would quails work for me?

[quaildreams]

so i just bought my first house (!!) and would love to do something food related with the backyard, which is too small for much of a garden (i could fit a few small beds, but only if that's ALL i want the yard to be) but a quail coop would just right! i've already picked up a chunk of info just lurking in this (great) forum, but there are a few questions i'm hoping i can get some clear answers on....

in your opinion, which quail makes the least noise?

will hens lay with no rooster at all?

would a coop 4x3x7 feet be enough room for 10 or 12 birds?

is there a way to sex the chicks early, before i get attached?

could quails over winter outside?(it rarely gets below 20 degrees)

sorry about all the rooster hate, but i live in the city and the neighbors are pretty close, one of them complains to the city and the quails have to go live with my aunt in the country!

 

[TwoCrows]

so i just bought my first house (!!) and would love to do something food related with the backyard, which is too small for much of a garden (i could fit a few small beds, but only if that's ALL i want the yard to be) but a quail coop would just right! i've already picked up a chunk of info just lurking in this (great) forum, but there are a few questions i'm hoping i can get some clear answers on....

in your opinion, which quail makes the least noise? All quail have the potential to make noise, however females are more quiet than males and if you only have a few quail, you probably won't hear much.

will hens lay with no rooster at all? Yes, hens lay reguardless on whether a rooster is present.

would a coop 4x3x7 feet be enough room for 10 or 12 birds? This size would work for Coturnix quail.

is there a way to sex the chicks early, before i get attached? You will have to wait till there is enough feather growth to sex them.

could quails over winter outside?(it rarely gets below 20 degrees) Yes.

sorry about all the rooster hate, but i live in the city and the neighbors are pretty close, one of them complains to the city and the quails have to go live with my aunt in the country! Many folks sucessfully keep quail in the city without too much complaining from the neighbors as they are a lot more quiet than chickens.

Oh...and welcome to BYC!

 

[Caribear]

Agreed. I would go with coturnix quail, they do well in small spaces, are quiet, and come to maturity quickly. We have cots and chickens, and the chickens make way more noise than the quail. The male cots do crow, but it's not much louder than the local wild birds, and that's the loudest noise they make. So yes, I think quail could work well for you.

 

[speedy2020]

Have you consider have both? The coturnix quail pen with garden bed on top.

 

[quaildreams]

thanks for taking the time to read and answer all my questions! i hadn't thought of putting a garden on top! if i do use the coop as a table for potted plants it would be a pretty way to make sure they get enough shade in summer.... i'm doing a permanent herb garden but pots would be a great way to try growing veggies! here's another question..... as long as they have all their feathers before they go outside, does it matter what time of year you hatch them?

 

[quaildreams]

whoops double post

 

[TwoCrows]

You can hatch them any day of the year and they will be fine. However if you hatch them in the dead of winter and it is 10 degrees outside, you will need to acclimate them to that temp over a few weeks with a heat lamp on them outside.

 

[chiqita]

Quail are legal in a LOT of places roosters are not. In fact, if you can legally have quail, you can have roos. ( most rooster ordinances actually come from trying to avoid cock fighting, rather then noise. Since no ones tried to do quail fighting since the ancient Greeks and Manchurian Chinese, you don't get regulations about if you can have boy quail any more then you do about boy dogs)

Cort boys just sound like birds, unless you get some sort of quail madness going, your neighbors are not going to notice. Not that you have to have boys, but I'm betting a few will sneak in, anyway. It happens.

If you are worried about not getting attached, either get adults or get eggs that are feather sexable, that you can start doing around 4 weeks IIRC. Welcome to the wonderful world of quail!

 

[Caribear]

And congratulations on the new home, BTW!

 

[quaildreams]

it's not roosters that are outlawed in my city (richmond va) it's ALL fowl. also hogs. city code doesn't say anything about goats but i doubt you'd be allowed to keep one very long....there's a council meeting in september with chickens on the agenda so i've got my fingers crossed. it'd be nice to have a few acuna (SP?, the easter egg chickens)
i'm so glad to hear that quail aren't too loud! i've been following the show us your coop thread and my head is all full of ideas, i love the slanted floor that rolls the eggs into a collection tray! very clever!