I just got 18 two-week-old Texas A&M Coturnix quail after doing alot of research and spending months considering breeding and raising quail. I was going to start by hatching shipped eggs but I am not sure how they would fare so I found some chicks from someone local. I have already hatched quail for a wildlife rescue where I am a volunteer but this is my first time owning quail.
I have read about vent sexing since the white quail can not be color sexed like other colors. I have seen a white winged Pharoh quail that can be sexed at hatching, if I remember correctly, and I am going to get some Coturnix quail eggs to hatch in order to bring in new genetics to the bevy at the rescue and perhaps keep some for myself as well (after selling enough to pay for the eggs). I may try cross breeding to see if I can get the sex linked quail in the same way it was developed.
I don't have electricity outside so I am brooding the quail indoors for now. They feather so fast that they should be good to go outside as soon as I can get cages set up for them. I have chickens and ducks so I read about keeping quail away from chickens but I am hoping I can keep them near the ducks. I want to have poop go directly into a tub with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) in order to eliminate it as quickly as possible while also raising a source of feed for the chickens.
If half of this group is stastically female, I will have 9 hens. Should I keep 1 or 2 roosters? The hens at the rescue center were getting too harrassed by the roosters in small groups of one rooster for four hens so we had to remove all but one male for the eight females and we combined the hens into one group. I think 1 male will be enough to cover up to 9 females (more would be nice but less is also a possibility) but I don't want to regret that decision at a later time.
How often should I switch out the rooster with a new one? I read that eggs are fertile 5 to 7 days with quail after a breeding (it is longer with chickens) so that will give the hens a week to adjust to a new rooster. Does changing roosters stress out the hens or give them a welcome break? I want to make sure I am not inbreeding brothers to sisters and I want to be able to keep hens and eat the roosters for a higher yield in eggs. I could take breaks from hatching to stock up on eggs while growing up a new group and then keep a rooster again when I want to do some hatching. I also hatch chicken and duck eggs so if I am not filling the incubator I need to replace all or at least some of the quail rails with the regular rails on my egg turner. I could even mix the rails on the automatic turners in all my incubators rather than devoting an entire incubator to hatching quail since the incubating temps are the same and I use a separate incubator for hatching so I can stagger hatches.
I am looking forward to eating the quail eggs and I was told the first eggs are not good for hatching so I should wait a few weeks after laying to start hatching. I know that a bevy of quail can multiply rapidly so we will want to eat more eggs than we hatch, even though I have room for 120 eggs at a time in my incubator(s). We want meat as well so that requires hatching and raising the quail on a regular basis, but not necessarily constantly since I can freeze them. I will need to read more on managing egg vs meat production but for now I am raising my first generation.
I may only want to keep a smaller number of laying hens in the future but for now I need to start with as many as I have in this group. I would like to bring in new genetics as well because I am opposed to inbreeding anything. Any advice from experienced breeders is most welcome!
I have read about vent sexing since the white quail can not be color sexed like other colors. I have seen a white winged Pharoh quail that can be sexed at hatching, if I remember correctly, and I am going to get some Coturnix quail eggs to hatch in order to bring in new genetics to the bevy at the rescue and perhaps keep some for myself as well (after selling enough to pay for the eggs). I may try cross breeding to see if I can get the sex linked quail in the same way it was developed.
I don't have electricity outside so I am brooding the quail indoors for now. They feather so fast that they should be good to go outside as soon as I can get cages set up for them. I have chickens and ducks so I read about keeping quail away from chickens but I am hoping I can keep them near the ducks. I want to have poop go directly into a tub with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) in order to eliminate it as quickly as possible while also raising a source of feed for the chickens.
If half of this group is stastically female, I will have 9 hens. Should I keep 1 or 2 roosters? The hens at the rescue center were getting too harrassed by the roosters in small groups of one rooster for four hens so we had to remove all but one male for the eight females and we combined the hens into one group. I think 1 male will be enough to cover up to 9 females (more would be nice but less is also a possibility) but I don't want to regret that decision at a later time.
How often should I switch out the rooster with a new one? I read that eggs are fertile 5 to 7 days with quail after a breeding (it is longer with chickens) so that will give the hens a week to adjust to a new rooster. Does changing roosters stress out the hens or give them a welcome break? I want to make sure I am not inbreeding brothers to sisters and I want to be able to keep hens and eat the roosters for a higher yield in eggs. I could take breaks from hatching to stock up on eggs while growing up a new group and then keep a rooster again when I want to do some hatching. I also hatch chicken and duck eggs so if I am not filling the incubator I need to replace all or at least some of the quail rails with the regular rails on my egg turner. I could even mix the rails on the automatic turners in all my incubators rather than devoting an entire incubator to hatching quail since the incubating temps are the same and I use a separate incubator for hatching so I can stagger hatches.
I am looking forward to eating the quail eggs and I was told the first eggs are not good for hatching so I should wait a few weeks after laying to start hatching. I know that a bevy of quail can multiply rapidly so we will want to eat more eggs than we hatch, even though I have room for 120 eggs at a time in my incubator(s). We want meat as well so that requires hatching and raising the quail on a regular basis, but not necessarily constantly since I can freeze them. I will need to read more on managing egg vs meat production but for now I am raising my first generation.
I may only want to keep a smaller number of laying hens in the future but for now I need to start with as many as I have in this group. I would like to bring in new genetics as well because I am opposed to inbreeding anything. Any advice from experienced breeders is most welcome!
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