in a home setting. I certainly would never use them.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

And that is what people have to keep in mind. Why we are discussing this. Its depends on what they are wanting to set up and what they want birds for. There is nothing wrong with those cage sizes even at home for Pharoah size or Jumbo Coturnix. But the number of birds in them for home use? Well, that I would change, just plan on not putting so many in them and plan on making more of them. If people plan for at least 1'square foot per bird of either size, their birds will be good to go.

Kind of like my Brooder, its 2' x4' but with 57 chicks in it, I had to get them out faster than I had originally planned. I felt they were to crowded. So my original grow out pen, led to adding breeder cages (that can also be used to grow them out in), and an outside brooder box and lets not forget the inside brooder boxes. Oh almost forgot the colony pens that are being buillt now to house 100-120 breeders to keep my line. I don't sell eggs so my chickens are going to love the ones I'm not using. Actually, I have to keep chickens just to have them to help me manage the quail.

Quail math for cages. Once you start, it just keeps going. So best to plan on it right at the start. Unless you want to buy eggs each time and hatch them out, grow them out and process the birds. THere is nothing wrong with that and is actually a good place to start if you have never had quail. (But it doesn't work with egg layers, because you have to keep them for the eggs). That's what I wanted to do, brooder tubs and a grow out pen, would have been so nice and simple, but see above....

OH, you do realize that just 4 years ago. It was a strickt NO NO to brood any kind of chicks in the house. But everyone does it anyway. So the Dr's are waiting on Respiratory failure cases in the near future. Got a couple of those DR's in the family, just shaking their heads especially at me.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Hey ButterCup,
I have never heard about no brooding in the house, could you explain the reasoning a bit? Bill

 

[Sumatra503]

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They were concerned about the dander and dust the birds produce causing health problem. Plus there's the whole solmonella thing to go with.

 

[Madcap621]

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They were concerned about the dander and dust the birds produce causing health problem. Plus there's the whole solmonella thing to go with.

UM ..................... Where did I hear that Quail don't have a salmonela problem???????

Chickens now, it can be a problem. Knocking on wood here but the closest I personally have come is that my twin Bantam Salmon Favaroles, named Samantha and Penella P. Favarole are refered to here as "Sam-n-Ella"