quails

[poulet]

can anyone give me any info on keeping quails , I have a large wooded area and would like to keep quails for eating and eggs . Does anyone have info on good varieties to keep , how many in what space , housing and hight of fencing
I already have chickens but fancied something different

 

[swiftfoot]

if you want eggs i would go with the coturnix
fencing is the same as a chicken
well i use 1/2 inch wire so they cant get loose
just feed them a high protein gamebird or turdey feed
and you will do fine

 

[BaronRenfrew]

Bonjour de Quebec:

Quails are easy to keep but I question keeping them outdoors as they fly when given a chance. It will take a few days to get their muscles up but they will go. They are also an easy meal for any predators as they are so small.

In cages the easiest to keep are Bobwhites or Coturnix. Coturnix are mature at 6 weeks and eggs hatch in 14 days. They also lay very well. Bobwhites are mature at 5 months and lay maybe 100 or 150 eggs per year. If you do build an outside run coturnix will charm you being so tame and always bathing in dust (or anything resembling dust).

Bobwhites should be kept on wire as with exotic quails as they get sick easily. general rule, the longer an animal has been domesticated, the less problems with disease. Coturnix also called pharoah and japanese quails exist in numerous varities.

Chicks are tiny and can walk through chicken wire and drown in chicken waterers. Being small they also need better winter housing.

feed a mix of turkey starter and cracked corn

I'd suggest that you buy a book or borrow from library.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Here is a post I started on my quail and the modified "playhouse coop" I built for the.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=49908

Since I posted this, I taken out the floor and lowered it all the way to the ground and enclosed 3 sides of the little "coop" as SamG347 suggested I put them on all one level. Mine are on sand & a heavy mulch that I rake every week to remove the poo. I've installed many branches and twigs for them to give them a more natural setting.

I started them on a Game bird starter. They are growing fat now on ground Purina Sunfresh Flock Raiser.

I hope to expand the "coop" to include another 8ft x8ft this summer