Quail in an apartment?

[AutoAnne]

I moved to an apartment from a country setting where I raised chickens, ducks, and geese for eggs and meat and really miss my birds. I have heard about raising quail inside and would like to hear from others who keep them in an apartment.
My primary concern is the noise. I know the males will call and will process them for meat, but how about the females?
Also, what type of quail would you recommend? I know the popular breed is coturnix, but I'd like to hear your opinions on other breeds as well. Which do you prefer and why?

Thanks...
Anne

 

[HEChicken]

Oh my gosh, honestly I cannot even imagine. I hatched quail and had them in my unfinished basement and even then I couldn't stand the smell. I couldn't wait to get them outside.

 

[TwoCrows]

You can keep quail inside if you keep it really clean. They only smell when you don't keep up with the poop. Use good absorbent bedding as well.

Button quail are tiny, but they make great apartment quail! They are very pretty as well. They are indoor quail to begin with and do well in parrot aviaries and cages.

If you aren't interested in Buttons, Coturnix are your next bet. I wouldn't bother with trying any of the New World species like Bobs or Gambels. Very hyper birds unless you kept only one or two of them and hand raised them from babies with a TON of handling.

 

[HEChicken]

It may depend what you are feeding them. I was feeding game bird starter and I've found that any bird eating that will smell a lot more than birds raised on regular chick starter. I was cleaning out the brooder every day and the smell was still simply awful.

 

[AutoAnne]

Thank you for the replies! I'm no stranger to raising chicks, ducklings, and goslings, indoors, so know that cleaning is essential. I am looking at Coturnix as I feel those would be the best for eggs and meat. I wish I could get away with having a house chicken! I had a turken hen I adored! She was the best layer and was so friendly, but so VERY loud. When she laid an egg, EVERYONE knew it! LOL!
I'm not ready to get eggs yet, but I'm totally looking forward to having chicks again!
Take care
Anne

 

[quailchick]

I incubated four Bobwhites inside my house, they lived in my dining room. First in a fishtank brooder, then in a couple of guinea pig cages. Then a Texas A&M Coturnix was given to me. I loved the BW eggs, little white perfect eggs, bright orange yummy yolks. The Texas A&M eggs are flavorless even though they eat the same food. I have no problems as long as I clean the cage regularly. Sometimes I get busy and forget, but the smell then reminds me. I am now down to just the Texas A&M, the others died from unknown reasons, except for two from injuries from another bird. Sometimes I think the TA&M gave the other two a disease. Watch out for bird lice and mites. I don't know how to deal with it, I am going to ask here on another thread. I loved my Bobwhites, but they were very difficult to handle when needed. I regularly held them as chicks, but they never got used to it. The TA&M is definitely tamer. I love to pet her.

 

[Sill]

I moved to an apartment from a country setting where I raised chickens, ducks, and geese for eggs and meat and really miss my birds. I have heard about raising quail inside and would like to hear from others who keep them in an apartment.
My primary concern is the noise. I know the males will call and will process them for meat, but how about the females?
Also, what type of quail would you recommend? I know the popular breed is coturnix, but I'd like to hear your opinions on other breeds as well. Which do you prefer and why?

Thanks...
Anne

If you have coturnix and they are set up in a proper ratio for that species the males actually do very little calling. 4-7 hens is ideal. Now when you get youngsters they can start calling as early as 6 weeks, so you will be more than ready to cull the extra males. They are ready to process by 7-9 weeks.

For egg production you can't beat coturnix. They rival the best of the best chicken breeds for laying! Given a proper diet and lighting they will give an egg most days for over a year.

To keep the smell down you can try fermenting their feed. It really does help make them smell less. There are many threads here on BYC on fermenting feed if you do a quick search.