Good "indoor" quail?

[Bettacreek]

Well, I have five buttons, but I was wondering if there are any other quail or similar sized game birds that would be ok indoors. They'd have to be quiet like the buttons and not be stinky when kept clean. I've heard that the coturnix were ok, but had an offensive ammonia smell.

 

[texasbartrambaby]

I've been thinking about getting quail also. I'll be interested to see what everyone says.

 

[Omniskies]

Coturnix are fine if kept clean. We brood all of our Coturnix chicks inside for fun (usually around 100+ at a time) and don't have any problems.

I've never had button quail, so I don't know how loud Coturnix are in comparison. Coturnix males like to chortle-crow. You'll have to hear the noise to decide whether or not it's tolerable.

Adult Coturnix would be better in a small animal cage rather than an aquarium. They require a little more room than Buttons and are perfectly fine on wire. With the jumbos, anything 3-4+ weeks of age can be kept in a rabbit cage. Anything smaller than that can slip through the 1x2" wire.

 

[Bettacreek]

I listened to some coturnix on youtube, and honestly, I think my budgies are louder... Lol. Thanks, I think I might check around for some of these guys, I was just afraid of possible noise and stink.

Thanks for caging input too, I was going to ask about that, lol.

 

[Dill]

Cortunix is all I can really think of that are small enough to be kept in a cage.

 

[AK_Button_Mama]

I have 5 two week old coturnix in a 50 gallon aquarium right now, they start to stink on the 3rd day but I have been experimenting with ways to keep the cage cleaner like I cut a hole in the siade of a glad container that only thier head can fit thru. it helps keep the food inside the dish. they are mess buggers and I think that is the reason there is a strong stink every three days. if these 5 were older I wouldnt keep them inside but its too cold outside for them!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Coturnix are ok to keep indoors. There are a cool bird. I have never
smelled ammonia and I've had up to 100 inside a brooder. They do have
high metabolisms so I'd only suggest keeping a few in a bird cage.

 

[Omniskies]

Coturnix are extremely messy. They play in their food while eating so they need to have feeders that don't allow them to get inside. A bowl is asking for trouble, especially since they will also use their food bowl for dust baths once they're feathering out.

There are a lot of little things that can be made to keep them from getting into their food. Just cut holes in random household items and put the feed in there. Swap it out to a larger hole every few days. Once they're adults you can use the feeders sold at feed stores.

 

[AK_Button_Mama]

Quote:
I couldnt agree more!!! they LOVE to play with thier food.... I am workin gon a feeder I can give them that they cant PLAY in!!!! silly birdies I am thier mama and I say NO PLAYING in your food!!!!!

 

[Heather J]

I have my coturnix (4 plus two surviving bobwhites) in a 50 gallon tank in my living room. I just used chick feeders since day one, but yes, they used to all sleep in their food when they were tiny, Now they can't get into it and the feeder is perfect. I also use a chick waterer in there, which is perfect. I use shredded paper in the bottom of the tank, and add a thin layer every couple of days while I'm in there to collect eggs and refill their food/water dishes. Then when I get around to it, I pull them out and remove all the paper scrap for my compost bin, and start all over with new layers. It's working well, and the new layers seem to keep the smell down a lot. When the new paper goes in it's really fluffy and they play in it for a few hours until it gets trampled.

We only have one male, so the call isn't that noisy and doesn't really bother us. The bobwhites are super flighty, but the others do all right most of the time. We love having them in the living room to watch!