Want more quail, but confused about what kind . . .

[lauramacf]

I have two male quail that someone gave me last year and I want to get some hens to make them happy and have some little eggs.

The boys were incubated in a local classroom and I have no idea where they originally came from; one is brown and one is golden. Folks are advertising both coturnix and jumbo coturnix in my local craigslist. I've wondered if my brown quail is a jumbo because he seems so much bigger than my golden quail, but I'm not really sure what I have, so if there is a chance that I get new birds of a different or slightly different species am I'm going to be messing with the natural order of things? Any suggestions you have for adding to my little flock, I'd appreciate it!

Oh, one more question--if I get some hens do you think that I'll be able to finally house them all together? The brown one is out to get the golden one, so I orginally thought I'd get them each three hens and continue the separate quarters--but could they live in peace in the same place if there were enough girls to go around?

 

[Akane]

All coturnix you will find being sold are the same species. They are more like different breeds than anything and you can mix breeds. Think about mutt dogs. The dogs don't know any difference and don't care. Unless you are trying for something to specific your males won't care what hens you get them. They can be any color and size. There are other species of coturnix but you'd really have to go hunting to find them and probably pay a bit of money. Button quail are also a coturnix species but they are never sold under the same names as the quail we commonly call coturnix.

 

[lauramacf]

thanks, Akane, that makes me feel better! My daughter was writing a little paper on her quail pets and the research we were doing was confusing me about quail varieties! Now I'm off to find some girls . . .