planning for spring... vally/california quail ??

[evonne]

i know these shouldn't be available now, but hubby found some hatching eggs on ebay... is someone trying to be sly, or maybe mis-informed? or is it possible that they are available right now??

anyway, these are the type of quail we want to get, i need a little info from people with more experience....

1) are they like my peacocks and chickens as far as tehy will stay in close proximity to where they know the food is if i let them freerange once they're adults?? i would expect to loose a few to predators and getting lost, but for the most part??

2) if the coop/run is big enough, could i keep quail and pheasants together??
right now i'm building a 16x7 run for my pheasants.. i could easily expand it to 36x7, or just make another run of the same size... would be nice to just have them in the same pen though...

3) can quail and pheasants eat the same food?? for that matter, the peacocks too?? is there a general game bid food that would be good for all 3??

4) is there anyone here on BYC who breeds these and sells hatching eggs?? or can someone recomend a good website??

5) are they easy to hatch from eggs?? or am i better to try and buy babies??

6) i've seen these type of quail running around lake mead area and actually saw one run through the yard the other day... when i've seen them at the lake, it looks like they burrow under plants for a hideout... do they?? or have the ones i've seen just camandeered a rabbit hole?? do i need to give them burrows?? or do they need a little coop style house?? i really want this pen to look natural...

like i said, i know they shouldn't be available now, but i want to be ready with all my information before i put out the money for the birds / eggs...

thanx in advance for any help or peanut gallery comments..

 

[saddina]

The first thing to do is find out if releasing them (free ranging) is legal where you're at. You may need a gamebird permit to have them as they're native here (unlike coturnix which are not). Valley quail would eat gamebird feed, however they're made of something roughly as tough as kleenex when raised by people.

 

[canter6]

1) Free range quail=Raptor food.

2) Absolutely not.

3) Yes, as long as it is crumples, and not pellets. PM makes game bird feed in protein levels from 12.5-30%. 20-30% should be fine for any species of quail as well as your other birds. I recommend 30%.

4) Probably, but have no other comment on this.

5) Waiting for species experts to fill in this blank.

6) See #5


The peanut gallery should sound off soon!

 

[evonne]

lol...

i haven't seen any raptor recently.. but now that you mention it, we do have hawks.. and if i wont freerange my bantams i probly shouldn't freerange quail either...

will have to poner more now.. i wouldn't see them much out back where i'm putting their run.. i guess that gives me a reason to build a gazebo back there right??? honey i have to have a gazebo back there so i can sit and watch the pheasants and quail and the goats and donkey...

 

[canter6]

I don't do free range quail, or Free Raptor Food.

I build 24"X24" coturnix quail pens and just watch the hawks,falcons and an owl or two try to figure out how to get the unoffensive birds out from the 1/4" wire.

For every hawk you see, there is probably 2 more trying to feast on your birds.