Keeping quail
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 5:33 pm
Since I got you folks thinking with the thread on quail eggs and allergies, i thought i'd add a few points on keeping quail.
Coturnix quail are very easy to keep, and will take the cold surprisingly well. I last kept them in a shed and temp would drop to -30 with no losses (but eggs would freeze like rocks) so I controlled laying with lights. I had them in a 6x5 pen on shavings, changed it every couple of weeks, but some eggs would disappear in the shavings. If kept on wire, they look a little "dissheveled" but otherwise healthy. They love a bowl of sand for a dust bath. The manure can be really ammonia smelling. If surprised they would "flush" but would fly up about three feet. They loved this setup.
Any bird to be kept in a cage should be put in the cage as young as feasible. If they know "freedom" they never settle in to cages after.
I had bobwhites but they would flush like mad when I went near the cage and could tear their heads open so the cage should be just tall enough for comfort; or with a solid roof.
Coturnix are very active breeders and may damage the hens. I would rotate the males in and out.
In a cage I have read that they do better in dense groups.
Al has been doing well with quail outdoors 24/7 and his pen is against a building wall but is facing North (!), where I would face it East or South (mindful of summer sun).
I had bobwhites in my stone bank barn, and the barn would heat up very late in spring so they wouldn't lay until June. (It could have been lack of light as well, as I didn't have a timer/light setup.) They were free in a very large pen, the hen laid a clutch of eggs, then she died and the male incubated them!
Coturnix quail are very easy to keep, and will take the cold surprisingly well. I last kept them in a shed and temp would drop to -30 with no losses (but eggs would freeze like rocks) so I controlled laying with lights. I had them in a 6x5 pen on shavings, changed it every couple of weeks, but some eggs would disappear in the shavings. If kept on wire, they look a little "dissheveled" but otherwise healthy. They love a bowl of sand for a dust bath. The manure can be really ammonia smelling. If surprised they would "flush" but would fly up about three feet. They loved this setup.
Any bird to be kept in a cage should be put in the cage as young as feasible. If they know "freedom" they never settle in to cages after.
I had bobwhites but they would flush like mad when I went near the cage and could tear their heads open so the cage should be just tall enough for comfort; or with a solid roof.
Coturnix are very active breeders and may damage the hens. I would rotate the males in and out.
In a cage I have read that they do better in dense groups.
Al has been doing well with quail outdoors 24/7 and his pen is against a building wall but is facing North (!), where I would face it East or South (mindful of summer sun).
I had bobwhites in my stone bank barn, and the barn would heat up very late in spring so they wouldn't lay until June. (It could have been lack of light as well, as I didn't have a timer/light setup.) They were free in a very large pen, the hen laid a clutch of eggs, then she died and the male incubated them!
