Quails and gardening

juanoira · Nov 3, 2019

Hello!
I'm having trouble with cats where my crops are, so I'm building a huge cage with chicken wire to protect them (3x10 meters x 2 meter tall). I had the beautiful idea to put a small coop with about 6-10 quails inside the cage. They will help me solve my "mealybugs" or "woodlouse" problem and give me eggs while having a nice life for themselves.

The question is: will they do too much damage to vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, cucumber, beans, etc?? Of course I will feed them their regular food too. Maybe I could keep them in the coop and set them loose in the cage twice a week. Will they sleep in the coop or will they nest whereever they want? Any ideas?

Thankssss

Nabiki · Nov 3, 2019

I have my quail in my garden beds, but I only put them in the beds that I am laying to rest for a while. They will peck at and destroy small plants, and they like to eat lettuce, spinach, cucumber, zucchini. Mine don't seem to like the beans so much. I may let them loose in a bed that has large tomato plants to see how they do with those, but I wouldn't put them in with young tomatoes.

Edit: They're not likely to sleep in the coop. They tend to bed down in the dirt.

Kiki · Nov 3, 2019

Welcome to BYC.
Quail killers (rats) can go right through chicken wire, hardware cloth is better.
Quail will ruin a garden in no time.

Nabiki · Nov 3, 2019

Oh, my garden beds are pretty close together, and I have noticed a decrease in the bug population overall. The garden is part of why I decided to get quail in the first place. By having them in fallow beds, I get fertilizer and they eat the bugs. In addition, I get eggs and meat.