Help Me Decide

[Pine Acres Peeps]

Hi,

I need some input so who ever is out there please help me.
I have raised chickens all my life on and off.
My husband wants to get some quail, we have never had any.
I have a barn that has open sides on three sides. Under it we have a 10 foot tall and 20 foot square pen inclosed that could be for small birds. We were thinking of turning this into a quail pen.
But our concern is what his friend has said, he says that quail have to have something in their water to keep them calm or they'll die, that they have to have a concrete floor because they'll die on dirt. And that when you raise quail several will die everyday. Is any of this fact or is he a farthead like I think.
Thanks!

 

[Emzyyy]

Sounds like he is a farthead! Never heard of such a thing

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Yup like she said!

I raise quail on dirt. I have regular waterers and those small animal dripper bottles. No idea what he's talking about. I have been raising Bobwhite for about a year now with no real problems.

 

[saddina]

Fart Head! (please don't let my 9 yr old know I called someone that!)

Here's the how-to thread (AKA Nikki's Sticky):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102281

Just follow the yellowbrick road.

 

[Mrs MIA]

If you want calm quail, go with the coturnix. But I love my bobwhites. They are a little more flighty, but I've never heard anything as silly as putting something in their water to keep them calm.

Now, I have mine either on wire (pairs) or on shavings in the breeder coop (5 hens/1 male) and just have not had the opportunity to put them on the ground. We get so cold in the winter I'd just as soon keep them indoors. But he's feeding you a whole lot of baloney. Your setup sounds perfect for quail.

 

[Boyd]

definately a farthead, go with coturnix, you will not regret it!

 

[skywatcher]

The dirt floor is not ideal since predators can dig under it however you can bury the fence. Now the hard part keeping the weasel out they can go through chicken wire holes.Do you best to make it almost air tight including a ceiling or roof to keep out rats, raccoons opposums, owls.cats, mink. being indoors eliminates hawks, fox ,coyotoes,dogs.

Using wire cages hung from ceiling or on metal shevels to hold the cages keeps rodents from them and those killer weasels.
Quail raising is the way to go have fun.

 

[Pine Acres Peeps]

Thanks for all the advise everyone, I was hopeing you would say that. I was just a little scared of spending any money and losing it if they were to hard to raise. Now all I need to do is find me some eggs!! SO anyone have any for sale near me let me know, oh yeah, I'm still looking for some Rhode Island Red eggs for me and my family to split.

Thanks Again!!!