New to quail, have questions!

[topochico225]

Hey y'all!

I am waiting for approval from my family so I can hatch quail eggs. I have a Brinsea Mini II incubator (holds 12 quail eggs) and I want to set up to 12 eggs for a science project and keep some after they hatch. I do not expect a 100% hatch rate (simply being realistic) but I want to keep a male and however many females I need to keep him happy and prevent overmating. I am not trying to hatch, but if they do end up hatching chicks I'm cool with it.

So, my questions are:
-what's the male:female ratio?
-space requirements?
-tips on hatching
-tips on sexing quail
-tips on raising quail

TIA, y'all! I need to find a good source in Louisiana for fertile quail eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've done well with 5 females to 1 male, but he's also a very chill and good male.

Generally a sq foot per bird is close to minimum if they aren't being raised for meat.

Chicks need a very high protein feed that is almost just powder

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Male to Female ratio can depend on a lot (mostly on the male) I've seen boys be happy with 2-3 ladies, others need 6+, others are just wacky weirdos (like my old boy Razzle Dazzle who over bred no matter HOW many ladies) I think the general recommendation is about 4-6 per male?

Space requirements depends, some people keep them in small wire cages, others keep them in large hutches, coops or tractors. I believe 1-3sqft per bird is what people go by. If I remember correctly they need a low roof (a foot or less) so they don't "popcorn" (fly up/flush) and hurt themselves. Alternatively, a really high roof (6ft I believe?) can also help prevent this.

Hatching tips... we're hatching right now! Although generally my mom takes care of the hatching numbers like humidity and I take over once they're hatched, so I can't help with that sorry :'( But here's a baby that's hatched : D Don't mind the rock and the pestle, I'm told they help keep it warm, but again I deal with the babies while she does the hatching ^^

Sexing quail is usually insanely easy. Most of the common colors (pharaoh, italian, etc) are auto-sexing. By 4 weeks old you can see whose male and whose female. Here's an image showing how to sex Pharoahs- https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/f1/3a/68f13a4ce7720fba8388cdc4d1eb01d2.jpg

Raising quail is fairly easy, high protein as chicks, they'll grow up really fast compared to pretty much any other poultry (unless you're familiar with pigeons and doves) and they'll lay eggs as soon as I think like 7-8 weeks??? It's CRAZY compared to chickens haha! Quail eat a lot of food, they have a kind of short lifespan (generally 2-3 years) and according to everyone I know who has quail they're delicious when roasted and wrapped in bacon xD I love them as pets, I actually don't even like quail eggs, but the birds themselves are insanely cute to me. They LOVE a dust/dirt bath, and mine loved to graze.

They'll lay eggs anywhere and they won't brood. So you won't have to worry about any accidental chicks, I think it's one in every thousand or ten thousand coturnix that'll actually go broody and hatch? I've never seen one do it, I was told though that as quickly as one generation they can lose the instinct to brood, but take that all with a grain of salt it's just word of mouth what I've been told : D

And check craigslist! A lot more people than I realized keep quail (they're small so keeping them even in the city is totally doable) so theres generally a lot of quail chicks, hatching eggs and even adult quail on there!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

they need a low roof (a foot or less) so they don't "popcorn" (fly up/flush) and hurt themselves. Alternatively, a really high roof (6ft I believe?) can also help prevent this.

I would say not more than 6 inches honestly unless you have a super high ceiling. I've had females kill themselves just going 9 inches up

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

I would say not more than 6 inches honestly unless you have a super high ceiling. I've had females kill themselves just going 9 inches up

Good to know!! back when I had my own quail (as opposed to hatching for others) we had them in an aviary and in a rabbit hutch and didn't have issues thankfully, but I know of quail who got scalped and broken necks from being in some rabbit hutches :') better safe than sorry!!

 

[snood dude]

For tips on hatching incubate for 17 day and keep humidity at 50-55%. On the last three days of incubation stop turning your eggs and raise the humidity to 55-65%.

 

[ButtonHoarder]

What type of quail do you want?

 

[topochico225]

What type of quail do you want?

Honestly, I don't really mind, but the Baton Rouge craigslist has jumbo Wild and Egyptian Coturnix.

 

[Nabiki]

I would start with the articles section. There are several good articles in there on raising and hatching quail.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/quail.32/

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Honestly, I don't really mind, but the Baton Rouge craigslist has jumbo Wild and Egyptian Coturnix.

Both of those are going to be the same 'species' of Coturnix Quail. Wild and Pharaoh are the same auto-sexing color! Jumbos are of course bigger than normal quail, so that all depends on what you want personally : D