Keep male quail together or in their own hutch?

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

Hello BYC Peeps! I have a newbie quail question. I have a large, multi section quail hutch that we have build and I’m in the final stages now of figuring out how I will house my breeding groups. My plan was to have 1:5 - 1:7 in each hutch area, but I wondered if the groups would be happier if I omitted some of the dividers and allowed two breeding groups to share both hutches. So for example, I would omit a run divider, and all of them could share double the run space, and they would also be able to intermingle between two hutch box areas. This would also mean however, that I would have 2 Roos in the same group of about 10-14 females.

Im not sure if there are any advantages over two Roos being in a quail flock and allowing the opportunity for a wider range of “relationships” to form, or if they will fight too much, and I should put in the dividers and have only 1 Roo with its assigned hens. Thoughts? + Thank you!

*this hutch is unfinished, but hopefully it will give you an idea of my future setup.

 

[Dinoroar]

I had quail in small cages while I was building my aviary it took longer than I planned to get it built and the males started to fight and had to be separated out to one per cage. But after I got them out in the aviary there was no more fighting. There are lots of males living peacefully. I think it has a lot to do with having places to hide and separate themselves from each other. You could try putting some grasses etc for your birds to have hiding places and try the group plan and watch their behavior. If it seems like they’re going to fight you can put your dividers in.

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I had quail in small cages while I was building my aviary it took longer than I planned to get it built and the males started to fight and had to be separated out to one per cage. But after I got them out in the aviary there was no more fighting. There are lots of males living peacefully. I think it has a lot to do with having places to hide and separate themselves from each other. You could try putting some grasses etc for your birds to have hiding places and try the group plan and watch their behavior. If it seems like they’re going to fight you can put your dividers in.

That makes perfect sense. I will look into hides today and see what I may be able to incorporate. I SO wanted to go with an aviary, but couldn’t figure out how I could get them all to go in at night. It gets so cold here and we have a lot of forest dwelling predators... Do yours go in to a safe space at night on their own? Thanks again for the reply and helpful insight!

~Aly

 

[FloorCandy]

I have 2 males and most hens in 1 coop, and a temp breeding coop with 1 and the hens I want to breed. This is just for tracking lineage, if tracking lineage of the eggs you hatch isn’t a concern, they will probably be happier together in a larger area.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

The cold isn't the problem Japanese Quails can take easily -10°C to -15°C as long as they have water which isn't frozen.

The predators are a bigger problem.
You need to build an aviary predator safe from all sides (even the ground).

 

[MageofMist]

The cold isn't the problem Japanese Quails can take easily -10°C to -15°C as long as they have water which isn't frozen.

The predators are a bigger problem.
You need to build an aviary predator safe from all sides (even the ground).

As for the predator thing regarding the ground, when Scrappy my Japanese Quail had an outside pen, a rodent of some kind (either rat or squirrel) had burrowed into it... Thankfully it only wanted Scrappy's food, so I am leaning more to squirrel, but he followed the critter out the burrow and I had to walk around playing quail crowing on my phone to locate him. He was taking a casual nap, still in the yard, in a clump of tall grass until he heard 'competition.'

Was glad he wasn't eaten by the intruder or a cat, bird of prey or fox. He is an indoor bird now.

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

The cold isn't the problem Japanese Quails can take easily -10°C to -15°C as long as they have water which isn't frozen.

The predators are a bigger problem.
You need to build an aviary predator safe from all sides (even the ground).

Do you have any tips for keeping the water unfrozen? I’ve been stressing about this... I was thinking if a 5 gallon bucket with a birdbath heater or aquarium heater, but I’m not sure... I found heated rabbit water bottles, but they don’t have the best of reviews...

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I have 2 males and most hens in 1 coop, and a temp breeding coop with 1 and the hens I want to breed. This is just for tracking lineage, if tracking lineage of the eggs you hatch isn’t a concern, they will probably be happier together in a larger area.

I love the idea of a temporary breeding coop because I did want to be able to keep my color variations true when hatching. I never thought of setting up breeding in this way though, so I do really like the idea of having them all together most of the time, at least on each level! Hopefully mine would get along well, like yours! Optional dividers on standby!

 

[Nabiki]

Do you have any tips for keeping the water unfrozen? I’ve been stressing about this... I was thinking if a 5 gallon bucket with a birdbath heater or aquarium heater, but I’m not sure... I found heated rabbit water bottles, but they don’t have the best of reviews...

I've heard that quite a few people have success with a small aquarium heater. I'm lucky that it doesn't get that cold where I am. There are maybe a dozen days during the winter where it gets below freezing, and certainly not for long enough to freeze their water.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

I have some heatplates especially for chicken water disperser.

I also read about heat wires for bigger containers.