Spanking Newbie here

[Catzi]

So! Hello! I am a brand new fledgling to the backyard foul crowd. I haven't yet set up a coop, chosen a means of acquiring a flock or purchased any equipment. I only know my city, county, state laws, that I have a reasonable sized backyard and that I want to raise quail primarily for eggs but also for meat. That being said, if you were me what would you do? Specifically I wish to ask some questions below. Feel free to answer some or none of these questions, thanks for reading and wish me luck!

1) I live in western Washington state. Where could I obtain quail to even start with? Should I consider only options within my state or is online shopping a viable option? Should I incubate eggs or start with chicks?

2) Would you start with a premade coop or build your own? (side note: I am on a tight budget, am pretty handy and love to up cycle) What do you feel are most desired functions to a coop?

3) What time of year would you recommend starting my coop? I realize it's before the last frost for my area so now is not the best time in all likelihood. Is spring or summer more reasonable? Does choosing to incubate eggs or starting with chicks change the answer?

4)What would find to be essential but not necessarily thought of when starting your flock?

5)What trick or piece of equipment do you use all the time but most people never really talk about enough?

6)Have fun with this one? Offer opinions, jokes, silly suggestions or just sage advice you wish you had when starting out.

 

[AGeese]

Welcome to the Flock! I'll leave these questions to the Quail Team!

 

[muddy75]

If you’re looking to incubate, you can source eggs from myshire farm or southwest game birds. Those would be my recommendations.

 

[Nabiki]

So, first, have you read any of the articles here?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/quail.32/
Here is an article on processing quail as well since you mentioned that you want them for meat as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-process-your-quail-including-gory-pictures.75834/

So, to answer your questions:
1 - I would suggest your local craigslist if you want to keep it local. @muddy75 already mentioned Myshire farm for hatching eggs. I really liked Southwest gamebirds, but they no longer ship eggs or birds. Thieving Otter Farm now has their bloodlines. If you feel like a road trip to southern OR, I have birds!

2 - If you're handy, you'll probably end up with a much better coop than you can get prebuilt for the most part. You are looking for something that is a single level (quail are ground birds), strong, and predator proof. EVERYTHING likes to eat quail. You'll want the whole thing covered in 1/2" hardware cloth.
Small shelters are their thing rather than a nest box or single large shelter.

3 - You want to aim for spring/summer as the best time to settle in a new covey, though if they have good shelter, you can get away with just about any time of the year. As long as they are dry, out of the wind, and have small shelters, they are very cold hardy.

4 - Be ready to cull badly deformed chicks and be prepared to separate extra males as soon as possible or it will get bloody fast. The articles above will help you figure that out too.

5 - Have a first aid kit on hand. This would include some antibiotic ointment without painkiller (many painkillers are toxic to birds), some Nutri-Drench, and tiny rubber bands. You'll figure out what you use most as you get experience.

6 - The males sound like they're screaming "Cobra Kai!" when they crow.

 

[Just Ranchin]

6 - The males sound like they're screaming "Cobra Kai!" when they crow.

Nailed it Best description I've read

 

[CliftonQuail]

@Nabiki answers are probably better than anything I would say. I hatched to start my covey and will hatch again when I get back into raising birds. Other than the initial cost of an incubator, it's probably the least expensive way to get a bunch of birds.

 

[007Sean]

I agree with @Nabiki on everything. Only thing I have to add is that you might want to consider covering/roofing the whole enclosure that you build or at least have a covered sheltered area in the enclosure. Keeps the ground dry and the birds happy, if they can get out of the elements.

 

[Catzi]

First of all everyone thank you for replying. It's so nice to see active members supporting a newbie like me in a kind and respectful way. No gatekeeping here and I love it! Specifically @Nabiki thank you so much for the detailed and funny response. I immediately hyper-focused and read all of the articles suggested (even some of the slightly rough ones on page 2) and the processing article. Which you did a fantastic job on btw I feel like I can do the job never having tried before after reading that.

So I've nailed down a few points on my journey now to be sure. Coturnix seems to be the smart breed for my skill level, desire for eggs and eventual meat production, temperature region and space. I feel pulled toward the jumbo variety, anyone have any thoughts on the differences between the conventional and jumbo varieties of Coturnix?

I think I will be building my own coop for sure. I was glad to see the article QUAIL BASICS for BEGINNERS referenced a youtube channel I had also been following called Slightlyrednecked, for a coop design idea. It's more of a raised hutch then a aviary style. I was considering adding a ramp to the bottom of the design to allow for daytime monitored ground movement for the birds. But then I read in another article in the suggested BYC quail page that quail don't take to ramps well. Is that true and in anyone's experience?

After all that reading I'm definitely going to have to crunch some numbers and see how badly my wallet is going to cry once I start up. But I'm excited to get all the planning going. Do yall think I should start a new thread about my ideas and experiences or continue to post here? Is the the etiquette around here to make multiple sub posts addressing specific issues or to make a general thread about continued projects?

 

[CliftonQuail]

Regarding your question about ramps and coturnix. I have a three level cage that I think originally had a chinchilla in it. I kept several birds in there for quite some time and they were up and down the ramps all the time. That said, unless you have a completely enclosed area that they can't fly out of (and nothing else can get into), I wouldn't recommend letting them roam. They're not like chicken and won't return to the "coop" at night. Depending on how many birds you're keeping, you could end up spending a lot of time chasing them to get them back in at night.

 

[Nabiki]

Jumbos are good meat birds, but standards are better egg layers. I keep one pen of jumbos but the rest are standards because I like the pretty colours.

Some quail will use ramps, some won't. They are ground birds by nature, so if you are determined to add a ramp, make sure it's a shallow one.

If you have a completely new subject, start a new thread, but otherwise you can continue to post here.

Thank you for your kind remarks!