I'll try to answer all the other questions here, several came up last night:
Worming: We do not worm any more than with any other bird we have on our little farm. The birds that didn't make the sale grade, ended up in the freezer I can tell you that after a little over 2 years, there has not been 1 bird that has been butchered that had any parasites.
As long as you keep the runs clean so the quail don't run, eat, drink, and sleep in their own poo, there are no additional requirements than what you would have for any other poultry/fowl. Dust bathes are a must, and the birds are a very clean animal as long as you don't over crowd the flock.
Space requirements: Minimum space requirements say 1 square foot per adult bird. My runs are 3'x12', so mathematically I could keep 36 per birds per run. When at full capacity, try to keep 28 birds per, no more than 30. At 28, that's 4 males and 24 females. a 6:1 ratio. Almost 1.3 sq ft per....but normally we run around 21(ish) birds.
Floor prep: Our soil is pretty sandy here, so we don't add additional sand, just use the ground we were given. I do however, take a shovel and loosen the soil even more and create a depression and the birds just love it! you'd think they are in the spa when 2-3 get to bathing together it's fun to watch. Living in the woods, we do put DRY leaves and pine needles in for bedding. They will scratch and play all day. When we clean the runs, this product goes into the compost for final "cooking" and is awesome on the raised garden beds when it finally turns to black dirt. We also have several flower pots laid on the sides for additional "hidy-holes" for quiet egg laying time and also just time out periods.
Wintering: Our winters do get cold, but not unbearable. We do have snow, but for weeks, not months. The last 2 winters, the quail had their outside run as well as a structure we kept a 40 watt light on 24/7 to break the chill. The little buggers would actually "play" in the snow, digging burrows. I do put more leaves down in the winter time...We have NEVER lost a quail due to cold nor have we ever had one come up with any frost bite injuries.
I do have smaller shelters in each run for the birds to get under. The roof of it is 30" wide by 22" deep and shingled. The back is 6" and the front is 9" the legs are cut on an angle. This little shelter allows enough room that all the birds can fit under it if need be and gives them added protection against rain blowing the sides. This year, if needed, we will put a clear bisquine (plastic) around the structure to create walls. This will allow natural light in, but keep the wind at bay. It should also work like our green house and with the warm bodies inside raise the temps above freezing.
Budget: Wow, that's a good one! When we build a structure out here at the farm, it has to meet some criteria for us. 1) Has to blend in with nature, not be over bearing or distract from the surroundings but add to. 2) Be something that will last for years. 3) Be created for multiple purpose not just for what it is now. (10 years down the road, I might not want quail and don't want to be stuck with a permanent quail structure) So keeping that in mind and the fact I probably over engineer things....the final cost was prob in the neighborhood of $1500. Time to build probably took us actually 45-60 hours....calendar days, over a month. We moseyed on this project, just worked a couple hours here, 4 hours there....didn't get in a big rush.
