Got a suggestion for super-quiet hens in a small-lot suburb?

[Boppo]

It sounds like a really bad idea for them to get chickens anyway. They are maybe getting the chickens to entertain these kids, and that is never a good recipe unless they are better at supervising the kids than it sounds like. Just sayin.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Provided that they elevate cages, and tamper-proof them to keep little hands out, I think quail would be a fantastic compromise. These neighbors would then be able to teach their young about the circle of life and respect for living things. It has been proven that children that have pets when they are growing up have more empathy for others.

I only have experience with Japanese Coturnix Quail, and I would HIGHLY recommend them both for their heartiness, tastiness, and their very fast growth from hatched to adulthood at 6 to 8 weeks, providing on average one egg daily or about a quarter-pound of dressed meat for their dinner table should they elect to incubate some of their eggs, for the price of one OUNCE of gamebird feed per bird per day.

 

[Boppo]

Yeah, but everything written so far makes it sound like the classic get the kids chicks for Easter sort of thing.

 

[NatJ]

Provided that they elevate cages, and tamper-proof them to keep little hands out, I think quail would be a fantastic compromise. These neighbors would then be able to teach their young about the circle of life and respect for living things. It has been proven that children that have pets when they are growing up have more empathy for others.

I only have experience with Japanese Coturnix Quail, and I would HIGHLY recommend them both for their heartiness, tastiness, and their very fast growth from hatched to adulthood at 6 to 8 weeks, providing on average one egg daily or about a quarter-pound of dressed meat for their dinner table should they elect to incubate some of their eggs, for the price of one OUNCE of gamebird feed per bird per day.

Several people have said in this thread that male quail are noisy.
So I do NOT think those neighbors should get quail.

If they buy eggs to hatch, they will get half males.
If they buy unsexed chicks, they will still get half males.
If they want to hatch eggs from their own quail, they will have to keep at least one male, and will probably want to keep more than one male.

So the only way they could have quiet quail is if they buy sexed quail chicks (which I do not think are available), or adult female quail, or if they butcher EVERY male quail in a timely fashion.

Considering how many people have trouble butchering animals they raise, and considering what OP has said about those neighbors, I would not count on them doing the butchering when they should. And I do not think they would manage to buy quail that are all females.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Have you ever heard a Japanese Coturnix Quail cock crow? It's more music than annoyance and it is NOT that loud. Before Covid, when I was able to purchase the correct feed, I had close to fifty quail, with one male per 6 to 8 hens. They are not THAT loud.

 

[NatJ]

Have you ever heard a Japanese Coturnix Quail cock crow? It's more music than annoyance and it is NOT that loud. Before Covid, when I was able to purchase the correct feed, I had close to fifty quail, with one male per 6 to 8 hens. They are not THAT loud.

I have never heard them.

But two different people in this thread said the males are noisy:

Quail HENS aren’t very noisy. But more than 1 male in with the girls? Very noisy.

We raised Coturnix Quail, Butler Quail, Bobwhites and Snowflakes too … it’s not the Quail ladies who sound of, it’s the lil men!

So if noise is a big issue (because of the small lots), and if two different people say male quail are noisy, I would NOT recommend that the neighbors get quail.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Japanese Coturnix Quail crowing.

 

[that neighbor lady]

I must say, that doesn't sound too bad -- unless she's not properly miked up, squirrels fighting is about the same, and it's quieter than the odd cat having a yowl. I can also imagine that more than one at it and trying to turf each other out wouldn't be great, though, and I see what NatJ's saying about sexing chicks. And those of you who mentioned Easter chicks could well have it right -- the dad did appeal with "for the kids", though I like to think that at least they'd take decent care of them. That really hadn't even occurred to me, and probably it should have -- I just never think of animals as objects to give as gifts or toys.

Well, in the meantime, I see that the chicken ordinance has fallen off the pending business for the council's agenda, so fingers crossed that the chicken-wanting people in another part of town found a way to resolve things, or that the councilor figured he'd spend his political capital on something else. Meantime, though, I think I'll keep this in the back pocket as a potential compromise if it gets brought back up and actually makes it to discussion. And in the meantime, I'll do some research, because if we do wind up with a quails-no-questions-asked ordinance and the hens are as quiet as they seem, I can see giving quail-keeping a go.

You guys have been a huge help! Thank you so much for all the expert opinion and understanding!

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

We have a backyard chicken ordinance that currently requires all neighbors to give consent

That really sucks that a neighbor can veto another neighbors choice to grow their own food. Just do the right thing and say yes, it really should not be up to you to begin with.
The chickens will be quieter than the kid for sure.

 

[that neighbor lady]

That really sucks that a neighbor can veto another neighbors choice to grow their own food. Just do the right thing and say yes, it really should not be up to you to begin with.
The chickens will be quieter than the kid for sure.

In theory, I agree with you (except about the last part -- the noise is additive, not a replacment-for). Living in close quarters means negotiations and compromises, though. If growing your own food means a neighbor can't get enough sleep to function well, and do her own work, or the noise is affecting her health (HUD, for instance, will not allow people to site low-income housing near highways because of the stress involved in having chronic noise nearby; poor doesn't mean you're not a person), or there's any other significant effect -- well, that's where code and laws come in.

There's lots of things you can't do with your own property when you've decided to live closely with others. And that's just municipal rules. Enter the wide world of homeowners' associations, where people tend to be super-protective of housing value, and you may find that line-drying your clothes, planting veg gardens, who knows what else is out. Condos and co-ops, even tighter space, even more rules. In the end, it's about minimizing the extent to which people drive each other nuts and hurt each other, and maximizing tolerances and peace.

I'd actually like a little cherry tree and more root veg, and in theory I could squeeze another tree in here, or plant potatoes in the front yard, but I know I'm already pushing the bounds of how people use land in neighborhoods like this, and I'd like not to be a jerk about it. Same with my falling-apart fence -- it's old, it really needs replaced, and while it could stand up for a few more years or I could make it the neighbors' problem, I'll replace it. If they want to sell their houses, a dilapidated fence doesn't help. If I want more freedom to do these sorts of things, I think it's on me to find a bigger piece of land in a place where I can do these things without making the neighbors' lives difficult.