New to BYC and Quail!

[Dispatch273]

Hello everyone!!! My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house and I have always wanted to keep chickens. Then I started doing more research and discovered quail! They seem to be a much better fit for me in terms of care, space requirements and noise. I have a few questions which I'm hoping you guys can help me with. The house we are trying to buy has a small shed in the backyard which I plan on using for the quail. I'll probably have a 5'x5'x10'tall space for them(hubby won't let me take over the whole thing haha). I was thinking of having my FIL make me a large rabbit hutch type of building but then I read a little bit about keeping them on the ground with deep litter. I kind of like the idea of keeping them on the ground because it would give them more space and they can behave more naturally.

1. Incubators. Which is the best without spending more than $100?
2. After the eggs hatch how do I keep the chicks warm and should they be inside the house at this point?
3. What are the pros and cons of keeping quail on wire vs the ground(deep litter?)
4. I'd like to get jumbo coturnix quail. Where is the best place to buy hatching eggs and how many should I buy to start?


Thank you in advance for your help. I'm super excited to get this quail ball rolling. Now we just need to close on this house!!

 

[dc3085]

Hello everyone!!! My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house and I have always wanted to keep chickens. Then I started doing more research and discovered quail! They seem to be a much better fit for me in terms of care, space requirements and noise. I have a few questions which I'm hoping you guys can help me with. The house we are trying to buy has a small shed in the backyard which I plan on using for the quail. I'll probably have a 5'x5'x10'tall space for them(hubby won't let me take over the whole thing haha). I was thinking of having my FIL make me a large rabbit hutch type of building but then I read a little bit about keeping them on the ground with deep litter. I kind of like the idea of keeping them on the ground because it would give them more space and they can behave more naturally.

1. Incubators. Which is the best without spending more than $100?
Under $100 you'd be best off building your own or looking for a used one on craigslist. Whats out there for $100 new makes hatching harder than it needs to be. There is a whole thread here on making them. If your FIL can build a cage for you he can build a better bator than you'll be able to buy for that price.

2. After the eggs hatch how do I keep the chicks warm and should they be inside the house at this point?



Just use a tub fixed like this for a brooder. Put an old towel in the bottom and a water font filled with marbles so the chicks can't drown or get wet. You set the heat lamp on the wire and use a dimmer switch on the heat lamp to control temp or you can hang the lamp from the ceiling and raise and lower it to control temp. The brooder should be 95 degrees at hatch and be lowered in temp by 5 degrees every week for the first four weeks. After that they are fully feathered and no longer need a heat lamp.


3. What are the pros and cons of keeping quail on wire vs the ground(deep litter?)
Their feet will appreciate the deep litter and they will be less stressed. Wire is easier to keep clean and easier to prevent worms and diseases, but not that much easier. Wire is also costly and will not look as nice as time goes by.

4. I'd like to get jumbo coturnix quail. Where is the best place to buy hatching eggs and how many should I buy to start?

JMF is a privately owned farm that produces the highest quality stock and best customer service in the coturnix world. Shipped eggs usually hatch at a rate of 70% or less. Coturnix usually hatch around 50/50 roosters and hens so you'll need to account for that too.


Thank you in advance for your help. I'm super excited to get this quail ball rolling. Now we just need to close on this house!!

Be sure to check out the BYC Sticky page it contains most everything you need to know about coturnix.

Good luck!

 

[James the Bald]

Also, since you will be incubating eggs at one point in time (maybe multiple times, as this can be addictive), Sally Sunshine made this article to help everyone with hatching. It may seem like a very long article, but it is packed full of information. There is a chart that lists the incubation period for different poultry animals that gives the incubation period as well as the temperature and when Lockdown is (day you stop turning the eggs).

This site has some good information for brooding quail (and chickens).

I hope the new house works great and really hope this information is of assistance,
good luck with both,
James

 

[Dispatch273]

James thank you for all the information! I've been looking at DIY incubators all afternoon haha! I am very excited to get this house...we've had to jump through many hoops and will hopefully close next week. We've been trying to buy it for 4 months now(it's in probate...ugh!)

 

[dc3085]

Here's an incubator they probably don't show in the DIY section, I haven't checked. If you build this with one turning rack instead of two this whole setup will cost less than $100 (assuming you can freecycle a broken mini fridge). With the two turners I build this style for exactly $160. If make a cooler bator from the right icechest you can actually cut these yellow turning racks half rows to fit inside the cooler and it'll still turn 60 eggs. Make sure when you build a DIY bator to use the GQF wafer thermostat because it only allows 1/2-3/4 of a degree of fluctuation in the bator and the water heater t-stats some people recommend allow up to 3.5 degrees fluctuation. You can also buy incubator parts at this website.