Illinois Quail Keepers

[BReeder!]

I am going to house my quail inside with my rabbits and show birds. I am currently building a cage that is 4 feet high, 2 feet wide, and 4 feet long in total. It will be split into three sections, the two closest to the ground 18” high and the one up top 12” high. The back will be solid wood and front will be 1/2” x 1/2” wire. I will be building another soon. The top one will most likely be used as a brooder.

Yea, I have thought about bringing mine inside... I sort of want to keep them out of the house if possible though. They make a lot of dust and poop...I am thinking about moving them into or shed coop with the chickens lkje I originally planned. I just don't knife if they'll be warm enough. The shed is not heated, but it blocks the wind. They would just have body heat to stay warm.

 

[BReeder!]

Our quail have hatched! They are 1-3 days old now.
I have 20 available for sale, $5 each. If your are interested, please message me. I am in Plainfield - west suburbs of Chicago.
Our quail are bred from Jumbo Browns sourced out of state from a large breeding program. There is one rescued coturnix make in our covey, but its offspring are easily identifiable by color difference and will not be sold to toy unless you desire them. All of the hatchlings are the first generation of our homegrown stock so the genetics are stable.

 

[WhatsMyNameAgain]

I see there hasn't been much activity on this thread for a while. I'm new to jumbo brown / jumbo pharoah coturnix quail and in Illinois. I'm in the western part of the state, near Iowa.

I read a lot of the illinois game laws and here's what I found:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1729&ChapterID=43
It's a long read, but basically Bobwhite are the only quail I could find on what was defined as a game bird. These are the only ones which would require a game bird breeding permit (Class A - which allows you to breed them and Class B allows you to breed and sell).
https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/LPR/Pages/CommercialLicensesFees.aspx

A few questions for you Illinoisans:
1. Are you in the city / country and are you zoned agriculture?
For now, I'm raising them in the city. In my garage.
2. If you're in the city - have you had any problems with neighbors?
Thus far, my neighbors don't and hopefully won't ever know that I'm raising quail.
3. Quantity?
I have about 25 but will reduce my males in a few weeks when they're full grown and when my ladies start laying.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm actually phasing out quail and peeping to stay with up a rabbit operation instead.

1. Are you in the city / country and are you zoned agriculture?
I'm in a far suburb of Chicago, 40 miles to work downtown. I am in a subdivision and zoned residential. I just have a 1/3 acre with neighbors all around.

2. If you're in the city - have you had any problems with neighbors?
My neighbors do know about our chickens and must know about the ducks too. The quail's noise blends right in with wild birds to the untrained ear. Nobody knows we have them except certain friends and family that visit us.

3. Quantity?
My first hatch of eggs resulted in 52 quail I believe. We have had over 100 at once of varying ages. I built a large 8'x3' caffe at first and quickly had to build a hutch with three stacked caves each measuring 4'x2'. They really don't take up that much room though.

 

[sunbursts]

We have Bob's and you need a permit. I don't think you need a permit for any other quail in Illinois.

We live in a small town in a townhouse, so I have plenty neighbors and under half an acre. So, before we moved I asked the neighbors if they'd mind quail, as the county ordinance doesn't allow fowl within 100 feet of neighbors. They said it'd be fine so it worked out.

Right now we just have 13, may add more ladies but we don't like to kill/eat our's so not sure how to add more females without being over-run with males. I keep them outside on the ground in a 200sq ft pen/aviary.

Welcome!!

 

[WhatsMyNameAgain]

I'm actually phasing out quail and peeping to stay with up a rabbit operation instead.

We seem to share similar hobbies. Over the years, I've raised purebred californians and new zealands, silver fox, and rabbit-mutts. I eventually sold them all off because of the impact they had on my family. I've always had good intentions with rabbits, but I ultimately got out of it because the chores were keeping me from my wife and kids.

My wife has been interested in raising birds for a number of years. We finally pulled the trigger on quail and currently have chicken eggs in the incubator. If for nothing else, in my case, it won't be as bad as the rabbits - so long as I have someone to share the experience with.

I had built my own rabbit cages out of white wire shelves:

I'm not the guy in the video, but I have a great deal of admiration for him. He's pretty handy.

For quail, I'm using these cages:
https://hatchingtime.com/collections/quail-cages/products/quail-cage-4-layer
So far so good. I can see some problems but they're pretty decent. On the expensive side, but it saved me a ton of time and sleepless nights trying to design something. And whatever I would've designed wouldn't have been as nice as those.

Full disclosure, I'm in this for meat and eggs. I'm not raising these as pets. This is another plus when compared to rabbits (at least for my immediate family) the kids and wife got attached to "fluffy" and didn't enjoy eating their "pet" even though I told them not to get attached.

I have some questions for you:
1. As you've looked back on your quail experiences, what would you recommend for me?
2. What was your biggest success?
3. What was something I should avoid?
4. Are you willing to share pictures of your setup?
5. Why are you getting out of them?

I'm sure your already proficient, but if there's something I can offer you regarding rabbits, just let me know.

-WhatsmynameAgain?!

 

[enigmachick]

I'm so glad I found this thread, I'm in Illinois and while my city ordinance does not allow chickens, I have been told quail should be alright. I was going to get a license to raise game birds but I was planning on coturnix...are we positive that we don't need one unless we have bobwhites?

 

[WhatsMyNameAgain]

I'm so glad I found this thread, I'm in Illinois and while my city ordinance does not allow chickens, I have been told quail should be alright. I was going to get a license to raise game birds but I was planning on coturnix...are we positive that we don't need one unless we have bobwhites?

Read the post I wrote from before - hopefully the research I did will help you:

I read a lot of the illinois game laws and here's what I found:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1729&ChapterID=43
It's a long read, but basically Bobwhite are the only quail I could find on what was defined as a game bird. These are the only ones which would require a game bird breeding permit (Class A - which allows you to breed them and Class B allows you to breed and sell).
https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/LPR/Pages/CommercialLicensesFees.aspx

If you want the shortcut to understanding that law (or at least my interpretation), go to the section (in the first link above) where they define what is protected by the act:

"Wildlife protected by this Act, hereby defined as protected species, include the following wild species and all wild species contained in listed families, including, but not limited to, groups of wild species preceding each family name: ... Northern Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus;

Then, to make yourself feel a little better, search the act for Coturnix. You will find 2 spots. Both have to deal with breeders who want to hunt them and the age at which they can be released. When I made this connection, I realized that Coturnix while a gamebird, does not fall under the gamebird protections per this act (i.e. they specifically mention it elsewhere but it is not protected)!

I am not a lawyer - not even close, so proceed at your own discretion. I disclaim all liability. However, although I'm not a lawyer, I can read and I think the argument I've put together is pretty sound. I too am new to this. I want to be legal I was willing to get the permit to breed them. It's like $10. However, after reading VERY closely, my understanding is that so long as you stay with Coturnix quail - you're good - as this does NOT fall under what is protected in the game act. Above all, do your own due dilligence and see if you come to the same conclusion - and if so, let me know - because I'd like some reassurance too.

Moreover, notice that it says "all wild species contained in listed families, including, but not limited to, groups of wild species preceding each family name: ... Northern Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus" (emphasis mine)

So, what is in the colinus family you might ask...well, let's look at wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colinus
This shows that the members are all "Bob Whites"

AND - Coturnix is not a wild breed to the USA. So, not only is this not a Bob White, this is NOT a wild breed... so I'm VERY confident that we're good.

-WhatsMyNameAgain?

 

[BReeder!]

Read the post I wrote from before - hopefully the research I did will help you:



If you want the shortcut to understanding that law (or at least my interpretation), go to the section (in the first link above) where they define what is protected by the act:


Then, to make yourself feel a little better, search the act for Coturnix. You will find 2 spots. Both have to deal with breeders who want to hunt them and the age at which they can be released. When I made this connection, I realized that Coturnix while a gamebird, does not fall under the gamebird protections per this act (i.e. they specifically mention it elsewhere but it is not protected)!

I am not a lawyer - not even close, so proceed at your own discretion. I disclaim all liability. However, although I'm not a lawyer, I can read and I think the argument I've put together is pretty sound. I too am new to this. I want to be legal I was willing to get the permit to breed them. It's like $10. However, after reading VERY closely, my understanding is that so long as you stay with Coturnix quail - you're good - as this does NOT fall under what is protected in the game act. Above all, do your own due dilligence and see if you come to the same conclusion - and if so, let me know - because I'd like some reassurance too.

Moreover, notice that it says "all wild species contained in listed families, including, but not limited to, groups of wild species preceding each family name: ... Northern Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus" (emphasis mine)

So, what is in the colinus family you might ask...well, let's look at wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colinus
This shows that the members are all "Bob Whites"

AND - Coturnix is not a wild breed to the USA. So, not only is this not a Bob White, this is NOT a wild breed... so I'm VERY confident that we're good.

-WhatsMyNameAgain?

Well written and I agree

 

[Unquailified]

Hello!! This is WAAAAY after you started the original thread but we just hatched some coturnix quail. They're about 6 weeks old now and we're keeping them in a coop in the back yard. Totally newbie quail owners. We know we need a few more females to round out our flock, but I don't want to hatch more eggs because we don't need any more males.