To quail, or not to quail?

[BFen]

Hi BFen,

I have both chickens and quail. Whilst my Pekins definitely have more personality, I have tamed my quail and some even fly to my hand

I love them both - for different reasons. I can say the quail are easier. They lay more consistently than the bantams - even if I do have to go in search of the eggs in the run. They are quieter and I can have males to hatch chicks - I am not allowed a roo here

I do not have to deal with broody hens - or making sure I am home to shut them in at night.

Hope this helps

Hi Claire!

Yes, this does help. How many quail do you have? What size coop/run do you have? I'm not allowed roosters either, so learning to hatch quail would be really cool. Do you keep the quail and chickens together? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

 

[Claire A]

Hi Claire!

Yes, this does help. How many quail do you have? What size coop/run do you have? I'm not allowed roosters either, so learning to hatch quail would be really cool. Do you keep the quail and chickens together? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

My quail run is 20ft x 6 - half-covered as we get a lot of rain here. Some of it is taken up by 2 stacked dog crates. This is so the birds can be comfortable with the others before release - and helps create established groups.

I put my excess males in the 20ft by 8ft with the chickens - lots of hiding places. I do this because they do not fight in there and this year had 25 males winter happily. The only problem I ever had with this was when I accidentally placed a female with the males and had 19 males calling - no fights mind - all were trying to be the loudest lol.

It's strange because place even just two of these males in a hutch - no girls and they will fight!

I can't kill them myself so take them to a gamekeeper friend who does the deed. He gets half and I get cleaned birds back which just resemble what you buy in the shops. I hate the thought - but if you hatch you always get too many males.

It is worth thinking about what you will do with them if you want to breed.

Oh around 35 ish adults and 50 chicks - but most of the chicks have homes waiting

 

[Claire A]

My quail run is 20ft x 6 - half-covered as we get a lot of rain here. Some of it is taken up by 2 stacked dog crates. This is so the birds can be comfortable with the others before release - and helps create established groups.

I put my excess males in the 20ft by 8ft with the chickens - lots of hiding places. I do this because they do not fight in there and this year had 25 males winter happily. The only problem I ever had with this was when I accidentally placed a female with the males and had 19 males calling - no fights mind - all were trying to be the loudest lol.

It's strange because place even just two of these males in a hutch - no girls and they will fight!

I can't kill them myself so take them to a gamekeeper friend who does the deed. He gets half and I get cleaned birds back which just resemble what you buy in the shops. I hate the thought - but if you hatch you always get too many males.

It is worth thinking about what you will do with them if you want to breed.

Oh around 35 ish adults and 50 chicks - but most of the chicks have homes waiting

It is worth saying that I only have now 5 very friendly very small bantams - some chickens can kill quail. I also would not recommend letting them run around together in a small enclosure. What I do is not really the recommended way. I am only sharing what is working for me. To quote someone else - I am a crazy English Lady.

 

[BFen]

Okay, good to know. I wasn't planning on housing them together, but figured I'd ask since I have an 8×8×8 coop and an 5×20×8 run. Plus I think I would start off small with the quail. Maybe 6 in a small coop or rabbit type hutch up against the house. Then eventually upgrade to a bigger area. Is it hard to tell the boys from the girls? It nice you have a friend who can butcher them. That is perfect.

 

[Nabiki]

Thank you for the help, and breaking it down like that. I really appreciate it! I want them for eggs and possibly meat (but not sure if I could do that). Since I like to cute recipes in half, I love the idea of using them for baking when the original recipe only calls for 1 egg. The Japanese quail sound great, or the bobwhites. Did you mail order your birds or find them locally? Also, is it like chickens were you can keep the two different types together? And how much space do they need? Thanks again!!

I also recommend coturnix (Japanese) quail. Check your local regulations if you go for another breed. Many places require permits for quail other than coturnix.

 

[Kusanar]

I also recommend coturnix (Japanese) quail. Check your local regulations if you go for another breed. Many places require permits for quail other than coturnix.

I was actually getting ready to say this. Coturnix are not native so no issues, most places don't allow you to have captive native species and if they do, they usually require permits and occasionally inspection (they don't want you releasing captive birds to the wild as they could negatively impact the native population in various ways)

 

[BFen]

Okay, that's good to know. Thank you!!

 

[StephenQuailCovey]

The Japanese quail sound great, or the bobwhites. Did you mail order your birds or find them locally?

1. I suggest avoiding the Bobwhites at first. They’re more difficult to raise and take longer to reach maturity and to begin laying.
2. I’m new to this also but found HatchPoultry.com to have the best prices online for fertile eggs. (A veteran on this forum can set me straight or let me know if I’m not supposed to name a supplier. I spent a lot of time researching to find them. Figured I’d save BFen some time.)

 

[StephenQuailCovey]

They love new hay and meal worms and I enjoy them being happy.

MJ8: Good to hear! While our first quail eggs are incubating, we’ve started farming meal worms for them. (Oddly, I’ve spent about as much time watching videos about meal worm farming as I have about raising quail.) Do you have suggestions regarding (1) how old the quail need to be to begin eating small meal worms and (2) whether I need to limit the quantity of meal worms vs starter feed? [Can too much protein do them harm? I’ve read that meal worms are about 50% protein.] Thanks!

 

[Quailobsessed]

Thank you for the help, and breaking it down like that. I really appreciate it! I want them for eggs and possibly meat (but not sure if I could do that). Since I like to cute recipes in half, I love the idea of using them for baking when the original recipe only calls for 1 egg. The Japanese quail sound great, or the bobwhites. Did you mail order your birds or find them locally? Also, is it like chickens were you can keep the two different types together? And how much space do they need? Thanks again!!

I've bought all mine locally.
It generally isn't a good idea to keep different species together.

For japanese quails, most people say at least one square foot per bird, but I would say at the very least double, maybe triple.

For bobwhites, I think people say at least four square feet per bird, but again, that's a minimum.