St Mark's Quail Farm

[St Marks Quail Farm]

I have recently brought a Covey of Japanese Quail from a local poultry breeder (One cock and four hens). The cock is a Golden I believe, and three of the hens are Japanese and the other looks half Tuxedo. I brought them at 5 weeks old and have had them for three weeks.

I am planning on breeding them (with the help of an incubator) next January or February. I just wanted to get used to caring for them first and I have already read heavily online and read a book or two.

I have almost constructed the Aviary with a Gooseberry bush/tree, a small conifer and a lavender plant. (Two layers of galvanized steel). They are currently housed in a very large home-made rabbit-style enclosure inside the aviary. I cover them up with a car cover at night.

I feed them Quail food, Wild Bird Seed, lettuce and strawberries, and mealworms. I use hay for bedding material and change their water twice a day. I am also in the process of building a sand bathe for them.

I also offer my flock Oyster Shell and Grit I mash down in a Pestle and Mortar.

I plan on creating a fully, functional Quail Farm by next Summer.

Let me know what you think?



Thank you

 

[The Phantom]

 

[St Marks Quail Farm]

Hello,

I will get a closer photo of them tomorrow! The Cockbird looks lovely and they are very happy in their environment. I am looking forward to transferring them to a full aviary setup in the next couple of weeks.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Great Job!

 

[St Marks Quail Farm]

Thank you, it has been a lot of work but so rewarding.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[St Marks Quail Farm]

No worries rjohn!

 

[DK newbie]

Sounds like you have some lucky birds
Just wondering, what is the protein content of your 'quail food'? Where I live, 'quail food' typically has way too little protein. You want at least 20% and preferably around 24% - as much as 30% for growing quail. If your quail food has less than 24% protein, I'd also limit the amount of wild bird seed to maybe a table spoon a day for the 5 birds.
I'm also worried about this 'half tuxedo' - I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of it, as usually tuxedos are not feather sexable and if you bought it at 5 weeks they couldn't have vent sexed it either, so I wonder how they could be sure it's a girl..
And then I'd probably try to figure out a way to keep their water clean/full for more than half a day - changing it twice a day gives you very little freedom... If you do it because you want to and not because you have to, that's fine of cause

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

I would LOVE to see you setup!

 

[St Marks Quail Farm]

DK Newbie: I'm pretty sure it is too low. I was feeding them chick starter for the first couple of weeks. I have been overly generous with food but they are still growing. I have given them lots of dried mealworms to compensate for the lack of protein in their pellets.

The lady who I brought them from has actually authored a Quail book and she seems like she knows what she is talking about. I have read the book I have (Not the one she authored) and I'm pretty sure I have 4 hens and 1 Cockbird.