How many Quail for a 5x5 foot area?

[IT Farmer]

If you have 1 pen, you can have 1 male. If you have 2 pens, you can have 2 males, one in each. . .

Don't build 1 big one, make two smaller ones and keep the sets separate. You can put a removable divider in between if you think you might change your mind later. Mine love living on the ground, but you need to bury wire around the edges. My wire is lightly buried, but has a 3" wide ribbon of hardware cloth buried horizontally underground to keep the birds from digging out, and the predators from digging in. Our largest predators are rats. If you have raccoons or foxes, you will need more of a barrier than what I use.

You can have more than 1 male to a pen so long as you have the proper space and a good M/F ratio.

 

[le_bwah]

I've had Coturnix for about 3 years now, kept on deep bedding or deep litter depending on the time of year. Regardless of what you want to keep quail for, more space per bird will, on whole, yield a healthier and less-stressed flock.

Here's 13 birds in a 6 x 8 pen. The red arrow is pointing to a juvenile male. Notice how the others are mostly under cover? They sort of spread out and make themselves scarce when given the chance.

Space is only half the issue. They prefer to be under cover. Grass is great if you can plant it, and odd bits of wood/cardboard boxes work too.

If you provide dense enough cover, you won't get as much "boinking" on the cage's roof, as the birds generally dart for ground cover before they flush.

Rule of thumb for gender is 1 male : 3-5 females, but each flock and housing situation is unique. If you just wants eggs/pets, you don't need to keep males. If you want meat and/or to sell chicks, plenty folks on this site can give you a better ballpark for keeping fertility high.

Good luck!

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

If you provide dense enough cover, you won't get as much "boinking" on the cage's roof, as the birds generally dart for ground cover before they flush.

. . .
If you provide dense enough cover, you won't get as much "boinking" on the cage's roof, as the birds generally dart for ground cover before they flush.

Excellent advice -- and AMAZING cages. I'm jealous.

 

[FloorCandy]

If you have 1 pen, you can have 1 male. If you have 2 pens, you can have 2 males, one in each. . .

Don't build 1 big one, make two smaller ones and keep the sets separate. You can put a removable divider in between if you think you might change your mind later. Mine love living on the ground, but you need to bury wire around the edges. My wire is lightly buried, but has a 3" wide ribbon of hardware cloth buried horizontally underground to keep the birds from digging out, and the predators from digging in. Our largest predators are rats. If you have raccoons or foxes, you will need more of a barrier than what I use.

Update: I just read the post from @FloorCandy. You can keep 2 males and 10-12 females in that space -- the biggest downside is that if you only have 1 pen, if there is a fight or the birds don't get along, you have nowhere else to send them to.

Trouble makers go to the freezer here, but only rarely do I have boys that won’t get along when provided enough space and hens. It’s more common in my experience to have a hen who is a trouble maker when conditions are ideal.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Trouble makers go to the freezer here, but only rarely do I have boys that won’t get along when provided enough space and hens. It’s more common in my experience to have a hen who is a trouble maker when conditions are ideal.

I currently have two males in a large pen with just three females. I'm holding him for someone. They're okay, but the one permanent resident roo is NOT happy about the new guy. You can never have enough pens with quail, IMHO. It's annoying sometimes.

 

[FloorCandy]

I currently have two males in a large pen with just three females. I'm holding him for someone. They're okay, but the one permanent resident roo is NOT happy about the new guy. You can never have enough pens with quail, IMHO. It's annoying sometimes.

I’m cutting down to 2 pens, a grow out, and a male jail. I might make a couple small breeder cages. Currently I have 3 pens, a grow out, and male jail.

 

[FloorCandy]

I’m cutting down to 2 pens, a grow out, and a male jail. I might make a couple small breeder cages. Currently I have 3 pens, a grow out, and male jail.

An update on cutting down the number of pens, now I have 5. Hahaha