Does anyone know about Quails?

[venusandmars]

Hi, dh met someone last year who keeps quails and he has become quite interested in it. He likes the idea because they are smaller than hens and a bit less 'clucky'

It is a big birthday for dh soon, and I am thinking of getting him a book about Quail Keeping, and a hutch. Then we can get an incubator and some eggs....

Anyone got any experience in this?

We always have a few quails about. They come in different sizes; Chinese quails are as tiny as sparrows and only decorative, while Italian/Japanese/Spanish quails are a bit bigger than a blackbird and lay 'quails' eggs'.

They run on the ground and eat seeds; a mixture of chick crumbs and finch seed is recommended, but I just give mine layers' pellets and the odd handful of finch seed/bufgie food when they are lucky. They can be quite nervous and flighty and are inclined to leave you with a handful of feathers if you grab them too roughly. I don't think that they are as hardy as chickens - mine spend the winter indoors - and don't like the damp.

I find them more prone to fighting than chickens; I am always having to separate off the bullies and so have more cages than I would like, but maybe I am missing a trick in the way I am keeping them.

Why get eggs and an incubator? I buy ours at the local chicken auction very cheaply. They lay welll in the summer (always appearing astonished to find eggs in their woodshavings and never attempting to sit on them).

I have read that the best way to keep them is to have them running on the ground in an aviary with other birds, which is what I would love to do (if only dh would get round to building it).

The best book is by Katie Thear.

If you live in Dorset you could rehome mine. I am quite fond of them but really have more than enough animals!

I would like to get some Bobwhite quails as they are the biggest you can get and less flighty than the smaller breeds.

Hiya, can i join?

We have been looking at quail and have semi decided on Japs. We are looking at reusing the rabbit hutch - less rabbit of course ;) Its a 4 ft double hutch and we are makinging an attachable run of around 4ft by 2 ft on the grass. Although our breeder has said they dont need that much room, and they dont need grass/outside. But it just doesnt seem right somehow? He also said Japanese will be fine in a rabbit hutch as they dont tend to roost of fly as much? is this right?

Ahh mass of questions and no help at all, sorry

One last Q, what do i put in the hutch? i was thinking a scattering of woodshavings and hay, and loads of hay in the sleeping compartment.....
written down that sounds stupid - they are not rabbits BabyDubs you dunce!!

Oh help!

I can second the recommendation for the Katie Thear book Keeping Quail, its a good starting point.

Quail definately benefit from proper outside space and like most creatures more space is better than less. Also, plant up their run as they like cover rather than wide open empty space.

You will need a proper quail food ideally, something like Garvo Quailmixture, or otherwise make your own from non-medicated chick crumb plus millet and other small seeds.

Only other advice is to keep more females than males, and only one male unless you are planning a really large enclosure and lots of females.

Hope that helps x

Do you think you could keep quail in with friendly Bantams/chickens?

More a ponder than a pressing point iykwim

Not generally a good idea, unless you have a very large area with room for the quail to hide and the whole thing would need to be predator proof - cats will not usually bother chickens/bantams but will definately go for quail. You need a much finer mesh for keeping the quail safe and also a roof / mesh on the top.

one more thing before you get too bored of me

i was planning on using that silvery loft insulation in my rabbits hutch for winter. Its very spongy, would it be suitable for the roof for the quail so they dont bump their heads? or would they peck at it? if so what should i use?

And what materials do you put in the house?

Thank you

No danger of me getting bored, I can talk about poultry all day!

I think the insulation would be fine - they only tend to peck at ground level, so if the hutch roof is higher than they can stetch you should be ok.

Bedding material in the hutch would be fine shavings or something like Nedz Bedz Pro which is made from chopped oil seed rape straw and is more absorbant (plus you can compost it).