Question about space of cage and male/female ratio

[cupman]

Hello, I was looking to begin quail in the upcoming months and I am at the stage now where I'm looking to build a coop or a pen. I just have two questions about it:

1) I want to do around 50 or 60 quail, I plan on keeping them in their pens 100% of the time, how much space do I need do you think? Is there a rule of thumb about sq ft per bird?

2) I plan on culling down a lot of the males but I was curious about what a proper male/female ratio would be to ensure my eggs would be fertilized successfully.

Also, as far as breeds go I think I'm going to do white coturnix, possibly jumbo. How much is the size difference / requirements between regular and jumbo?

 

[joe125]

What species do you really want to raise?

What are you shooting for? Meat or egg production, or a mix?

 

[cupman]

Mainly I want the quail for meat but I would also like the eggs. I just got an idea and I'm thinking of putting the quail pen underneath our deck, it's at least 100 square feet of open space and closed on all sides but one, would be really easy to predator-proof and build.
I am thinking of doing jumbo white coturnix, unless there's a good reason not to do jumbo. Bobwhite were also highly considered. I haven't made the final decision quite yet.

 

[winkydink]

Hi there from a fellow newbie,

There's a ton of stuff written about coturnix - rearing, space requirements, etc... Between the sticky at the top of the thread and a session with the search features here, you should get answers to most of your questions.