Questions, Questions, Questions, and More Questions (Conversation)

[Andrew Myers]

What are the pros and cons of owning quail? How many eggs per year do bobwhite quails produce? Do quails produce a lot of eggs? Do quails breed a lot? Do quails hatch out (sit on) their own eggs?

 

[Kessel23]

I have never owned them, I was thinking about getting some coturnix quail last spring and did a lot of research on them. A pro is they can be kept in smaller cages a con is they lay smaller eggs than most poultry. I have no idea how many eggs a bobwhite can produce in a year, probably less than a coturnix. Quails do breed a lot. Coturnix quails do not set their eggs often at all. Not sure about other species.

 

[ejtrout31]

coturnix quail

-pros, small housing options, lay a egg a day or every other day, need less feed and water, easy to breed, cold hardy < survived the -30 to -45 degrees here in mn>

-cons, eggs are smaller, not broody, can be aggressive, need smaller wire cages than chickens,


if you put a male in a pen with two females they will breed daily.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

What are the pros and cons of owning quail? How many eggs per year do bobwhite quails produce? Do quails produce a lot of eggs? Do quails breed a lot? Do quails hatch out (sit on) their own eggs?View attachment 1657641

What are your goals? Do you want lots of eggs? Meat? Interesting pets?

If either of the former, go japanese coturnix. They produce almost as many eggs as chickens, although they wont usually brood their own eggs, it has been bred out of them for the most part. Highly domesticated compared to the others, lots of colors, can be kept many many females to a male, etc.

Button/chinese painted quail will raise their own babies and come in lots of variants, but are too tiny to be of any use practically egg/meat wise. They are teeny weeny but will fight aggressively with each other and usually must be kept in opposite sex pairs. Very fun pet, can be kept in smaller housing than any other.

Native species like Bobwhite, Valley, Bluescale, Mearns, etc usually require a $10 permit from your state department to own (not a big deal to acquire but not going to recommend anyone operates without them and it covers quite a few birds). They are going to give significantly less meat and eggs but show more interesting natural behavior. Bobs are supposed to be some of the best table fare. Most of these species are also larger than coturnix and have to be kept in pairs long-term.

 

[Andrew Myers]

What are your goals? Do you want lots of eggs? Meat? Interesting pets?

If either of the former, go japanese coturnix. They produce almost as many eggs as chickens, although they wont usually brood their own eggs, it has been bred out of them for the most part. Highly domesticated compared to the others, lots of colors, can be kept many many females to a male, etc.

Button/chinese painted quail will raise their own babies and come in lots of variants, but are too tiny to be of any use practically egg/meat wise. They are teeny weeny but will fight aggressively with each other and usually must be kept in opposite sex pairs. Very fun pet, can be kept in smaller housing than any other.

Native species like Bobwhite, Valley, Bluescale, Mearns, etc usually require a $10 permit from your state department to own (not a big deal to acquire but not going to recommend anyone operates without them and it covers quite a few birds). They are going to give significantly less meat and eggs but show more interesting natural behavior. Bobs are supposed to be some of the best table fare. Most of these species are also larger than coturnix and have to be kept in pairs long-term.

Looking for eggs and interesting pets. I would rather not eat the meat lol.

 

[Acre4Me]

We had cots. Easy to raise. We did 4-5 females + 1 male per rabbit cage. Lots of eggs. Start to lay early, often around 6 weeks! Can keep in a garage, don’t need to be outdoors. We ate the eggs in many ways, including pickled.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Looking for eggs and interesting pets. I would rather not eat the meat lol.

I mean, I think Bobwhites do also produce more/more eggs than some species, just significantly less than japanese coturnix specifically. If you're really after natural behavior they'll probably be the way go go, but they definitely aren't very happy in anything other than an aviary-type setting, whereas coturnix you can basically keep like guinea pigs. They're just much more used to captivity in general. Hopefully someone who actually has Bobs can chime in to say more about them.

Another benefit to coturnix is you can keep like 1 male and 4-10 females, and drown in eggs but not crowing. I think a small flock in either an indoor cage or outdoor aviary would suit your needs well. About 1 square foot per bird.

 

[Andrew Myers]

Thank you once more

 

[007Sean]

In reference to Bobwhite quail, they usually will mature in 8 months and produce eggs the 1st breeding season after maturity. Bobwhites are seasonal breeders/layers.
Hens can produce as many as 200 eggs per year, under 'forced' conditions but the usual quantity is around 30-40 eggs per breeding season per hen.
Forced egg production in seasonal breeders is not recommended. Laying eggs takes a great amount of energy and calcium out of the hens, especially under forced conditions, leading to an early death.

Bobwhites require more space than Coturnix quail. They will do best in an aviary type enclosure of 300 sq.ft. or bigger.
The general rule of thumb for male to female ratio is 1 to 3 in aviary type enclosures.
If raising in smaller 'rabbit hutch' type enclosures it's best to keep them in pairs, although, the 1 to 3 ratio can also be used in this type situation, depending on the square footage.

I can't think of any cons in regards to raising quail, regardless of the species....but I'm biased in my opinion. HTH

 

[pecksandkisses]

I have some Bobwhites, but they haven't started laying yet. What I have learned is that they can be kept at a different female:male ratio than Coturnix. Coturnix, I believe, need to be kept at like a 4:1 ratio whereas Bobwhites are monogamous (only mate w/ 1 other during the season) so they may be kept at a 1:1 ratio, provided each pair has enough space to build their own nests. I like my Bobwhites because of that, so if you decide to hatch them you have a better chance of keeping them all (I bought mine from http://wadleyquailfarm.com and had a decent hatch rate.) I keep my birds in an aviary-style coop made with bird netting surrounding a tree and a hardware wire/chicken wire mix around the edges for about 2-3 feet. Attached to that is a repurposed duck coop that we bought off of the Facebook Market Place. I put the birds in at night and let them out in the morning, since most of our predators are nocturnal. A few times, the birds have escaped through the netting, but they usually hang around there since they know it's home, making it easier for us to catch them. If you do go that route, learn from my mistake and make sure that the netting is secure. Best of luck!