Quail care

[Bluewhale]

Hello,

I am looking into getting quails and I have a few questions!
Firstly what do people use on the floor in the ‘nest’ area?
what do people feed their quail?
in terms of enrichment what do people put in their coops?
Thank you!

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

@Nabiki

 

[Lucy Brown]

@Kiki

 

[muddy75]

I keep mine on mulch and dirt in an aviary. Flower pots (plastic) and dollar store baskets make great hideaways as do small animal houses igloos tree trunks etc. I put straw or wood shavings in the hideaways. Fresh or artificial plants and a dust bath if in a cage setting with peat moss, yard dirt, or construction sand.

 

[Kiki]

I use peat moss.
This exact stuff:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Premier-1-cu-ft-Peat-Moss-0262/206020295

I feed this for the first 6 weeks:
http://bryantgrainco.com/index.php/poultry/

Then at about 6 weeks of age I switched them to the poultry "Lay Krumble".

Here is what one of my cages looks like:

 

[Kiki]

Btw welcome to BYC!
I assume you are talking about Coturnix quail. Am I wrong?

 

[Nabiki]

I keep mine on the ground, either in my garden beds (fall/winter) or around the yard (spring, summer).
I recommend taking a look at the articles section on quail.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/quail.32/

 

[CJ_PH]

Here's my brooder.

It really depends on what you are raising them for, there are a lot of videos on YouTube for different types of style depending on purpose.

The brooder's floor is 1/8 inch wire mesh, the chicks are about 10days old now.

For my 6weeks and above quails, I keep them in a quarter inch screen mesh cage.

If you want to put some sort of bedding, I've seen online that hay or mostly any grass would do or if you could get pine shavings, it should be okay.

 

[DowntownHomesteader]

Here's my brooder.

It really depends on what you are raising them for, there are a lot of videos on YouTube for different types of style depending on purpose.

The brooder's floor is 1/8 inch wire mesh, the chicks are about 10days old now.

For my 6weeks and above quails, I keep them in a quarter inch screen mesh cage.

If you want to put some sort of bedding, I've seen online that hay or mostly any grass would do or if you could get pine shavings, it should be okay.

I really like your brooder set up. I have 3 plastic bins and a huge mess at 3 weeks. I’ve been trying to figure out an “intermediate” cage set up because they are too small for their final cages.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I keep mine in a raised cage with an enclosed run. The run is on the ground with pine shavings, grass clippings, weeds, and anything that will turn into a nice compost one day. The birds sift through it daily and turn the earth. Deep composting works pretty well for me and every once in a while I harvest the nitrogen-rich floor and age it for a few more months before feeding it to the garden.

I also have big sandbaths for them. To clean it, I sift the sand, rinse over the lawn and dry about twice a week. The solids also go into the compost bin for aging.

I love how sustainable these quail are. Nothing goes to waste.

(Important note: If you put your quail on the ground, be sure to use 1/4" hardware cloth not just for the cage itself, but under the cage. I added a 3" wide "ribbon" perpendicular to the floor so that the birds can't dig out, and nothing else can dig in.)