Little help, soon to be quail owner, help me learn to raise them!

[Quail Buddy]

Hi guys I’ve been on BYC but can almost never figure out how to make a thread. Anywhoo! We are getting quail soon! And not gonna go into detail but for eggs to help with allergies and a family member with high cholesterol. Few questions.

Is it true that quail eggs lower HDL cholesterol? (Aka the bad kind?)

Also any tips and tricks with the day to day things like easy dirty bedding/poop removal, lower the amount of mess from food and water?

Any bedding advice/ alternatives to mesh floor?

How big should the mesh be? 1” 1/2”?

And last but not least how many quail for a family of 5 that eats eggs every other day?

Thanks in advance!!

Bonus points for pics of setup and quail!!!!!

Where are you located? I mat be able to fix you right up, getting out of quail.

 

[p4PaDuck]

Where are you located? I mat be able to fix you right up, getting out of quail.

Texas

 

[p4PaDuck]

Eating quail eggs might help lower cholesterol, they likely won’t make it worse. You need a reason, how about the ability to cut recipes in half or even quarter them when they call for 1 egg. Or imagine tiny deviled eggs (if you have the patience to peal them!). Just the cuteness factor alone is a great reason!

Also, on the feather sexing thing, in theory you can do it at 3 weeks but my first batch kept their baby spots until 3.5 weeks. I had 4 brown hens (out of five birds) that all decided to be boys a few days later. Oops! They are a ton of fun, even with our occasional mistakes, enjoy!

Thanks much appreciated

 

[p4PaDuck]

I wanted to add that LDL is the bad form of cholesterol, not HDL. Like the other respondents, I don't know that eating quail eggs will reduce LDL, but anecdotally, I've been raising quail for 2 years and have eaten very few chicken eggs, but lots of quail eggs in that time.Until recently, I'd been unmedicated since 2021 (had differences of opinion with my primary care physician and my cardiologist and fired both). My HDL and LDL are good. My triglycerides are a bit elevated, but that's been the bane of my entire life even since my 20s.
I raise jumbo wild coturnix and can generally sex them at 3 weeks, but I did have one male fool me in my first hatch.
I'm in the Dallas area (ignore my user name, I haven't moved to Clifton, yet). If you're near, I'd be willing to set some eggs and sell you the resulting day old chicks at $3 each. I think that's the going rate on Craig's List. There are a lot of quail keepers in Texas so you should be able to find someone nearby.

Thank you!!! Yeah that’s the rate. I would be happy to buy day old chicks. I looked but the closest person is like 3hrs away!! I want 15 hens and maybe 1 or two roosters for future hatchouts. You are about an hour and some change away. Do you think you could meet me in the middle? Also not for sure about buying them. Have to talk with the family. If you do post them on Craigslist we’ll probably buy them.

 

[CliftonQuail]

Thank you!!! Yeah that’s the rate. I would be happy to buy day old chicks. I looked but the closest person is like 3hrs away!! I want 15 hens and maybe 1 or two roosters for future hatchouts. You are about an hour and some change away. Do you think you could meet me in the middle? Also not for sure about buying them. Have to talk with the family. If you do post them on Craigslist we’ll probably buy them.

I sent you a PM.

 

[TeresaW]

I have 9 garden beds, 4 of which are occupied by quail. When I harvest, I move quail on to the harvested bed. I leave the bed they just left for a couple of months to compost down, then plant. They rotate through my beds.

I thought that if you moved quail, then they would stop laying for about two weeks. Do they keep laying for you after a move?

 

[Nabiki]

I thought that if you moved quail, then they would stop laying for about two weeks. Do they keep laying for you after a move?

They might take a break of a few days, but they're in the same pen, in the same greenhouse with the same hides, feeders, etc. They're just in another garden bed. My birds are pretty calm and they're usually very happy with the fresh, new dirt and leftover plants to destroy.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

What do you do with the quail when you plant vegetables?

Where do you move them or do they get eaten?

Do you have quail roosters? What do you think about them?

I am going to comment here…… I rehomed all 5 of my quails recently, because I couldn’t deal with the stress. I had 3 male and 2 female, which led to over breeding and fighting. If I had less males, or a better setup, it would have been ok. But the moral of the story is, have room to separate the quail, and watch out for the aggressive roosters. You should have a rooster for every 2 to 8 hens, depending upon the male’s personality.

 

[Nabiki]

What do you do with the quail when you plant vegetables?

Where do you move them or do they get eaten?

Do you have quail roosters? What do you think about them?

I somehow missed this question. I plant a bed, then after I harvest the bed, I will either leave the plants and hoe around them or I will pull up the plants before hoeing up the bed and moving the quail onto them. The bed that the quail just moved from will sit for a couple months to let the poop and leftover food compost, then I will plant. The cycle continues so I always have beds with veggies growing, fallow beds that are composting, and beds with quail on them. I don't move all of the quail at once.

 

[p4PaDuck]

I somehow missed this question. I plant a bed, then after I harvest the bed, I will either leave the plants and hoe around them or I will pull up the plants before hoeing up the bed and moving the quail onto them. The bed that the quail just moved from will sit for a couple months to let the poop and leftover food compost, then I will plant. The cycle continues so I always have beds with veggies growing, fallow beds that are composting, and beds with quail on them. I don't move all of the quail at once.

That’s a really cool garden system! I want to do that