What didn't I get myself into?

[Halfpasthen]

I've been lurking this site for months doing research on my future chicken flock. Well, the more I read the more interested I became in keeping coturnix quail. Seems to me they had all of the pros I was looking for with chickens without all of the cons.
So I kind of put it out into the universe that I was open to getting quail. And things quickly fell into place. I found a large (for quail) prefab chicken coop/run/run extension for less that $100 on clearance! Same one selling for nearly $500 online. It is mostly run(2ftx9ft)with a ramp and small hen house and nest box (3x2). I know they very well might not use the ramp or henhouse at all. But I do like that I can confine someone in there if need be. I still have some predator proofing and tweaking to do but overall I think it will be a nice set up for quail.

1. How many coturnix would you recommend keeping in this size run considering that I will likely be getting some jumbos?

A few days ago a friend of a friend contacted me and said she had an adult male and female white coturnix from James Marie that she wanted to get rid of. I have agreed to take them sometime this week or next. I really wanted to start with adults and that's nearly impossible to find in my area.

2. How concerned do I need to be that she will be bred to exhaustion? I am working on adding more females but I can't find adults so I will have to raise chicks. It will be a couple months most likely before I have sexual mature females. Any suggestions for keeping the peace until then would be appreciated.

After agreeing to taking these two adults I redoubled my efforts to source more birds. A local man has Texas a&m and jumbo pharoahs hatching two days apart at the beginning of April.
I really want a few of both but not sure if I can brood chicks together if they are 2 days apart.

3. Can I brood two set of chicks together that are hatched 2 days apart?
4. When could I introduce the young birds to the two adults?
5. How many chicks should I get if I want to end up with at least 6 hens? I'm sure I'll have to account for potential losses and some being male.

I probably have a million other questions but these are the pressing things. I need to let this gentleman know what kind and how many chicks I would like to purchase.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

I've been lurking this site for months doing research on my future chicken flock. Well, the more I read the more interested I became in keeping coturnix quail. Seems to me they had all of the pros I was looking for with chickens without all of the cons.
So I kind of put it out into the universe that I was open to getting quail. And things quickly fell into place. I found a large (for quail) prefab chicken coop/run/run extension for less that $100 on clearance! Same one selling for nearly $500 online. It is mostly run(2ftx9ft)with a ramp and small hen house and nest box (3x2). I know they very well might not use the ramp or henhouse at all. But I do like that I can confine someone in there if need be. I still have some predator proofing and tweaking to do but overall I think it will be a nice set up for quail.

1. How many coturnix would you recommend keeping in this size run considering that I will likely be getting some jumbos?

A few days ago a friend of a friend contacted me and said she had an adult male and female white coturnix from James Marie that she wanted to get rid of. I have agreed to take them sometime this week or next. I really wanted to start with adults and that's nearly impossible to find in my area.

2. How concerned do I need to be that she will be bred to exhaustion? I am working on adding more females but I can't find adults so I will have to raise chicks. It will be a couple months most likely before I have sexual mature females. Any suggestions for keeping the peace until then would be appreciated.

After agreeing to taking these two adults I redoubled my efforts to source more birds. A local man has Texas a&m and jumbo pharoahs hatching two days apart at the beginning of April.
I really want a few of both but not sure if I can brood chicks together if they are 2 days apart.

3. Can I brood two set of chicks together that are hatched 2 days apart?
4. When could I introduce the young birds to the two adults?
5. How many chicks should I get if I want to end up with at least 6 hens? I'm sure I'll have to account for potential losses and some being male.

I probably have a million other questions but these are the pressing things. I need to let this gentleman know what kind and how many chicks I would like to purchase.

Thank you in advance!

You wont regret quails they are such a delight and welcome to byc!

1.not sure on the space im sure someone else can chime in.
tho my first guess would be 10 to 15 coturnix, 10 if some are jumbo...
Thats 18 square feet? I was never good at math...
Recommended space is 1 to 2 square feet per bird but, of course the more space the happier they are! And water and feed dishes will take some room of course... make sure to wire the bottom or put something around the edges to keep things from digging in too

2. She should be ok short term but check her head frequently to make sure shes not getting so bald that the skin on her head doesnt get wounded, be prepared for her to be bald all the time! Coconut oil helps skin heal well and stay healthy from infections, so apply occasionally! It i good for the eyes so dont worry if you get it in her eyes when you do.
If she gets too beat up or needs a break have a small tub or crate to be able to put her in for a few days when needed. And keep trying to find more hens as soon as you can!
3. The chicks should be fine together.
4. Introduce the new hens to the adult when they are fully feathered and similar in size, around 3.5 to 6.5 weeks, aiming for beforw they lay eggs but are getting close to her size.
I have found 5 to 6 weeks to be ideal as they are not hormonal yet so less likely to want to fight with the older hen, and the older hen will be outnumbered and not care about fighting younger ones. This has worked good for me, just last month even!
5. 13 or 14 chicks, with roughly half being females and then you could keep a male if you wanted too

There are wonderful articles on here for beginners too. And keep asking questions

 

[igorsMistress]

You can keep the male and female separated until chicks grow out if overmating is an issue so plan for that option. 2 days apart should be fine to raise chicks together.

Similar to chickens, quail are about 50/50 ratio at hatch so get twice as many chicks as you want to keep and weed out the males. Do you have a plan for excess males?

I would say a covey of 6 birds would be ok in your run area. They need some cover in the run, they hide during the day.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy keeping quail!

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-quail-education-time.48412/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/getting-started-in-raising-and-keeping-quail.67344/

 

[Halfpasthen]

You wont regret quails they are such a delight and welcome to byc!

1.not sure on the space im sure someone else can chime in.
tho my first guess would be 10 to 15 coturnix, 10 if some are jumbo...
Thats 18 square feet? I was never good at math...
Recommended space is 1 to 2 square feet per bird but, of course the more space the happier they are! And water and feed dishes will take some room of course... make sure to wire the bottom or put something around the edges to keep things from digging in too

2. She should be ok short term but check her head frequently to make sure shes not getting so bald that the skin on her head doesnt get wounded, be prepared for her to be bald all the time! Coconut oil helps skin heal well and stay healthy from infections, so apply occasionally! It i good for the eyes so dont worry if you get it in her eyes when you do.
If she gets too beat up or needs a break have a small tub or crate to be able to put her in for a few days when needed. And keep trying to find more hens as soon as you can!
3. The chicks should be fine together.
4. Introduce the new hens to the adult when they are fully feathered and similar in size, around 3.5 to 6.5 weeks, aiming for beforw they lay eggs but are getting close to her size.
I have found 5 to 6 weeks to be ideal as they are not hormonal yet so less likely to want to fight with the older hen, and the older hen will be outnumbered and not care about fighting younger ones. This has worked good for me, just last month even!
5. 13 or 14 chicks, with roughly half being females and then you could keep a male if you wanted too

There are wonderful articles on here for beginners too. And keep asking questions

Thank you! Yes the plan is to keep a small flock in this enclosure and if they are a good fit then I will invest in a larger aviary type enclosure and use the current set up for growing out young birds. And yes it's 18 sq ft. Good call on the feeders and hides taking up space! I hadn't considered that.
Today I will be burying hardware cloth and laying some stepping stones around that. I didn't realize how effective hardware cloth would be until I shredded my knuckles on it during assembly lol.

Omgoodness that is a relief regarding the time it will take to introduce the chicks. I really don't want the female trapped with a randy male any longer than necessary.

And really happy to hear I can get a some of each set of chicks. I work from home so I can monitor closely for bullying.
That really helps me with figuring out how many babies to get.
Thank you so much! There are a LOT of resources on this site. My husband thinks I've got bird madness lol.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

This site is full of crazy chicken ladie, chicken guys, quail guys, etc, you will fit right in
Sounds like you have an excellent plan as well, I think they will do great for you.

 

[Halfpasthen]

This site is full of crazy chicken ladie, chicken guys, quail guys, etc, you will fit right in
Sounds like you have an excellent plan as well, I think they will do great for you.

Thank you again. I will reread all of the stickies. I think I mostly have a case of expectant momma anxiety lol.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

You got great advice!

A bunch of my birds are in pairs or have been short-term so I wouldn't separate them. The non-stop crowing from the male and attempts to injure themselves getting back together will not be worth it. That said, do keep an eye on her head feathers because she does need a few for him to grab or he will start tearing skin.

1 square foot per bird is a good rule of thumb for standards, but I would go more for jumbos, maybe 10 birds in that size run to start (you can probably fit more butundercrowded makes for happier birds *and* owners).

 

[Halfpasthen]

You got great advice!

A bunch of my birds are in pairs or have been short-term so I wouldn't separate them. The non-stop crowing from the male and attempts to injure themselves getting back together will not be worth it. That said, do keep an eye on her head feathers because she does need a few for him to grab or he will start tearing skin.

1 square foot per bird is a good rule of thumb for standards, but I would go more for jumbos, maybe 10 birds in that size run to start (you can probably fit more butundercrowded makes for happier birds *and* owners).

Thank you for the feedback! I've only seen badly lit photos of the pair. From what I could see she was missing feathers but I'll have to assess that whenever I acquire them.

Yes! Thank you! I thought I had read somewhere that jumbos needed more space but then COULD NOT find that thread to save my life. We shall see if they actually grow into jumbos. But I agree. You should see the look of disappointment when ppl realize I have like 12 1" fish in my 50 gallon aquarium , and a whopping 9 3/4" in the 40 at that.

 

[Halfpasthen]

View attachment 1716014
You can keep the male and female separated until chicks grow out if overmating is an issue so plan for that option. 2 days apart should be fine to raise chicks together.

Similar to chickens, quail are about 50/50 ratio at hatch so get twice as many chicks as you want to keep and weed out the males. Do you have a plan for excess males?

I would say a covey of 6 birds would be ok in your run area. They need some cover in the run, they hide during the day.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy keeping quail!

Thank you! Missed your message somehow.
I do have a way to separate them if it comes to it.
I have several recipes earmarked for extra males lol.
Thank you for advice on stocking. I'm not interested in keeping cramped birdies. If I end up with an excess of females I may very well find myself adding another enclosure lol.