Quail Housing questions.

[Valeriemichelle]

I bought 9 coturnix quail eggs off the internet and made my own incubator. After 18 days of incubating, all 9 eggs hatched. ALL NINE! I wanted to keep them as pets. I had NO idea I would get ALL of them to hatch. Now i have a few questions...

They are about 4 days old, and i've gotten REALLY attached to them. They are spoiled already. LOL! I even have a little bed in their box that they all curl up and sleep in.
When they start getting bigger I dont know what i'm going to do with them. I'm keeping them but i'm a little concerned about where there going to be kept.

I dont want to keep them outside. REALLY dont.

What size cage can I use to keep all 9 in?

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Valerie, Michelle, give it about 2 weeks inside . . .

Youll be changing your mind about keeping 9 quails inside your house . . .

I barely lasted 2 weeks, granted I had over 30, but still . . .

They went out today, thank goodness!

 

[Jplejeune]

That depends on a few things. What sex are they. Usually 3 hens to 1 roo is ideal. Too many roos they will fight. If you dont want birds with bald heads just keep hens. Roosters pull the hens feathers on their head and back while breeding so they tend to get ugly. I have a ton of them but raise for meat and eggs not pets but I keep 4 of them in a cage 10 inches wide 24 inches long and 10 inches tall and they do good. so it depends on what you want but you can double that size and be fine with 9 if you dont care bout the looks

 

[Valeriemichelle]

Thank you guys for the advice.
I just would feel bad for them if I had to put them outdoors cause they would be going from a cozy box
with a bed to a cage out in the cold etc. I don't know if I could do that to them. I would feel really bad.

BUTTT, IF I do end up putting then out there, what would I do with them in the winter? We get bad snow where I live.

 

[aprophet]

there is a previous post I think it is called show me your quail pens there are a few examples of people with birds and snow I think they mostly tarp their pens