Questions about Quail

[Any_name_not_taken]

Hi there,

I am curious about quail. I don't have any, but I am researching their care and keeping. A few questions I can't find answers to:

1) Does anyone know how much fertilizer the deep bedding method creates for a small flock of, say, 6 quail? Or even as many as 12?

2) How many years do quail hens lay eggs?

3) For those of you who breed your own quail: how do you manage genetic diversity in your flock? Do you buy new quail from different breeders every year?

Thanks for any answers!

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Welcome to BYC ... glad you joined.

To 1 ... I cannot tell much, as I am not doing deep litter till now. But quails are pooping a lot. Considering to keep 6 quails on 6 to 9 sqft with 8-10 inch bedding, I would guess you need to change it at least after 8 weeks, so calculate the volume.
But I am not familiar with deep litter as mentioned, maybe I am wrong.

To 2 ... liturature states, that laying efficency drops in the second year. But the oldest of mine are over 1.5 years now, and still laying every day. This is very exhausting, so I am afraid, they will not life very long. Average life expectance for Japanese Quails is +/- 3 years for females and +/- 5 years for males.
(Edit: liturature also state that fertilization of roos drop in the second year, but my 2 year roo is still a little Don Juan )

To 3 ... I try to refresh with hatching eggs from several sources. But as I am hatching only since two years, I haven't breeded much homegrow eggs yet. Just have tried to get special colors from several sources and have quite a good basis from several blood foreign lines now.

In small scale it is best to refresh the roo from hatch to hatch from a foreign line to keep the blood fresh.
But be aware, that these little raptors can be very mean and changing the flock is always unpredictable.

 

[MageofMist]

Welcome to BYC ... glad you joined.

To 1 ... I cannot tell much, as I am not doing deep litter till now. But quails are pooping a lot. Considering to keep 6 quails on 6 to 9 sqft with 8-10 inch bedding, I would guess you need to change it at least after 8 weeks, so calculate the volume.
But I am not familiar with deep litter as mentioned, maybe I am wrong.

To 2 ... liturature states, that laying efficency drops in the second year. But the oldest of mine are over 1.5 years now, and still laying every day. This is very exhausting, so I am afraid, they will not life very long. Average life expectance for Japanese Quails is +/- 3 years for females and +/- 5 years for males.
(Edit: liturature also state that fertilization of roos drop in the second year, but my 2 year roo is still a little Don Juan )

To 3 ... I try to refresh with hatching eggs from several sources. But as I am hatching only since two years, I haven't breeded much homegrow eggs yet. Just have tried to get special colors from several sources and have quite a good basis from several blood foreign lines now.

In small scale it is best to refresh the roo from hatch to hatch from a foreign line to keep the blood fresh.
But be aware, that these little raptors can be very mean and changing the flock is always unpredictable.

Scrappy is nearing his 4th year, and well...

I dunno what his fertility might be, but he tries to breed with anything that moves, whether it is a human hand, a cat's tail or a giant rabbit.

Hi there,

I am curious about quail. I don't have any, but I am researching their care and keeping. A few questions I can't find answers to:

1) Does anyone know how much fertilizer the deep bedding method creates for a small flock of, say, 6 quail? Or even as many as 12?

2) How many years do quail hens lay eggs?

3) For those of you who breed your own quail: how do you manage genetic diversity in your flock? Do you buy new quail from different breeders every year?

Thanks for any answers!

1: Never tried the deep litter method so I don't know =o

2: Hens can lay up to 2 years, though usually die in the third unfortunately. My last painted quail hen named Panic sue to her wild nature stopped laying in her last 3 months, which clued me in that her time was coming to an end.

3: When I bred Painted Quails, I brought new hens and roos from other breeders or from those who wished to rehome their birds every few clutches to keep diversity up, paying for them by selling excess of either gender that weren't already paired and were too closely related to be bred.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Scrappy is nearing his 4th year, and well...
View attachment 2253115
I dunno what his fertility might be, but he tries to breed with anything that moves, whether it is a human hand, a cat's tail or a giant rabbit.
...[...]

 

[Fenrisulfr]

[...] ...

To 1 ... I cannot tell much, as I am not doing deep litter till now. But quails are pooping a lot. Considering to keep 6 quails on 6 to 9 sqft with 8-10 inch bedding, I would guess you need to change it at least after 8 weeks, so calculate the volume.
But I am not familiar with deep litter as mentioned, maybe I am wrong.

... [...]

Just to get a feeling, I keep my quails 1.5 sqft per bird and beeding is wood shavings, about an inch, which I refill after 3-4 days another half inch and change the whole every week. In the end of the week it is already quite stinky.

 

[Any_name_not_taken]

Omg, breeding with rabbits

I didn't even think about swapping excess genders with other quail owners... that's a really good idea! I kept thinking it has to be hard to know, when you get a batch of eggs, how many male or female you may get. I think I"m trying to figure out what the process is, and if it is going to require multiple cages.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

I would strongly recomment multiple cages, as you may need to seperate injured, ill or agressive birds.

 

[Any_name_not_taken]

I would strongly recomment multiple cages, as you may need to seperate injured, ill or agressive birds.

For someone just starting out, how many cages would you recommend?

 

[Fenrisulfr]

I started with a rabbit hutch as main pen and a Guinea Pig cage as brooder.
After they hatched it didn't took 6 weeks, that I bought 2 other Guinea Pig cages for the injured birds and males.

So I suggest at least 4 possibilities if you hatch by yourself.

 

[FloorCandy]

For someone just starting out, how many cages would you recommend?

I have a main pen that is about 24 sq feet, I just made a breeder pen recently out of pvc and hardware cloth, it’s 3x3 with a bin attached that adds about 2 more feet overall. I used this to separate out my breeding group so I can track and control lineage, and it will be my grow out pen for the next hatch.

I used 3 different sized bins for brooders at different ages. They started in the smallest which is 60 quart I believe, then I moved them to 110 quarts once they were really running around and eating and drinking. Once they outgrew that, I put them in a 50 gallon bin. However I already had all these bins with hardware cloth put into the lids and cage doors on front from having owned hamsters and using them as cages. You could go from small to largest without the middle one, but it saved room for a week or so.

I use the largest bin to separate for short periods, and the 3x3 for long separations.