Started raising quail for meat/eggs

[SEP Board]

Unless you scatter it very sparingly you must compost quail manure. It is a "hot" manure and will burn your plants if it's not well composted. That said, if you have compost bins there is nothing better to heat that pile up fast! It turns to black gold quickly if you actively manage your pile by turning every few days. Make sure to mix a good supply of browns (dried leaves, wood chips etc.) in with the manure to keep it balanced, at least 50% or you will get an ammonia stink to your cooking compost and will attract flies. I always age the finished compost (finished in that it is well broken down and does not heat up anymore) for at least 6 months before using and will turn it every week or two as it's aging and mellowing like a fine wine.

And thank you for the advice

 

[SEP Board]

I wanted to update this thread.

The quail are now about 8 weeks old give or take a few days either way. They seem to be quite content. Roos are crowing a bit here and there and it's adorable to see. I've been adding some egg shell into the feed/separately since they are now of laying age. I give them the occasional dirt bath which they love.

They have not started laying yet. Not even a single egg. I've to the 3:1 ration of hens to roos currently. Nobody acts like they're stressed and I haven't seen any issues. I'm hoping that they will start laying soon as I have my incubator sitting idle and ready to go.

I've got LED solar spot lights on top of the cage to add a couple of hours of light to the end of the day so they're getting at least 16 hours of light daily.

Hopefully soon...

 

[paneubert]

I wanted to update this thread.

The quail are now about 8 weeks old give or take a few days either way. They seem to be quite content. Roos are crowing a bit here and there and it's adorable to see. I've been adding some egg shell into the feed/separately since they are now of laying age. I give them the occasional dirt bath which they love.

They have not started laying yet. Not even a single egg. I've to the 3:1 ration of hens to roos currently. Nobody acts like they're stressed and I haven't seen any issues. I'm hoping that they will start laying soon as I have my incubator sitting idle and ready to go.

I've got LED solar spot lights on top of the cage to add a couple of hours of light to the end of the day so they're getting at least 16 hours of light daily.

Hopefully soon...

I feel your pain. I have 18 ladies and I average 4 eggs per day. Yesterday I got one.....one single egg. I know that is at least SOMETHING and I should not complain, but getting so few is almost as frustrating as getting zero.

 

[SEP Board]

Do you think my ratio of 3:1 isn't optimal? Or should I just be patient?

I was thinking about getting some additional hens and splitting them up into two big cages, like maybe 7:1 but I wasn't sure if you can mix different ages of quail without having an issue. I see like 2-3 or 3-4 week old hens for sale in my area that I could put with my 8-9 week old roo but didn't know if that would work well or not?

Or again, just be patient and wait for what I have to start working?

Thoughts welcome.

 

[mporche]

Do you think my ratio of 3:1 isn't optimal?  Or should I just be patient?  


I was thinking about getting some additional hens and splitting them up into two big cages, like maybe 7:1 but I wasn't sure if you can mix different ages of quail without having an issue.  I see like 2-3 or 3-4 week old hens for sale in my area that I could put with my 8-9 week old roo but didn't know if that would work well or not?

Or again, just be patient and wait for what I have to start working?

Thoughts welcome.

Please don't put any hens that are that young with a male.He will kill them.I run 30 hens with 9 males in a 4x10 pen and have no problems.I would just keep a eye on them.

 

[SEP Board]

I suppose the best course of action then is to simply be patient and wait for them to start laying.

 

[SEP Board]

Found ONE lonely little egg when I came home tonight! Hopefully the first of many

 

[SEP Board]

I've gotten one egg a day for the last three days from the same cage with 3 hens and 1 roo. I would imagine from the same hen? I'm hoping all of them will be laying very soon as I'd like to incubate soon.

 

[paneubert]

I've gotten one egg a day for the last three days from the same cage with 3 hens and 1 roo. I would imagine from the same hen? I'm hoping all of them will be laying very soon as I'd like to incubate soon.

Do the eggs look the same size/shape/general coloring? Probably same layer. I can see trends in my eggs for sure. Can tell which ones came from the same lady day to day. Don't know which lady it is, but can tell which egg is related to which egg from a prior day.

 

[SEP Board]

Do the eggs look the same size/shape/general coloring? Probably same layer. I can see trends in my eggs for sure. Can tell which ones came from the same lady day to day. Don't know which lady it is, but can tell which egg is related to which egg from a prior day.

Yes, I'd say they are very similar to each other. I'd have no doubt that they're from the same hen. Hoping that the others 'catch on' and start laying as well soon

I'd love to have 20-30 eggs to incubate on my first go around.