Getting new valley Quail chicks

[Savethereptiles]

Hi everyone, I have been looking in to new quail chicks. I already have a 6ft by 5ft cage and it is about 5 ft tall. My covey has one male and 2 femals valley quail in it, I want to have 3 males and 4 females in all what size cage would be alright for that? Also when I got my quail, it was a rescue and I got my permit about a month later but by then the quail were already adults and I never really got to care for baby quail properly, so are they hard to care for are there any things that are different for valley quail than Courtnx Quail that I should know about carewise??

 

[007Sean]

Valley's, in my experience, are not as hardy as other 'new world' quail or Coturnix. I had problems with them getting pasty butt, not alot of them but more so than Bob's, Blues, or Gambles.
They need much more space than Coturnix quail and if not raised in a large aviary, then they are better kept in pairs...large, well landscaped aviary (300 - 500sq.ft.) with 20 to 30 birds, they can also be kept in smaller pens but come breeding season, males will fight over hens and territory and you will lose some birds.
They require the same amount of protein in their diet as other quail....a balanced and complete gamebird ration of 24% protein is adequate for all ages. I feed mine a 24% protein feed, from hatch till death.

 

[maadroj]

I agree. For your aviary size, I wouldn't really recommend adding more birds, with the possible exception of one male if your females become aggressive to each other (which may happen if only one pairs with the male). Chicks can't be sexed until they're older, so you could end up unbalanced again. Good luck!