Questions about Quail and Pheasants as pets.

[rebecca10782]

1. Do they make quite a bit of noise, if so which sex?

2. Can you have females without males? Would they be content without mates like hens are?

3. Do they get along with chickens?

4. How well do they lay?

 

[cawooduck]

If you are thinking about quail or pheasants as pet, i would stick with quail, probably the breed known as coturnix, the hens are quiet an can lay eggs everyday for a majority of the year, even in winter with artificial lighting. You can also keep them without a rooster, unless you want fertile eggs of course.

As far as pheasants go, they only lay a few months of the year, typically about now, and then they are done, so you would be feeding the rest of the year and not getting any eggs in return, besides, most pheasant hens are a drab brown, not much to look at as far as color.

I would suggest you give coturnix a try!!..........Jason

 

[rebecca10782]

Quote:
I am glad you replied. I have been meaning to ask if you sell quail in addition to ducks.

 

[wilds of pa]

Well i would suggest quail, bobwhite perferably..why bobwhite because they are awesome Lil birds to have...the males make such a great whistle and its not annoying to most, i know a few people that have them in the big cities and they just love them..not much space needed to keep a pair or trio..

Pheasants are great to, but depending on how many you want to keep much more space is required to keep them happy, i do disagree with cawooduck and i think hen pheasants are awesome to look at.. you can buy them in a variety of sub species especially the ring-neck/mutant types for a different color blend here..the males do cackle often and wing beat, but it is an awesome sound to here....

Never raised any of these two species directly with chickens and so i cant say how they will be togeather..however i do recommend not to just for disease reasons

~Wilds~

mutant hen pics

cock bird and mutant hen

Cock bird with mutant hen and standard hen(right side)

 

[KattyKillFish]

my coturnix are sweethearts. the hens do pretty well without males, but if you have a male alone expect a LOT of strange noises.

the coturnix make a lot of strange sounds, and i mean STRANGE! it took us a while to figure out what that metallic echo sound was. it was Batman, our tamest quail. they make very pleasant noises though, nothing too loud.

they are great around kids and the males won't attack people as far as i know. for me, they are excellent pets! mine will be laying any time now and i would be happy to send you some for only the shipping costs. if you like, i will let you know!

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

right now I have 3 types of quail - all mine live inside my house in seperate cages

I have 2 young bobwhites ( not sure of sex yet ) and one of them makes the softest whistle very cute - they are a little flighty right now but I am hopeing as they get older they calm down

I also have 4 coturnix in the cage next to them - 1 male 3 females -- and the male crows which is a very strange sound LOL but it is not to loud and he does not do it very often - my hens are very quiet and lay very well ( one of my girls will lay a double yolk at least 2-3 a week !! ) not flighty and dont mind me holding them - they dont willing run up to my hand but I can hold them if I need to check on them for whatever reason.

I also have a mini flock of buttons all living together - for the most part the are quiet - my males will crow but not very loud - these birds can be very flighty !!!

 

[rebecca10782]

Quails do sound like great pets. I mainly want some tiny birds and those gorgeous eggs! Quail look like they are about the size of bantams, is this true??? How much smaller are button quail???

 

[rebecca10782]

And what about partritiges (what is the plural of that?)

 

[Mrs MIA]

I dunno... I'd have to say for pets, i.e. a bird that you would pick up and hold, the coturnix or chukar is the way to go. I love my bobwhites and buttons, but both are really flighty. My pheasant hen is sweet, but the cock is flighty, and pheasants I've had in the past were really spooked easily. They need more space, too. My chukars would be REALLY docile if I had handled them more... they live in the chicken run with my hens, and do really well all year round. They don't eat as much as the coturnix, do, either. The coturnix are smaller than a bantam... about the size of a 5 week old Mille Fleur d'Uccle.

Chukar partridges are pretty, and the two sexes look alike so they're hard to tell apart until they're full grown.

as babies...

Coturnix on the left for size...

 

[KattyKillFish]

omg partridge are sooo CUTE! i didn't know they made great pets like the coturnix but if it's comin from you, Monarch, it has to be true

and yes the coturnix are smaller than bantams. maybe like a really small serama? idk. the last time i weight mine the heaviest one was 7 oz. they are really really cute little birds and it is really fun to watch them. they hatch like champs! i've had extremely good luck hatching coturnix. better luck than i've ever had with chicken, duck or just about any other eggs.

they are cute, i can't think of anything else to say! they come in a lot of different colors. not sure how many, but so far my favorites are the regular wild type. mine has what looks like blue tips on the feathers on his back.

i agree that buttons are really flighty. the button quail chicks are very fragile and tiny. i've handled Noodle for a big portion of the day and spent a lot of time with him as a chick, but he is still pretty scared of me along with any other people.

i wouldn't mind having a few chukar in my quail pen. i have 4 (5?) quails in my little pen and im in the process of building a bigger one.

anyone know anything about valley quail? i have 30 or so in the incubator and i wonder if they tame as nicely as the coturnix or if they are flighty like buttons and bobwhites.