We are new to Quail

Glendaandrobert

Chirping
May 10, 2018
14
22
59
My wife loves the serenity of having birds around but she watches a LOT OF YOUTUBE.... I would live any input I could get about breeding and care of the one's we have acquired in the last couple of months .....
As in...
How should we keep them seperated...
Are there too many males...
What is the best feed for them...
How much room do the need...
What are the best for meat...
Which are the best for eggs...
As I said we are new but this seems to be the best way to keep her occupied while I am on the road for 5 to 7 days at a time .... hahaha
 
Welcome Glenda and Robert to our forum.
I’ve been a newbie to quail for 6 months now. Throughly enjoyed posting, responding, and in some cases assisting. One common thread I see consistently is members have questions or issues about their quail but do not acknowledge what kind of quail they have. I have bobwhites and their needs are different than the others because they are different in the way they act, lay, incubation, etc. different than say Valley Quail. Geographic location as well.
You will also find key members that are extremely helpful and noteworthy.
For me this forum is a Godsend. I now have 3 sets of eggs being incubated, 2 with me and 1 at a friends. My first set is due in 5 days and this is exciting yet I don’t know what I will experience actually til it happens. I am on a learning curve but excited I am at this point.
 
Last edited:
Hi - mine are Coturnix. I have 6 hens as pets so most of your questions I don't know though I can help on a few.

Mine are ground dwelling and have as much of a 'natural' lifestyle as possible. Think the minimum space requirement bandied around is 1sq ft per bird, mine have 2 sq ft each. In my experience with all hens this is fine...they typically all end up hanging out in one corner together anyway so more space would have been a waste!

I get 5 - 6 (rarely 4) eggs a day from 6 hens and they will rest over winter - as they are pets I'm not planning on having them under light to keep them laying.

I feed them a 19% protein feed which is supplimented by all the worms and bugs they eat being on the ground. I also give them greens (cucumber is the favourite) and scrambled hens eggs and yoghurt to boost up their protein intake. Ive never had a problem on a 19% feed, this is about as high as you can buy in the UK without spending a small fortune, I know the recommended % is 24%...hence why I suppliment with protein sources.

Good luck. They are good fun and I really enjoying having them around!
 
Welcome Glenda and Robert to our forum.
I’ve been a newbie to quail for 6 months now. Throughly enjoyed posting, responding, and in some cases assisting. One common thread I see consistently is members have questions or issues about their quail but do not acknowledge what kind of quail they have. I have bobwhites and their needs are different than the others because they are different in the way they act, lay, incubation, etc. different than say Valley Quail. Geographic location as well.
You will also find key members that are extremely helpful and noteworthy.
For me this forum is a Godsend. I now have 3 sets of eggs being incubated, 2 with me and 1 at a friends. My first set is due in 5 days and this is exciting yet I don’t know what I will experience actually til it happens. I am on a learning curve but excited I am at this point.
We are trying to raise Courtnix Texas a&m and tuxedos. .
Thank you for responding We can use any help we can receive
 
Coturnix quail are the "easiest" to raise. They mature at 6 weeks and are typically laying eggs by 8 weeks. They are the most common quail bred for both meat and egg production. The James Marie Farm Jumbo Pharaoh bloodline is about as good as you can get.

They need 1 sqft per bird. Aviaries are very nice but require more maintenance then wire cages and collecting eggs can be quite a chore. If you keep them on shavings they will need to be changed regular. I keep mine on a wire floor and the poop falls through, I clean it once a year. I also have a roll out egg tray that collects the eggs. Also I have an unlimited water supply and my feeder holds about 3-4 weeks of food and can be filled without opening the cage.

You want 1 male to every 4-5 females. I keep some 1-3 and they are doing just fine fine. If 1-2 or 1-1 the males will over breed the females and stress them out.

I keep my quail in individual 6 sq ft cages with 5 birds in each. You can keep 3 males to 15 females in a larger cage but sometimes you'll have aggressive males that will fight each other. I keep 16 hours of artificial light on mine so they lay all year.

It is recommended to feed them 24% protein or higher. I feed mine 30% turkey starter and they're growing like weeds.

Typically I keep babies in a brooder for 2-3 weeks then move outside. By 3 weeks you can usually sex them. I move all my males to one cage and all my females into another. By 6 weeks the males are starting to crow and "can" start to get aggressive especially if overcrowded. This is when I usually process the males (5-8 weeks). The females I keep for eggs. You do not have to keep any males with your females if you only want eggs to eat and not to hatch.

Let me know if you have any questions?

Matt
 
I've heard that Texas A&M birds can be a little more aggressive than standard browns/pharaohs. Also they cannot be sexed by their color. You have to vent sex them. The tuxedos are the same way, can't tell gender by feathers only vent sexing. Honestly unless you just really want those particulars colors, I think they will be more of a pain to deal with if you are going to be constantly breeding, hatching, brooding, and culling. I would recommend raising birds that you can sex by their feathers.

I have Jumbo Pharaohs and Italian Coturnix. I have the Italians because they look cool. Both of these are easily sexed at 3 weeks by looking at their feathers.

If you are planning on keeping the same quail for a year or two you can use leg bands to identify males and females. Also the females will usually be missing the feathers off of the back of their head from breeding.
 
Thank you again Matt
Here is a couple of pics we built it from pallets and wire....
But it seems to work as you said...
BTW we live in El Paso Texas where it gets a bit hot....
Will this affect production?
 

Attachments

  • 20180510_133629.jpg
    20180510_133629.jpg
    873.9 KB · Views: 10
  • 20180510_133559.jpg
    20180510_133559.jpg
    691.2 KB · Views: 10
  • 20180510_133612.jpg
    20180510_133612.jpg
    559.9 KB · Views: 10
And how do we sex them?
Right now we wait for the boys to start crowing? And fluffing like they are looking for some action....
Hahaha
 
Thank you again Matt
Here is a couple of pics we built it from pallets and wire....
But it seems to work as you said...
BTW we live in El Paso Texas where it gets a bit hot....
Will this affect production?
looks good. looks like you have a variety of colors. the ones on the right look like Italians. Predators are one of the biggest reasons people keep them in wire off of the ground. I guess snakes should be your biggest concern.

As long as the ground they are on stays dry they should do okay on the ground. You just need to sweep their droppings up periodically. They are eating/pooping machines. I see there is plenty of shade for them which is good. Just make sure they can get some fresh air or a breeze in there. I have some now that are starting to pant and our temps are only in the 80's right now.

If you see one crow I would grab him and put a small zip tie on his foot. Or find a way to mark him somehow. Watching them crow is a pretty easy way to tell. Here's how you vent sex them. I think they have to be sexually mature to do this (6+ weeks old)
 
Last edited:
Hi - mine are Coturnix. I have 6 hens as pets so most of your questions I don't know though I can help on a few.

Mine are ground dwelling and have as much of a 'natural' lifestyle as possible. Think the minimum space requirement bandied around is 1sq ft per bird, mine have 2 sq ft each. In my experience with all hens this is fine...they typically all end up hanging out in one corner together anyway so more space would have been a waste!

I get 5 - 6 (rarely 4) eggs a day from 6 hens and they will rest over winter - as they are pets I'm not planning on having them under light to keep them laying.

I feed them a 19% protein feed which is supplimented by all the worms and bugs they eat being on the ground. I also give them greens (cucumber is the favourite) and scrambled hens eggs and yoghurt to boost up their protein intake. Ive never had a problem on a 19% feed, this is about as high as you can buy in the UK without spending a small fortune, I know the recommended % is 24%...hence why I suppliment with protein sources.

Good luck. They are good fun and I really enjoying having them around!
Thank you for the response...
We are raising them for a natural protein we can trust....
We are not raising as pets but they seem to be winding up that way...
Just because they are so sociable ....
We very much enjoy taking care of them ....
But in the end, they will be a food source that we do not have to rely on the corporate machine to provide...
May sound harsh but I do not trust Walmart.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom