Help me get started!

[talldarkeyes]

Hi Everyone!

I have been browsing (drooling?) over the backyard chicken forums for years but since I live in a tough HOA I never dreamed I could own chickens and then I read a book that pointed out the benefits of keeping quail...it got the wheels turning. I have been doing tons of research for the past few months but I still need some help. I have decided on Japanese Coturnix but haven't figured out the coloring yet

I will be keeping them in my well ventilated garage next to a nice sized window so they will get plenty of light. I settled on a Bass brand rabbit cage with a removable tray under the wire. I still need help figuring out what size to get but I guess that depends on how many birds I have which leads me to my next question: how many eggs should I buy? I planned on 25 because I think a dozen is a good amount to start with. Will I need to buy new eggs every year for genetic diversity? Any links for quail sized leg bands?

I am buying a HovaBator 1602N and installing a fan myself. Do I need to get a special egg candler or can I use a flash light?

How do I find out which of you are selling eggs? Anyone around PA? Any recommendations for making them more gentle, perhaps a specific breed is more calm?

TIA! Also if you have any money saving tips please pass them along!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Welcome aboard!! You didnt mention what you wanted out of your birds. Some want meat, some eggs, some as pets. Myself all the above...

Size of cage, most say 1 sq ft per bird in a breeder pen. Grow out pens can be less. This also depends on you and your birds. Kinda depends on how many you end up keeping, and how they get along.

How many eggs, Most plan for a 50% hatch rate with shipped eggs. In most cases half or more that hatch are Roos. Most folks say keep 3 to 6 hens per roo. Always good to keep a couple roos "on deck"... Just in case one falls over dead or becomes a demon bird. I like to hatch a few extras, pick the ones you want to keep, send the rest to freezer camp.

If you want to raise birds to eat, you'll also need a grow out pen. You can load it a bit more than a breeder pen, I have raised 20 or so to 7 weeks in a 2'x4' pen. Its small towards the end thou... They eat fine at 7 weeks too thou. Thin them down as you need and let the rest grow out as you want. You'll know when they get too close.

Buying eggs, you can hatch eggs from your birds for a couple years anyway. As they age fertility will drop off some. In a hobby situation I dont see that matters much, unless your planning on turning them into a profit generating machine, then you need to rethink the whole deal anyway.

Candling eggs, I use a mini LED mag light from walmart, works great in a dark room. Candling coturnix is a challenging endeavor at best. I dont even try, I candle bobs thou.

Leg bands, I use small zip ties in different colors from the automotive section. Cheap , easy. Do cut the tails off the ties and they must be left a bit loose. I would wait till they were 4 or 5 weeks at least to zip tie, just so they dont out grow them and become too tight.

Alot of folks sell eggs here. You'll be hard pressed to find someone you'd be unhappy with. check the "other poultry and egg sale" in the index page. Most will have what they sell in there tag line too.

Good luck , Bill

 

[Robo]

Quote:
Sounds good, the rule of thumb is 1 sq. ft. per bird, but a little less is fine. I would buy two dozen eggs and go from there. Coturnix eggs are near impossible to candle and you don't have to candle anyway but if your curious you can use a mag light. Check the auction section for eggs, and PM some members and find the best price to save money. Coturnix are the most calm and all colors are the same. I would buy an assortment or jumbo browns. What are you raising for? Meat, eggs, pets, all of the above?? For leg bands colored zip ties seem to work well. Hope this helps.☺

 

[talldarkeyes]

I am definitely raising them for ALL of the above! Thanks for answering my questions! So an assortment huh? I was planning on keeping them all in one large cage but now I know I will need 1 for the meat birds only. If I keep an assortment i can't know who is breeding who right? So what is I get a second generation hen breeding with her daddy?

 

[Fat Daddy]

If you get to a point you want to use 2nd gen hens, and are concerned with inbreeding, change out your roos. Everyone has extra roos, you can check your local Craigs list, there always listed around here. Or just hatch a new batch from a different breeder and start over. The old breeders will be fine on the grill when there productive life is over...

I feel it will be a while before you have to worry about your blood line if you hatch your meat birds from the same breeder stock. Unless you want increase you size of your breeder flock, you can keep the same birds for a long time. If you do want to add a new breeder pen. Buy eggs from a new breeder. Bill

 

[talldarkeyes]

Thanks for all of your help so far! I am really excited to do this and I finally went on craigslist and found some people selling quail nearby! The problem is that I still need a cage since I will be keeping them indoors. I have been searching and found some designs for homemade cages but I can't figure out if it will be more economical to buy the Bass cages with the drop pans than to build a few cages myself. I really liked this design but I want to use trays to catch the droppings for easy clean-up: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=160295

Also, I thought quail were quiet? I saw a video yesterday and they seemed pretty loud. I may need to rethink where I keep them because if I don't want to get caught.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
Well, roos are not quiet... but they sound nothing like a chicken either. If the sound is coming from your house, I dont know if its going to be mistaken for a wild bird....Most folks dont have a clue what a coturnix sounds like. In your back yard out of sight, could be a loud mocking bird type critter, you just shrug....

would have to be out of sight thou. If you happened to have a tree and a nice board fence, I think you could pull it off. There are coturnix crowing clips on youtube, may be one you found.

If you are handy, You can buy the "J" clips to build these cages at most farm supply type stores. There are pliers to go with, dont cheap out on the pliers, your hands will thank you. Same with wire cutters... I have built several of these type of wire only cages and they come in handy. Edge molding found in the automotive section, like used to protect the edge of a car door, works well for the openings

One last thing, coturnix SMELL BAD.... Having a large number of them inside long term would be tough for me. They are poop machines... I really hope it works out for you. Bill

 

[talldarkeyes]

Quote:
My plan to deal with that was the pull out trays and pine shavings, baking soda and composting their bedding every other day. I know the ammonia smell can get pretty strong but is there another smell I need to be wary about? How many birds is a "large number"? Would the well ventilated garage be ok?

I read that you can't feed indoor birds insects, why not? I was planning on using the quail as pest control for my garden.

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

i feed my indoor birds insects

 

[talldarkeyes]

BobwhiteQuailLover, can I ask how you handle the smell/housing issues with indoor birds?