My quail are here and I am SO EXCITED

[eddie_van_quailen]

There's so much information on this forum, I love it! And these little things are the CUTEST!! I love the way they turn into little muffins when they sleep (my fiancé coined the term "quail muffin" and I think it's the perfect terminology. It's like a "cat loaf" but, you know, smaller). As a bit of background, I got mine as pets mainly, the eggs will be a bonus for us. We are open to shifting our mindset/plan to include breeding/butchering for meat, but that would be down the road if at all. I want to raise California Valley Quail eventually, but we're starting with coturnix to get the basics of husbandry and aviary-building down first.

I've got three 16-day-old jumbo brown coturnix chicks that I purchased from a neighbor, brought them home Tuesday night, and I think all are female but we'll know for sure in a week or two. We're going to share a batch of celadon hatching eggs in about a month, and I'll take a few from that clutch as well, bringing my total starting flock size to 6-8 hens. Since our natural-type aviary (or, quaviary as I've been calling it ) will be 4'x8' (and 7' tall), with plenty of hiding spots, I figure we could fit 10-12 birds in there if we wanted to, maybe more, but I don't want to crowd it. There are so many sizes & colors I'd like to have in the flock though!

Right now, the chicks are in a homemade tub brooder in our spare bedroom, and we'll start construction on their ground pen/aviary in a week or so. It should be ready by the time they're 5-6 weeks old and ready to go outside (we're in northern CA and it should be plenty warm enough by then). I'm feeling fairly confident about most aspects of their husbandry (was a veterinary technician for many years at an avian hospital) but still have lots to learn and will keep reading here! I've seriously been reading this forum for, like, 2-3 hours a day for the last month Huge thanks to everyone who contributed/contributes to the informative articles here, they've been lifesavers!

Anyway, here are a couple pics of the babies! I just love them so much I am weighing them daily right now (I know, I'm a little neurotic but it's mostly just an excuse to hold/handle them ) and I am shocked at how much weight they gained just in the first day! They each gained 9-14 grams overnight!! But they're still not very used to being handled so I'm trying to get them used to it slowly and gently without stressing them out too much (3rd chick not pictured because she's still very jumpy/flighty and I didn't want to stress her with too much handling)

 

[Nabiki]

Congratulations and welcome to the world of quail! Feel free to ask any questions, and check out the learning center. It's the first link in the quail Sticky.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Congratulations and welcome to the world of quail! Feel free to ask any questions, and check out the learning center. It's the first link in the quail Sticky.

Thank you! I think I've read every single thing in the learning center Trying not to over-think everything, too, but I will definitely bring any lingering questions back here!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Congratulations and welcome to the world of quail! Feel free to ask any questions, and check out the learning center. It's the first link in the quail Sticky.

I thought of a question for you Would you suggest more or less handling to make them less skittish? I’m starting to think that handling them daily might actually be making them more afraid of me and my hands. I’d like to help them realize that I’m not a danger to them, so I thought regular gentle handling might get them almost. Should I maybe hold off on picking them up/weighing them for a while and just let them be though? I hear the coturnix can be quite tame but these ones tend to pop all around the brooder anytime I come within eyeshot, they definitely freak out while I’m cleaning it, and I hope I’m not making it worse

 

[Nabiki]

I thought of a question for you Would you suggest more or less handling to make them less skittish? I’m starting to think that handling them daily might actually be making them more afraid of me and my hands. I’d like to help them realize that I’m not a danger to them, so I thought regular gentle handling might get them almost. Should I maybe hold off on picking them up/weighing them for a while and just let them be though? I hear the coturnix can be quite tame but these ones tend to pop all around the brooder anytime I come within eyeshot, they definitely freak out while I’m cleaning it, and I hope I’m not making it worse

I don't handle mine much, but I hang out near them a lot. They are very used to my presence and don't try to run away from me. I fact, they really don't have a healthy fear of feet.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

I don't handle mine much, but I hang out near them a lot. They are very used to my presence and don't try to run away from me. I fact, they really don't have a healthy fear of feet.

I suppose a healthy fear of feet wouldn’t be such a bad thing! Thank you for your response. I’ll stop bothering them for a bit and let them realize on their own that I’m not a threat

 

[Nabiki]

I suppose a healthy fear of feet wouldn’t be such a bad thing! Thank you for your response. I’ll stop bothering them for a bit and let them realize on their own that I’m not a threat

They will know that you are the source of food. I had a temporary pen end up uneven on the ground and most of my 4 week olds got out into my back yard. I was horrified, but then they all started to run towards me when they saw that I had their food. I was able to round most of them up. I did lose some, but most of them were saved.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Thank you so much for all your help! That's useful to know. I thought of a couple more questions...

1. I have some sand here that I’ve used for gardening, but I got a 50lb bag so I have lots left over. It’s “horticultural sand.” Would this be safe to use in the birds’ aviary/dust bath, or should I buy builder’s/washed sand as I’ve seen others do in other posts? I couldn’t seem to find any info about quail & horticultural sand specifically, mostly just debates about play sand/washed sand/construction sand… I add the horticultural sand to my soil mixes to improve drainage so I would think it’s fairly coarse. I do know that it doesn’t stick together when wet, at all, and that’s kind of the idea (for it to improve soil drainage/aeration) but I don't know how the different mineral content might affect the birds (if at all). According to this website "Horticultural sand is very gritty sand made from substances such as crushed granite, quartz, or sandstone. Horticultural sand for plants is often known as sharp sand, coarse sand, or quartz sand. Usually when used for plants, sand consists of both large and small particles." It is also lime-free, I have read.

2. Now that they're 20 days old, would it be OK to start offering a small dust bathing area to them now, in the brooder, for an hour or two per day? And/or some herbs/greens? (oregano, rosemary, mint, etc.?) I assume they'll eat a bit of the sand. Would it be like grit for them or would it risk crop impaction at this age? I've seen in other posts most people say not to give anything but gamebird starter until 6+ weeks of age but I thought I would double-check to see if the advice has changed

 

[Nabiki]

As long as there's no fertilizer in the sand, it should be fine.

3 weeks old is old enough for a sand bath. You'll love watching them play in it.

I would wait until 6 weeks before giving them treats. Treats should never be more than 10% of their diet.

 

[007Sean]

White heart sunflower seeds will have them running to you! Mine go crazy over them....some will eat from my hand but they still do not want to be picked up!....it's like a predator/prey instinct.