Quail - Newbie

[jordobrooke]

Hi everyone! New here.

I started looking into raising quail. It wouldnt be for a couple years but want to know more for when I am ready.

A lot I have found is about wire raising them, however, I want to ground raise them inside of a sanctuary type set up. Thinking half an acre would be split between a garden/greenhouse and the rest would be the quail area.

I have a few questions:

1) I will most likely be in Upstate NY, what breed is better suited for the cooler weather/snow?

2) There will be shelters but is it better to have a housed enclosure they can go into (like the greenhouse) that is warmer and out of the snow?

3) A lot of the information says that quail arent very broody - is it possible in an on ground enclosure they would be able to or will it be all incubation on my part?

4) Do they get bored like chickens do and need "toys" to break that or is releasing crickets and mealworms enough to keep them busy?

5) How tall should their enclosures be so that they don't hit their heads? I don't want to clip wings so would like it to be safe for them.

Thats it for now, thank you!!

 

[DK newbie]

Try the search function on the forum - you'll be able to find better answers than this for most of your questions. But here goes:

1) Coturnix are quite hardy and do well in freezing temperatures. There might be other breeds too, but coturnix are easy to get and can be used for both eggs and meat.

2) In general, it seems quail are not very good at using their shelters. Having a light on in the shelter after dark might help, feeding them in the shelter might as well. Or perhaps they are smart enough to use them if it gets really cold..

3) In aviaries and such, it does happen that a coturnix gets broody, but in general it's a rare occurrence. About the same with most other species. I have, however, found that my button quail go broody quite readily - but others have different experiences and have buttons for years without ever having one go broody.

4) A bored chicken? A chicken toy? Guess there is something here I don't know about. But I think quail would be happy as long as they are on the ground so they can look for bugs, scratch the ground and similar, have a place to dust bath, places to hide, places in and out of the sun.. And they'd love crickets and mealworms, grass clippings, a bit of small bird seeds and such for entertainment.

5) Below 12 inches or above 5 feet, I'd say. In between, I'd pad the roof.