The cute and the dirty *Wanting info*

[PhantomSlayer]

Coturnix quail can handle the kinds of temperatures you're talking about as long as they're dry, have shelters and out of the wind. Button quail can't handle freezing or below temperatures.

So if I do eventually make a place outside buttons need to remain indoors lol Thats okay

 

[Susan Skylark]

Coturnix: eggs, meat, blue eggs (some), cold hardy

Button: pets, indoor

It really depends what your goals are. I keep chicks up to 6 weeks (coturnix) in the basement and it isn’t horrible, they are messy (dust, bedding) but adolescent males crow a lot so need to be out in the garage. A couple hens or a rooster with 3-5 hens in a large cage would probably be fine (assuming you don’t have allergies!). My whole flock (12 hens and 3 Roos) are kept in 2 large dog crates sub-divided top and bottom with a spare pen for chicks, replacement or isolation birds (cull, wounded, sick) in the garage but this set up worked in the basement when I ended up with 2 dozen chicks (shipped eggs, was expecting half that!) and had to figure out what to do with them!

 

[CliftonQuail]

I've kept coturnix inside and they are dust generators. As @Nabiki said, if you have any dust allergies, I can't recommend keeping them inside. Also, the males crow constantly, though less so if they have enough hens around (5 hens per rooster). If they're right outside your room, you'll probably hear them all night long. I had a bachelor pad with 6 roosters in it in a spare bedroom for a few months. Even with my bedroom door closed, I had to run a white noise generator to drown them out. If you can figure out a way to keep them outdoors, I highly recommend it. Once they're fully feathered, you really don't need electricity anywhere near their cage unless you plan to provide extra lighting to promote egg laying year round (they need about 14 hours of light per day to lay consistently). As long as they have adequate shelter and can keep dry and out of the wind, there's rarely a need for supplemental heat. Though Michigan winters are harder than the ones we have in Texas. @Nabiki is in Oregon and keeps her coturnix in a greenhouse.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Coturnix: eggs, meat, blue eggs (some), cold hardy

Button: pets, indoor

It really depends what your goals are. I keep chicks up to 6 weeks (coturnix) in the basement and it isn’t horrible, they are messy (dust, bedding) but adolescent males crow a lot so need to be out in the garage. A couple hens or a rooster with 3-5 hens in a large cage would probably be fine (assuming you don’t have allergies!). My whole flock (12 hens and 3 Roos) are kept in 2 large dog crates sub-divided top and bottom with a spare pen for chicks, replacement or isolation birds (cull, wounded, sick) in the garage but this set up worked in the basement when I ended up with 2 dozen chicks (shipped eggs, was expecting half that!) and had to figure out what to do with them!

The main reason is experience, the goal is to sell eggs or chicks. I don't get bad allergies thankfully lol

 

[PhantomSlayer]

I've kept coturnix inside and they are dust generators. As @Nabiki said, if you have any dust allergies, I can't recommend keeping them inside. Also, the males crow constantly, though less so if they have enough hens around (5 hens per rooster). If they're right outside your room, you'll probably hear them all night long. I had a bachelor pad with 6 roosters in it in a spare bedroom for a few months. Even with my bedroom door closed, I had to run a white noise generator to drown them out. If you can figure out a way to keep them outdoors, I highly recommend it. Once they're fully feathered, you really don't need electricity anywhere near their cage unless you plan to provide extra lighting to promote egg laying year round (they need about 14 hours of light per day to lay consistently). As long as they have adequate shelter and can keep dry and out of the wind, there's rarely a need for supplemental heat. Though Michigan winters are harder than the ones we have in Texas. @Nabiki is in Oregon and keeps her coturnix in a greenhouse.

I don't really have issues with allergies normally thankfully. I wish I could afford a greenhouse lol I think I'll start with button quail and if I seem to like having quail I can start saving to expand into outdoors instead. It's not even guaranteed that theyll sell in my area so I'm not sure but I'm willing to try lol. The experience will be worth it even if it doesn't work out.

 

[Nabiki]

I don't really have issues with allergies normally thankfully. I wish I could afford a greenhouse lol I think I'll start with button quail and if I seem to like having quail I can start saving to expand into outdoors instead. It's not even guaranteed that theyll sell in my area so I'm not sure but I'm willing to try lol. The experience will be worth it even if it doesn't work out.

Button quail will be the pet market. Coturnix quail will be the livestock market.

 

[MROO]

Affordable rabbit hutches aren't built for the kind of exposure to elements we get here lol I've already considered that. It'd have to be custom build, anchor into the ground with enough height to not become one with the snow lol.

Check FB Marketplace, Craigs List, your local feed store and any other bargain-hunters' lists in your area. Someone probably has one for sale ... or possibly free. That's how I found a huge, 2X4 constructed custom-built rabbit hutch to let my broodies hatch & raise their clutches. It s big; it's solid; and all it needed for conversion to a broody hen cage was a piece of vinyl flooring over the wire run floor.

 

[MROO]

Button quail are still cute! lol No matter the egg color. I just found the blue eggs pretty is all. I'm willing to sacrifice egg colorations if it means they'll work better as indoor birds. Maybe if I ever can afford to build a outdoor housing I could go for the Celdon or whatever the ones are that lay blue lol. Outdoor building requires alot more money because wood rotting and things start flying if you live on a hill like I do lol. Our wind comes from for the most part the west and unfortunately building something on the east side of the house means it needs to be away from electric and water because our driveway doesn't allow for it to be that close to the house. On the west side would require completely blocking off the west side of any structure or they'd become part of a snowdrift lol. Outside our basement door 2 years ago. Happens almost every year lol.

Check around for someone getting rid of an outgrown wooden playhouse - basically a shed on stilts. They're often free for the moving! Mine houses chickens, so it's "open" inside with a scrap vinyl floor, but you could easily line one with lighter-weight cages and kennels. BONUS: You can go right inside and do all your feeding and cleaning out of the direct weather!