Quail space

[ILIKEDUCKS]

i think I can finally get quail and I think I have got enough space for them now I am getting jap quail my run measures 3 meters wide and 1.5 long and 1.5 high how many quail could I fit and what is the ratio for males to females

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

I kept 5 hens to one roo and still ran into problems so I separated my boys and put them into a bachelor pen. I even tried 1 roo to about 10 hens and still had problems. (maybe my roos are just super aggressive)

 

[le_bwah]

25 quail is as high as I'd go for that space (roughly 50 square feet if my math is right). Some people may tell you to pack them in tight, but it's been my experience that between waterers/feeders, cover, and enrichment, the birds do well with with more space. Better to err on the side of extra space than to overcrowd your animals.

The sex ratio can be hard to pin down. It depends largely on the personality of your birds (how aggressive the males are and how receptive the females are, for example). You can have success at many different ratios, but you probably want to aim for around 1:5 male to female for starters and add or subtract from there.

How often do you want to hatch out their eggs? I've personally gone male-free, so I don't know much about optimizing fertility. Other users can tell you more.

 

[SailingAgape]

You make hear a ton of opinions on this question.

Generally people say 1 bird per square foot. By that logic, you could do 50.

Breeders will say things like 3 per square foot. So then you'd be good for 150.

I decided not to do a run because I've talked to plenty of people who did and they said the quail never thanked them back for all the room. Coturnix can be pretty content with not much space.

 

[Quailobsessed]

It really depends on how many you want. Like @le_bwah said, I wouldn't recommend any more than 25 in there. If you didn't want that many, you can't really give them too much space, so just put less. For male to female ratio, it really depends on the individual birds. I think most people say 1 male to 3-5 females, but I successfully keep some in pairs (but if you wanted 20, I wouldn't recommend 10 males and 10 females. That wouldn't end well).

How many do you want?

 

[ILIKEDUCKS]

I probaly will get 10-15 because I don’t know if my males i get will be aggressive, if it goes well will probaly go up to 20 thanks for your help, what’s the best colour mutation is for jap quail?

 

[Quailobsessed]

I probaly will get 10-15 because I don’t know if my males i get will be aggressive, if it goes well will probaly go up to 20 thanks for your help, what’s the best colour mutation is for jap quail?

We don't have a huge range here, but it really depends on what you want. I have wildtypes, italians, a rosetta, tuxedoes and a texas A&M. Most of them are wildtypes and italians, because they're the most common around here and because I can feather sex them (which I find more reliable than vent sexing when they're younger). I love the look of the other mutations, but I've had issues before with tuxes and A&Ms. I bought four seven week old 'females', but three turned out to be males. At least with wildtypes and italians, they are easy to feather sex.

In the end, it's up to you though.

 

[ILIKEDUCKS]

We don't have a huge range here, but it really depends on what you want. I have wildtypes, italians, a rosetta, tuxedoes and a texas A&M. Most of them are wildtypes and italians, because they're the most common around here and because I can feather sex them (which I find more reliable than vent sexing when they're younger). I love the look of the other mutations, but I've had issues before with tuxes and A&Ms. I bought four seven week old 'females', but three turned out to be males. At least with wildtypes and italians, they are easy to feather sex.

In the end, it's up to you though.

Thanks a lot I really like Italians and tuxedo I have a number of a breeder who does this really dark red type

 

[Fenrisulfr]

You make hear a ton of opinions on this question.

Generally people say 1 bird per square foot. By that logic, you could do 50.

Breeders will say things like 3 per square foot. So then you'd be good for 150.

I decided not to do a run because I've talked to plenty of people who did and they said the quail never thanked them back for all the room. Coturnix can be pretty content with not much space.

I experienced if you have too many birds on low space, aggression will rise.

This one bird per sqft is in my opinion max.

 

[SailingAgape]

I experienced if you have too many birds on low space, aggression will rise.

This one bird per sqft is in my opinion max.

That's what I'm rolling with right now also