I just have a lot of questions... About quail, chickens and chicken tractors. Please help!

[WannabeFarmer5]

HI!!! I'm a five year chicken owner but until this year have 3 breeds an 7 chickens. My coop can fit 30 so seven was just... But this year I have decided to become a proper farmer or as close as I can get! I currently live on a 12 acre property but one 7 or 9 can really have animals. The rest of the property has been called. AKA Barn site here, riding ring here, new garden here. I'm the owner of 3 beautiful Black Welsh Mountain sheep ewes and two 4 month Black Welsh Mountain sheep boys. Besides our flock of 14 chickens and our four pound farm dog otherwise known as "eagle bait". We have 2 silkies with our big girls and they get along great! Our silkies our with 3 4 month chickens, 2 5 month chickens and 2 layers. The others are all chicks. But now for the many questions!!!
Can you raise quail with chicks and when they are full grown have them with hens? I'd love to raise quail for eggs and meat and I'm wondering If that's possible.

What age do you switch chickens to layers feed?

If it's not possible to raise quail with chickens are they fine in a chicken tractor?

If so how do you raccoon proof a chicken tractor?

What feed do you use for quail?

What would be a good quail chicken tractor?

Can you free range quail and have them return at night like chickens?

That's all for now but I think there's going to be more!!! Thanks in advance!!!

 

[chicks are life]

Switching feed: 16 weeks for chickens
Ratcoon normally come at night so just put the chickens back in there run and kennel


I don't know about quail but I think I read somewhere that chickens give quails dieses that the chickens can't catch...something like that.
And quail are small so you would have to have some gentle chickens.

 

[JurassicBawk]

Quail are nothing like chickens. They don't roost at night, they don't free range, they don't return. They can be friendly and mine welcome me at dinner time for treats, but they are first and foremost a wild bird. I hatched/handraised my quail and still have one get out of the cage and run/fly from me for over an hour before flying into the woods, and I will never see it again.

I have mine in rabbit hutches with shavings on the bottom, as I don't want them on just hanging wire. You need very small hardwire mesh as predators can pull them through chicken wire, and will pull their feet off or their heads off if able to. You need a bare minimum of 1 sq ft per bird floor space, not including feeders/water. (Mine use rabbit water bottles.) Your enclosure height needs to be shorter than 2' or taller than 6' because they jump upwards and will break their necks if they have too much force. Mine only have about 16 inches and one still managed to jump up and bash the top of her head bloody, setting off a chain reaction ending in 4 very hurt quail attacking each other over the sight of blood. They were treated and fine now, but if she'd had much more speed she would have snapped her neck.

You could probably put them in a chicken tractor, but if they get loose they are gone. You also need a buffer between chickens and quail, because chickens will make your quail sick and/or attack and kill them. My chicken coop and my quail area are about 25 feet away and that is fine, but once I had to put the quail inside the coop while rebuilding fences and within 2 days the quail all had swollen eyes. Chickens carry invisible disease that quail are susceptible to, despite my chickens being at my house since 1 day old and the quail being hatched here, so be very careful of cross contamination. And while my 4 Easter Eggers are doing well accepting 2 month old Dutch bantams, they actively chased and tried to attack a quail that got loose in there once.

 

[WannabeFarmer5]

Quail are nothing like chickens. They don't roost at night, they don't free range, they don't return. They can be friendly and mine welcome me at dinner time for treats, but they are first and foremost a wild bird. I hatched/handraised my quail and still have one get out of the cage and run/fly from me for over an hour before flying into the woods, and I will never see it again.

I have mine in rabbit hutches with shavings on the bottom, as I don't want them on just hanging wire. You need very small hardwire mesh as predators can pull them through chicken wire, and will pull their feet off or their heads off if able to. You need a bare minimum of 1 sq ft per bird floor space, not including feeders/water. (Mine use rabbit water bottles.) Your enclosure height needs to be shorter than 2' or taller than 6' because they jump upwards and will break their necks if they have too much force. Mine only have about 16 inches and one still managed to jump up and bash the top of her head bloody, setting off a chain reaction ending in 4 very hurt quail attacking each other over the sight of blood. They were treated and fine now, but if she'd had much more speed she would have snapped her neck.

You could probably put them in a chicken tractor, but if they get loose they are gone. You also need a buffer between chickens and quail, because chickens will make your quail sick and/or attack and kill them. My chicken coop and my quail area are about 25 feet away and that is fine, but once I had to put the quail inside the coop while rebuilding fences and within 2 days the quail all had swollen eyes. Chickens carry invisible disease that quail are susceptible to, despite my chickens being at my house since 1 day old and the quail being hatched here, so be very careful of cross contamination. And while my 4 Easter Eggers are doing well accepting 2 month old Dutch bantams, they actively chased and tried to attack a quail that got loose in there once.

Thank you! Since quail can't be with chickens they would probably be in a specially designed chicken tractor that I'd make for them by the house since the local raccoon doesn't go there. Thank you again for the info!

 

[WannabeFarmer5]

Switching feed: 16 weeks for chickens
Ratcoon normally come at night so just put the chickens back in there run and kennel


I don't know about quail but I think I read somewhere that chickens give quails dieses that the chickens can't catch...something like that.
And quail are small so you would have to have some gentle chickens.

Thanks for the information!!!

 

[JurassicBawk]

I have my quail hutches against my house/garage and the chicken coop literally built into the area against my house and under my deck. One experience with a predator and I brought them as close to home and safe as possible.

On the feed... I didn't change my chickens to a layer formula until they were 6 months old, because that is when they started laying. They're Easter Eggers and develop slower, but the higher calcium isn't good for non-laying birds, so I kept them on Flock Raiser. Then I had trouble finding the proper quail food, since medicated game bird starter is all my store had in stock and you're only supposed to feed it to quail the first 6 weeks (and I didn't want the medication constantly.) Now since I have laying chickens, 1 month old baby bantams, and lots of quail, I just get the Flock Raiser crumbles since it has the proper protein that everyone needs, then give everyone free-choice oyster crumbles for extra calcium. It keeps me from having to buy separate food and/or special ordering, and all the birds get fresh veggies/fruit/grass to supplement also. The link is below in case you want to see the exact kind.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-flock-raiser-crumbles-premium-poultry-feed-50-lb