ok, I'm gonna bore you all with the quails again.
First off, I think I have 3 males and 5 females. They should start laying in the spring.
Reading on byc about them is a challenge. Just like chickens, there are people who will tell you they will die if you do this or don't do that....I remember reading here on byc that you couldn't feed chickens tomatoes. or potatoes. or beans. or....so I know to not necessarily believe what I am reading.
I read that you can't keep them anywhere near chickens because the quail will get sick and die. (?) when someone asked why they were smacked down with a kind of nasty toned thing about fine don't believe me just watch your birds die response.
I've looked at a zillion pics of what look like indoor avaries for parrots, and rabbit hutch type cages, two quail to a cage.
I just don't think that is a life for a bird.
After work, I watched them, and got to hear the little males try to whistle the girls into the coop. Some of the hens would go in, others would come out, and pretty soon the males would give up and come out again, only to repeat it all over again. I finally crawled in the pen again but this time was easier, they more or less went in on their own with a little encouragement.
I found some 28% grower for gamebirds. They went bonkers over it.
They walk on their tippy toes! kind of penguin posture.
I think you all should get quail. Repopulate minnesota with them.
