I want quail

[strollingbones]

I have chickens and ducks. I would like to get quail. I see conflicting reports on quail and chickens being raised near each other.
Do you sell quail eggs to restaurants? Is it worth is?

and yes, I have no clue about anything about Quail.

 

[TwoCrows]

You can raise quail near chickens, but it is not advised to raise them in the same pen together due to not only size difference, (chickens can kill quail), but chickens can carry disease that can kill quail. You make the call on how you keep them.

You can sell eggs to restaurants, but be careful with this should you need licensing and such. Check your local laws.

If you have specific questions, you can either check the "stickies" section at the top of the quail section, go thru the archives here in quail or just ask a question here.

 

[strollingbones]

o you know how newbies are...all excited and cant wait to jump in...

right now my husband is pretty much insisting we get what we have underhand.

I would never put a small thing in with large chickens. So I can have both as long as I am careful with cross contamination?

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, you can keep both. My chickens are only 15 feet or so away from my quail. But you have to make sure to wash your hands between your chickens and quail. If you have a walk in type quail facility, use other shoes so you are not tracking in chicken poop. Don't share chicken feeders with the quail. Water fonts, the same. Just use as much bio security as possible and you will be fine.

I would keep your quail "up wind" of your chickens so that nothing blows onto the quail if a chicken gets sick. Just keep cleanliness in your mind all the time. When you go out to visit your poultry, see your quail first so your hands and clothes are clean. Things like this.

 

[jbobs]

The stickies on this site are a really great place to start off! Quail are tons of fun.

I used to sell craptons of eggs at the Farmer's Market until the food inspectors stuck their nose in and made it virtually impossible. They are notorious for just wanting to ban people from doing things, not at all interested in helping people do things right instead. Just be very cognicent of your local and state laws about food, and whoever buys from you - have them sign a waiver saying they understand that you are a hobby farm and not a commercial producer and they will not hold you responsible for any alleged illness that arises from the consumption of your eggs. Most restaurants are bound by law to purchase their ingredients from an inspected, licenced source. Some of them chose not to, but that's their choice, and if they were ever sued over an illness this is where the problems would start. You don't want any of that BS trickling over to you.

Yes I have kept my quail in cages in the same vicinity as my chickens but about 30 or 40 feet away from the chicken yard. If possible I always tend the quail first and then go to the chickens as there seems to be less health risk to the chickens from the quail as there is from the chickens to the quail.