Quail coop...

[Warwick29]

Hi, I am new to poultry and I am planning on keeping some quails as they are small and inexpensive. the breed I am interested in is King Quails, are these quails hardy when it comes to hot and cold weather? I live in NSW Australia and it can get below freezing in winter and we'll over 30 degrees Celsius in summer. Will these quails be ok in a standard chicken coop or is insulation required. I have also read that quails prefer to nest on the ground and that a chicken Coop with a ramp leading to the nesting/ sleeping area is not a good idea... Is this true?

 

[GD91]

king quail live in territorial monogamous pairs, not groups. You could keep them in a cage.

 

[dc3085]

If by king quail you mean cbbq or button quail, then you will have a lot of work ahead of you housing them outside. FIrst as was mentioned before they do the best in pairs. Second the climate they originate from maintains between 40-85 degrees F. So during winter you would need to provide heat sources for each pair. The other problem I see keeping them in a chicken coop is their size. Do you think you can keep a hamster or a small rat in there and it not be able to get out? Button quail are about the size of a hamster and if there is hole they will find it.. Coturnix quail (Japanese quail) would be much better suited to what you are trying do.

 

[GD91]

If by king quail you mean cbbq or button quail, then you will have a lot of work ahead of you housing them outside. FIrst as was mentioned before they do the best in pairs. Second the climate they originate from maintains between 40-85 degrees F. So during winter you would need to provide heat sources for each pair. The other problem I see keeping them in a chicken coop is their size. Do you think you can keep a hamster or a small rat in there and it not be able to get out? Button quail are about the size of a hamster and if there is hole they will find it.. Coturnix quail (Japanese quail) would be much better suited to what you are trying do.

I agree.

Coturnix are great birds, you'll have a ball with coturnix.

I wanted King quail since they are so cute, but I read up on them & realized again - nope.

I'd have to separate them into pairs... what if I got left with one on its own after they hatched & were split into pairs.... they needed heat.... I couldn't eat them etc

Since I got the Coturnix, I never looked back. Thy are larger friendly birds with different colors. They talk to you if you go outside & rush up to the wire & the door if you open it. Ours make no fuss about being picked up & they are large enough that you don't feel like you may accidentally kill them. Mine are too heavy to fly off.

I had king quail when I was a kid (didn't know much about them then) & I'm warning you, my experience was terrible & I still feel guilty. I had a monogamous pair given to me. One day my younger brother went into my room & opened the cage. One of my Buttons flew out of the window.. So my grandfather bought me a new one which the other one then wouldn't take to. So I then had 2 quail in separate cages. It took a while, but I eventually got them together in the same cage.

One day I put them outside in their cage lid for a scratch & peck & my brother ran across the garden & booted the cage lid off. So I lost another quail over the wall & the last poor little button flew into the fence. I caught her, but I couldn't persuade my grandfather to get me anymore, so I had just one sad little quail which I spent as much time with as possible, but she was never happy after that. Then another day (again!) my brother snook into my room & put the poor quail in with the gerbils & the gerbils killed it & my brother laughed.

Yes, my younger brother is braindamaged, but my mum always mollycoddled him because of that & he grew into a nightmare with no thoughts for his actions or others feelings.

Never mollycoddle a child just because there is something wrong with it, it will just turn bad like a normal child would.

My dad was very annoyed with my brother & fitted a lock & key on my bedroom door after that since I kept a lot of my pets in there & my dad knew what a horrible little belt my brother was.
So I was able to lock my door... too late.

So glad when I moved out.

If I had them again though, they would be indoors in a cage.

 

[Warwick29]

Thanks for the advise , I decided on coturnix and bought two 3 week old females. One is golden and the other is the wild brown form, they get along very well and are very cute together