Where do I start?

[le_bwah]

Wow lots of great information, Thank you! I would like to start out with them as pets, and see how that goes. Will definitely start looking more into what all i need to get them.
1 more question, what about during the winter, will they need special heating, or just a closed in coop with a light or will the be fine in the run?
(Am i getting ahead of myself?)

Ah! Important note: a coop is wasted on most quail. I've noticed mine tend to sleep out in the open—literally as exposed as possible—during the night, and take shelter during the day. They're funny like that.

Lack of roosting instinct does make keeping them warm more difficult.

I live in a semi-arid climate where winter lows are in the teens to single digits. I cover the first four feet of aviary with clear plastic sheeting as a windbreak and to keep snow from drifting in. Layering in tons of straw keeps their feet dry and warm.

The quail get cold here for sure, but not dangerously so. What you need will be determined largely by your climate.

Here's the outside in winter. It's just a big box—no coop inside. Only 1/3 is roofed. If you get a lot of snow/rain, a fully roofed enclosure is a must.

Aside from puffing up, they weren't phased.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Wow lots of great information, Thank you! I would like to start out with them as pets, and see how that goes. Will definitely start looking more into what all i need to get them.
1 more question, what about during the winter, will they need special heating, or just a closed in coop with a light or will the be fine in the run?
(Am i getting ahead of myself?)

Depends on where you live. I live in an area where it never snows. Someone even asked me if it snowed in Australia at all, which isn't that silly a question when you look at the latest weather. It does not get cold enough here to really worry about heating, but where you live may be different.

 

[JaeG]

The more space you can give them the less problems you will have. Only breed from your most tame and you will have laid back birds. Ours are more tame than our chickens, even the ones we handled a lot as chicks. Our kids are always picking our quail up for cuddles, or to make them perch on their hands. Our birds just put up with it with more patience than I would!

Ours are in a large aviary with cockatiels and doves so there's no worries about them flushing upwards and hitting their heads. I find them a lot easier to look after in a large aviary than they were in smaller cages (a lot less cleaning). Our aviary is raised up off the ground with a solid floor because NZ has huge problems with rats. I've had rats dig in, chew through thick pieces of wood and even chew through galvanised hardware cloth to steal a tasty dinner when our quail were in a cage on the ground, so the type of predators in your area will determine how you need to keep them.

They love sprouts, especially sunflower seed sprouts and alfalfa sprouts and will eat them out of your hand.

As long as your birds can shelter from the wind and have somewhere they can get up off the frozen ground they'll be fine outside all winter. They are very hardy.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

I hope the OP doesn’t mind, I have a few beginner questions too, and figured I’d post them here rather than start a new thread.

Can quail be raised with chickens? (Same pen, same coop)

Do quail and chickens catch the same diseases?

Can quail eggs be hatched without an incubator, either by the mothers or by standard-size broody hens or Silkies?

Other than higher protein, do quail require significantly different feed than chickens?

Any ideas on where the heck to buy just a few quail chicks?

How cold tolerant are quail compared to chickens?

Where do quail prefer to lay eggs? Ground or nesting boxes?

Thanks so much! I’m so in love with the idea of quail, I just have no clue what I’m doing! (didn’t stop me when I got my first chickens, though!)

 

[Nabiki]

Quail shouldn't be raised with chickens because they can catch the same diseases and they have different habits.
Coturnix quail rarely go broody, so it is not likely to hatch the eggs without an incubator.
I don't know how cold tolerant chickens are, but Coturnix quail can handle quite cold weather as long as they are dry and have shelter
Quail prefer to lay on the ground, they're not likely to use a nesting box.

I'm no expert since I've only been raising quail for about 8 months, but those are the answers I've come across here and in other places.

 

[JaeG]

I hope the OP doesn’t mind, I have a few beginner questions too, and figured I’d post them here rather than start a new thread.

Can quail be raised with chickens? (Same pen, same coop)

Do quail and chickens catch the same diseases?

Can quail eggs be hatched without an incubator, either by the mothers or by standard-size broody hens or Silkies?

Other than higher protein, do quail require significantly different feed than chickens?

Any ideas on where the heck to buy just a few quail chicks?

How cold tolerant are quail compared to chickens?

Where do quail prefer to lay eggs? Ground or nesting boxes?

Thanks so much! I’m so in love with the idea of quail, I just have no clue what I’m doing! (didn’t stop me when I got my first chickens, though!)

Quail are more susceptible to diseases than chickens. Chickens are more domesticated than quail so have built up a certain amount of immunity to common poultry diseases, but can still carry those diseases. It's very important to keep quail away from chickens, and ensure you tend to your quail before you go near your chickens. Coryza is the nasty one that chickens commonly carry but that is terrible if quail catch it.

If you give the hens an enclosed, secluded space they will often choose to lay their eggs there. And as long as they can get out of the wind and up off the frozen ground, quail are very tolerant of the cold. They are ground birds so don't perch but they quite like to climb steps and piles of branches.

Quail need to be incubated by humans - it only takes a few generations of being incubator hatched to breed broodiness out of quail, and sadly, that's just what has happened.

Quail act quite differently to chicken chicks. They are a lot more needy in the first week and a chicken hen is too busy trying to teach her chicks what to do (ie. scratch in the dirt for food) to sit down and cuddle quail chicks. I have tried it with a bantam in a small cage (we don't have Coryza in my country) and the first week saw us grabbing the babies (thankfully there were only two) whenever she got up to scratch around (which was often) as otherwise the babies got sent flying. It wasn't easy. Silkies would not be a good choice because quail chicks will burrow right up under a hen's wings, climbing her feathers, so could easily get tangled in a Silkies feathers. Occasionally an older quail hen in a natural set-up will sit on her eggs, but she often doesn't know what to do with her chicks and human intervention is again required.

The friendliest, happiest group would be one that you have hatched and raised yourself. If you buy them from someone, and the birds only exposure to humans have been the brief encounters when their food and water is changed, then the birds won't be friendly. It is worth it to hatch your own (or get hatched chicks that are only a few days old).

Make sure you keep around 4 hens to each rooster once they have matured, and unless you have a large aviary type cage you can only have one rooster per cage. Spare boys can be in a bachelor cage as long as they can't see any hens.

They are lovely little birds, but they don't like change. It can stop the hens laying for 4-6 weeks if their environment changes, and trying to introduce unfamiliar birds to an established group is a nightmare. They can make their displeasure known in violent fashion (both the girls and the boys). But we love them a lot and only breed from our calmest birds. I enjoy them more than our chickens.

 

[Claire A]

I hope the OP doesn’t mind, I have a few beginner questions too, and figured I’d post them here rather than start a new thread.

Can quail be raised with chickens? (Same pen, same coop)

Do quail and chickens catch the same diseases?

Can quail eggs be hatched without an incubator, either by the mothers or by standard-size broody hens or Silkies?

Other than higher protein, do quail require significantly different feed than chickens?

Any ideas on where the heck to buy just a few quail chicks?

How cold tolerant are quail compared to chickens?

Where do quail prefer to lay eggs? Ground or nesting boxes?

Thanks so much! I’m so in love with the idea of quail, I just have no clue what I’m doing! (didn’t stop me when I got my first chickens, though!)

Hi Victoria,

Interesting you should ask this. I used to keep quail separate to my Pekins but then I needed to use the cage in the hen run for some males I intended to grow out. Accidentally I did not shut the door right and found they happily mingled together. Now I have 12 living happily in the pen. I have put lots of hiding places for them.

I think depends on your set up. I have only a few hens and not too worried about disease as they will never come into contact with other chickens. It also depends on the chicken's tolerance to small birds. I would not ever keep them in a small coop with chickens or a very small run. Mine is 26ft x 6.

I use my hens to hatch quail chicks, but always take them away once hatched. Quail snuggle into their feathers. Apparently a mom will carry them to food and shake them out. I believe they can get tangled in the feathers unless you use a frizzle.

Unlike chickens, quail will not put themselves to bed. They prefer to stay out in the run no matter the weather. Mine have been out all winter with no problems. Half of the run has a cover over it and is placed against a brick building and a brick wall at the end.

I put the quail feed in a box the chickens cannot get in - not through want of trying mind.

Quail will lay eggs all over the place - some do go broody, but this causes problems. I have found you cannot move her or the nest or else she abandons the eggs. She may attack other birds or get attacked. Often they will not sit for the full term either.

Hope this helps

 

[Sweets2005]

I don't really know what this means. What do you mean you keep them on the garden beds? What kind of enclosure do they have? How is it different that the summer enclosure? Thanks!

 

[Sweets2005]

I've only ever raised my pet Coturnix (Japanese quail) on dirt/bedding, which they love. Sure, it's more of a hassle to clean, but I think it gives you healthier, happier birds.
This is a pic from inside my aviary from last summer, before I put bark down.

I love your setup! But is it hard to find the eggs? Do you basically go on an easter egg hunt every day? Or do they choose the same few places?

Also, how do you clean the bark? Thanks!

 

[le_bwah]

I love your setup! But is it hard to find the eggs? Do you basically go on an easter egg hunt every day? Or do they choose the same few places?

Also, how do you clean the bark? Thanks!

Once they settled in, all 16 of them laid in one spot most days. But I always check known previous nests, just in case.

Some of my girls would even sit on the eggs and fluff out, but I have no male so any broodiness is wasted.

I don't "clean" the bark so much as I turn it over and add more as needed. Twice a year, I muck the whole thing out and fill it with fresh bark. This keeps smell and messy feet down, while providing a more natural substrate that holds up to infrequent rain. It's more expensive to fill than I was planning (the aviary is about 150 square feet total) but I love the way it looks and what it provides to the quail.