Questions on quail...

[nao57]

So I haven't done quail before. Technically I have my hands full with ducks this year.

But the way the economy and other things are going its very obvious that people who don't have to rely on the mercy of others have a big advantage right now. This has me thinking I should investigate the possibilities of quail.

Also, this is totally interesting to think about...

In the book of Exodus, God feeds the Israelites with quail. And it just so happens that they are probably one of the fastest producing meat and egg birds on the planet? I don't think that's a coincidence, there were reasons behind it. And then you look at the numbers on how fast they grow, and can reproduce, and hatch...Well I will hold off and not go into it further. But there may be a reason why 'quail' were used in that story. I'll leave it at that, but I wish I could say more but don't want the censor bat to get me.

OK, so here are my questions...

Can you get quail to imprint, or be friendly or trained to like and follow you the way you can with ducks? How much can you manage them to interact with you as the farmer/boss 'lord of the farm'. (lol)

How hard is it to manage them? (I only have ducks to compare to, which are easy to manage.)

I'm curious how others view the results on using them for meat production?

Do people notice the noise of the males calls? (Neighbors. Plus, I'm in an urban city :O ...)

Will fodder systems also work with them?

If in the city on a urban house plot with a backyard, I'm curious the most the number of quail you can get away with, without having your neighbors hate you, and notice too much?

 

[Kale the Quail]

I have quail in a small neighbor hood. My neighbors have dogs. As long as your males don't crow 24/7, it should be fine. They shouldn't be crowing at night either. if you hatch a quail and particullarly spend A LOT of time with that one chick, he or she might really like you. it's adorable.

They could learn tricks. I've never tried that before though. our quails can fly over the fence so we keep them in a pen. My backyard is small too. not too small tho. so it's ok.

 

[Nabiki]

They don't imprint, so don't expect them to act like ducks or chickens, for that matter. As @KaLe dA QuAiL said, if you spend a lot of time with a chick, it will get pretty friendly, but not so much that you would want to leave them unattended.

In my reading and research before getting quail, I found that Coturnix (Japanese) quail is the type that was referred to in the Bible as sent by God when they got tired of manna.

 

[Rozza]

mine wont follow me but when i catch crickets they run straight to me jumping over each other to be the first to get the treats

 

[koturnix]

I've gotten them to eat treats out of my hand (I had a covey of 6 - they'd approach me calmly because they saw me as the food giver). If you focus on taming a few quail they will be less timid. But in large hatches it's near impossible for me.

If the males have a good size harem to occupy their time and their cage doesn't have light directly shining on them at night then they should be fairly quiet. Happy males rarely crow. I have raised quails in a city on the balcony with nondetached houses all around and have not gotten any complaints (then again all 3 surrounding neighbors had barking dogs that would scream between the hours of 9pm-7am so your milage may vary )

 

[nao57]

They don't imprint, so don't expect them to act like ducks or chickens, for that matter. As @KaLe dA QuAiL said, if you spend a lot of time with a chick, it will get pretty friendly, but not so much that you would want to leave them unattended.

In my reading and research before getting quail, I found that Coturnix (Japanese) quail is the type that was referred to in the Bible as sent by God when they got tired of manna.

So just by feeding them, they won't follow you like other fowl?

And if you were to let them loose in a yard, would they run off or run away, or stay in the yard like ducks would? (I am aware this wouldn't be good because of predators, but I want to ask to understand their handling behaviors.)

 

[Rozza]

ducks and chicken will come running up to you as soon as they see you if they view you as there feeder
quails will not they will eat treats from you fingers and generally let you pick them up and pat them so long as you don't loom over them (they are very good at telling when your there with treats and when your there to pat/look at them)

if you let them loose they may not bolt/fly away straight away but the definitely wont stay like ducks do all quail keepers keep them in cages or walk in avairys and very few ever let them roam

if i let mine out they sometimes walk around on the grass near me and sometime will fly short distances away straightaway 5-10 metres as the get older they may just fly away idk but i wont fully let mine out again but iam going to build a pretty big run

 

[nao57]

ducks and chicken will come running up to you as soon as they see you if they view you as there feeder
quails will not they will eat treats from you fingers and generally let you pick them up and pat them so long as you don't loom over them (they are very good at telling when your there with treats and when your there to pat/look at them)

if you let them loose they may not bolt/fly away straight away but the definitely wont stay like ducks do all quail keepers keep them in cages or walk in avairys and very few ever let them roam

if i let mine out they sometimes walk around on the grass near me and sometime will fly short distances away straightaway 5-10 metres as the get older they may just fly away idk but i wont fully let mine out again but iam going to build a pretty big run

Cool! I like it.

Is there something more economical than hardware cloth for doing quail runs? I noticed that the normal chicken wire is about as big as a quail could fit through, so that's out for them right?

Thanks.

They do seem kind of interesting.

 

[Rozza]

yes chicken wire is too big although fully grown jumbos would probably be fine as walls
i made a small wire cube thing using 1/2 inch square mesh that i picked up from Bunnings when i make my bigger run i am probably going to use avairy mesh
it basically chicken wire but for budgies and other birds

quail friendliness will come down to how much time you spend with them but they will never come running like ducks

 

[Nabiki]

So just by feeding them, they won't follow you like other fowl?

And if you were to let them loose in a yard, would they run off or run away, or stay in the yard like ducks would? (I am aware this wouldn't be good because of predators, but I want to ask to understand their handling behaviors.)

Quail will fly away and not come back. I'm glad you're aware of the predator problem too, because everything likes to eat quail.

Cool! I like it.

Is there something more economical than hardware cloth for doing quail runs? I noticed that the normal chicken wire is about as big as a quail could fit through, so that's out for them right?

Thanks.

They do seem kind of interesting.

Hardware cloth seems to be your best bet. It's small enough to keep quail in and predators out for the most part. Raccoons will pull your quail through the hardware cloth in pieces though, so if you have the trash pandas in your area you'll have to make your pen proof against them.

I keep mine on the ground.