I am thinking of having Quail, so what are Quail like??

[java girl 2]

what is the temperament of them? I hear that they are very friendly, yes, no or only one breed?? how do you raise them? how much space do they need?? I am asking because I can't find any books on them and I wanted to hear what your birds are like and how you raise them.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Cortunix are tame, bobwhite so so and gamble and valley at least ones I had were very spastic if you got to close to them. as far space never really measured how big kept most of mine in pens off the ground.

Good luck with what ever kind you decide to get.

 

[BayGoose]

I currently have Gambels and they are very skittish. Not something you can really cuddle with lol. Coturnix are tamer. I haven't had them in years, but from what I remember, they were much calmer than my gambels. Especially if you handle them often, they can be pretty friendly. I keep my quails in pens off the ground. They are pretty easy to keep.

 

[Fat Daddy]

New world quail are spazzy. Iv never owned any that would' nt bounce off the top of there cage if the wind blew just right... From my experiance Gambels are the worst. Bobs nearly as bad... I have found, in smaller groups they tame down more. But in a group of 6 or more they bounce at every move... Once one panics, it sets'em all off. The cots are like chickens if you mess with them. None like to held but touching a cot does not bother them... Having said that, I like the new world quail best these days... Coturnix are like the guppies or gold fish of the game birds and likely should be your first quail... IMHO, Bill

 

[Wyogirl]

I 2nd that on the "Spazziness" of Gambels, my gosh they are bouncing off all the walls of their cages. The coturnix are alot calmer and I like that.
Of course I am a definite newbie to quail but am not hatching any more gambels LOL
Ayda

 

[meschelelaisav]

We breed & raise what are called button quail. Button quail are the smallest of the quail. When they are born, they are the size of a bumblebee. Full grown they get to be about the size of the palm of your hand. They are considered both a pet bird but also serve a function. A lot of people put them in the bottom of their aviarys as they clean up the excess seed & waste. They are very cute, quite tame, and aren't noisy. They like to be with one another, even if in an aviary. They are really easy to care for. They don't require hand-feeding, lots of people think they do since they are so small when first born. Within an hour of hatching they are eating and drinking on their own. They are actually quite cute even as adults. We've had some that were a little crazy, but overall tempermant is quite tame. Some folks just keep them in a twenty gallon aquarium, where as others put them in avariys or chicken coops. If housing outside, a few things to keep in mind. Number one, when the temperature drops below 50 degrees, they MUST have a constant source of heat. A regular heat lamp with a 100 watt bulb works best. They don't need infrared unless you are using that for chicks anyway. DO NOT put them outside until they are at least eight weeks old. They must be fully feathered. At ten weeks old they are considered adults and if female will begin laying eggs. You can choose to incubate the eggs to get more quail or feed them back to the button quail for extra protein and calcium. Button quail eat chick starter from one day old til four weeks old. You then change their food to a starter/grower until about six weeks old. At that time you can then begin feeding them layer. At ten weeks old you will also want to start introducing grit to their diet. You can also occassionally give them oyster shell grinded up for extra calcium. Since you live in NY, we could ship eggs to you and you can incubate them yourself. While this might sound like a huge task at hand, its actually not. Here is a link to our website. Good luck on your search!!

http://meschelelaisaviary.com

Have a great day!

Amy & Misty Kennedy

 

[fiddleblue]

I think if you are new to raising Quail, it would be best to start either with the Coturnix japonica, or Japanese Quail, or the so-called "Button Quail" which I am reading are really misnamed, for they are really the Chinese Painted Quail. The true Button quail is not a quail at all (pg 26, "Keeping Quail" by Katie Thear) but is in the rail and crane family.

There are actually two books on quail that I found. One is Katie Thear's "KEeping Quail". THe other is "Quail Breeding Manual" by "Unknown Author", by Cornell University LIbrary Digital Collections.

The Coturnix quail can easily be raised in a rabbit hutch, about 2.5 by 3 feet in size will house about 6-7 quail. They need about 1 sq ft each bird. I took a class in raising quail, and the instructor showed us a picture of a quail cage setup made of a dog carrier! They can be kept either indoors or outside. They need to be protected from cold drafts. I really recommend you get Katie Thear's book, it covers most everything you need to know. Quail need a higher protein diet than chickens. A good mix for their feed is as follows: 6 parts turkey starter crumble, 6 parts sunflower chip or meal, 2 part dove and quail seed, 2 part soybean meal, 1 part oyster shell, 1 part flax seed, 1 part kelp meal, 1 part probiotics. I haven't found the probiotics or kelp yet. I was taught in my class that though you can have females only and get unfertilized eggs, the birds are happier with mixed sex groups, in which case you want 1 male for each 3-5 females (though elsewhere on this forum they say 1 male for 5-7 females). You then get fertilized eggs which you can either eat or hatch in an incubator. Quail aren't very good moms: my teacher said that Coturnix japonica actually cannot reproduce without human aid now, they don't hatch their own eggs.