Why did you get quail? and a few other quail questions.

[cupman]

I like quail. From what I've read on this forum it sounds like they are easy to take care of and cheap to take care of too, so long as your pen is built in an efficient way. So I just had a couple brief questions about quail, my parents still give me Christmas presents and I'm thinking this year I might ask for a couple rolls of hardware cloth and start my quail raising experience, I just ordered my incubator (hovabator genesis 1588, yay) and was getting ready to think about what new birds I might add next Spring.

1) Why did you get quail? Is it for the eggs, meat, pets or other?

2) What do you feed quail? Make your own feed or can I buy feed suitable for quail?

3) How many square feet per bird in their cages? - I know some are "jumbo" does this change requirements?

4) And lastly, do you recommend doing jumbo quail or regular sized? I think I'm going to be doing coturnix quail.

 

[rittert3]

To start off I don't have quail at present but tryed my hand at bobwhite about 9 years ago and I hope keep quail again someday.
I think you made a right choice with wanting to start with coturnix they are pretty common and from what I've read an easier bird to start with than bobwhite.

1) I was trying to raise bobwhite to breed and sell started birds. The problems I ran into are that bobwhite can be hard to raise and I didn't have space available for facilities to get approved for a game breeders licence. You shouldn't have most of those problems with coturnix.

2) For the most part a quail ration should be made up of Game Bird Starter 22% protein or more I used a 28% turkey starter you feed should also be non-medicated.

3)For normal coturnix 1 square foot per adult is recomended, I'm unsure if it is different for Jumbos.

4) If you want meat birds go for jumbos anything else I would go with normal sized cots. There is no difference other than size but, being bigger, the jumbos go through feed faster.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

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1. Because i couldt get chickens because of my neigborhood
2. Buy them unmedicated gamebirxd starter. Search forums there R many threads on this topic
3.they say one square foot per bird. But i do two
4.not as many jumbo colors out there as regular


Checkout the sticky at the topnof te page

 

[thekid]

I like quail for meat, eggs, and pet.
For feed you need Purina GBS 30%
1 sq ft. per bird, jumbo does not change requirements.
If you want quail for meat, go with Jumbo, if you want quail for pets and/or eggs go with regular..... Or be like me and get both

 

[quailmale]

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[yinepu]

1) I got quail for the eggs and meat.. but mostly because when my husband is deployed they are one bird I can butcher whenever I want to and don't wish I had help .. just butchered 12 the other day for dinner tonight!
we also have chickens, ducks (muscovy) and turkeys... but when I butcher them I prefer to have a little help.. even if it's just for a small part of the process.

2) mine get 28% game bird starter as babies.. thinking about changing it up a bit for older birds .. I do not plan to "rest" the egg layers over the winter.. I figured there isn't much use in letting them go for two years when I can hatch out replacements any time.. so not sure yet what I want to do with the feed for the older birds

3) I have 10 birds per 30" X 30" rabbit cage in the house.. three cages stacked on top of each other.. bottom two have breeders and the upper cage is for when the chicks leave the brooder and are marked for butchering.. no fights unless I accidentally put 2 males per cage.. one boy seems to be able to take care of nine ladies with no fertility problems. They have two pans of shavings and one pan of sand with oyster shell added.. they seem happy enough.. lay eggs like crazy too. Some people may say they need more room.. but I am going by the birds.. if they start to act stressed i will add a few more cages.. for now they all seem happy and if the eggs are any indication they like the room they have!

4) I prefer jumbo coturnix.. more meat per bird ..

 

[chetrw]

1) Why did you get quail? Is it for the eggs, meat, pets or other?
I got them to teach my young kids how to care/ raise our own food. Our Cots are now 3 weeks old. They will be manly for meat but will eat eggs as well.

2) What do you feed quail? Make your own feed or can I buy feed suitable for quail?
30% gamebird starter

3) How many square feet per bird in their cages? - I know some are "jumbo" does this change requirements?
From everything that i have read, if you plan to house layers in quads the best is 1sqft per bird. They can be raised in less but it is more stressful for the birds and shortens their lifespans.

4) And lastly, do you recommend doing jumbo quail or regular sized? I think I'm going to be doing coturnix quail.
This is greatly dependent on your reasons for getting quail. I recommend Cots for meat because of quick grow out. Another reason to go with Cots is that alot of states require license to raise bobs but not Cots.

Good luck with quail, I just started and my family is having a blast with them.

 

[Dingo]

1) Why did you get quail? For eggs but also because chickens just aren't feasible for me right now and I miss having birds.

2) What do you feed quail? ManaPro game bird and show bird crumbles.

3) How many square feet per bird in their cages? Mine are only 2.5 weeks old right now, they're in a 2x2 brooder, seem to be doing fine, they will have somewhere around 2sq per bird when they're off the heat.

4) And lastly, do you recommend doing jumbo quail or regular sized? Depends on what you want them for.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

I don't have any yet, but I plan to get some in the near future. One reason for me to get some is because I want to eat them. I might also try to make a little money on them. I have a feeling small jars of pickled quail eggs would sell rather well around here. But the main reason is just because I think it would be fun.

 

[aprophet]

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