Pen size for Breeding Quail - Question

[Mumpy]

Hello all, I am building a Pen this evening for some bobwhite quail that I am purchasing this weekend for breeding and egg laying purposes. The Pen I am building will have 3 Separate runs that are 6' Long 2' Wide and 1' High. The Run will be attached to a Coop that will have 3 Separate compartments and those Compartments will be approximately 2' High x 2' Wide x 3' Length.

My question is this; How many Bobwhite Quail can I keep in each Run/Coop?

I was going to place 1 Rooster and 3 Hens per Run, could I easily fit more?

Thank you guys, absolutely love this site!

 

[guru]

Just a 6'x2' run itself would hold 5-6hens to 1 roo each easy.
I used to hold a 4:1 setup in 3'x2' setup and they acted happy.

 

[Quail Jailer]

Just a 6'x2' run itself would hold 5-6hens to 1 roo each easy.
I used to hold a 4:1 setup in 3'x2' setup and they acted happy.

My battery pens are 3' wide 2' deep and 13" high, I have run as many as 2 roos and 15 hens
in them without problems. but this is much more of a commercial type setup, Birds do not get old on my farm.

 

[dc3085]

These guys are talking about coturnix ^^^^ Keeping more than a few hens with a bob rooster isn't productive.

Commercially breeding pairs are kept in 12" by 24" batteries or some variation of battery similar to that. If you keep them in trios you'll want to add a couple sq ft. You can overwinter the birds in a big covey but you'll have to give them 3-4 sq ft per bird.

Bobwhites as you may or may not already know can be quite aggressive, much more so than a lot of other types of quail. You will know if you are keeping them the wrong way because they will be killing each other if you aren't.

How old are the bobwhites you are getting? If they aren't laying right now (at least 6 months old), they won't lay any eggs until next May. They'll lay from May-August each year.

Here is a good coverall article on raising bobwhites.

http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/pdf/extension/raising_quail.pdf

 

[Quail Jailer]

Yes my bad, Only thing I know about bobwhites is how to hunt them...

 

[FossilPeak]

I'd stock them 2 hens to a rooster for best results...that's not to say you should put three birds per run...just keep your ratio at 2:1 or 3:1...in confined quarters it should be fine. I've got all my breeders in something resembling quail Alcatraz...6' wide 30' long containing 55 hens and 23 roosters at last count...they're very hard to count. All are healthy and content. Roosters don't seem to be fighting and hens are not getting broken down. Egg count is a little low at about 35 a day but all in all it seems to be working.

Had boxes on the ground for them to lay in but they seem to prefer laying in the corners of the house behind these angle iron braces. They'll stand in line waiting to hop in and lay an egg...I mean they literally stand around politely waiting their turn the hop in, root around, deposit an egg, then go on their way. I need to get it on video...it's pretty amusing.

 

[Quail Jailer]

Get a dollhouse toilet, sink and roll of paper to set in the corner then film all of that. you'll get a bizillionteen hits on Utube.