Allotments 4 All
Produce => Kept Animals => Topic started by: phillyq on September 29, 2014, 00:35:54
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Hi Peeps,
Does anyone here keep quail? I have enjoyed my chickens so much I'm seriously considering getting a coop of quail as well (Kept seperately). I'd be interested to hear form anyone who has kept quail as to ratios of bird numbers to run size, tips for laying etc.
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Can't help much except that I saw a thing on TV recently which says they don't like our cold, damp winters and will fly at the merest hint of anything scary so you need to have covered pens or a barn and somewhere dry for them to roam and fly all winter. If you google quail+husbandry, you'll find info on places in Norfolk and Essex which raise quail commercially and talk about their needs.
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Quail fly upwards when startled, so you need to make sure the ceiling is soft enough that they won't injure themselves when they inevitably hit it!
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We've hatched quail for people, but never kept them ourselves. Our daughter did for a while, and a couple of allotment colleagues do so.
Personally, I'm not keen. They're usually kept in small wire-fronted coops, in which they seem happy enough, but always look a bit confined to me. You do need to be careful about the male to female ratio, too. My daughter described the mating behaviour of the male birds as "rapey", which isn't an understatement. Make sure each male has several females to share his attentions.
The best coop that I've seen was constructed like a large tall bookcase, mostly wire-fronted, but with solid panels to provide nighttime sleeping compartments. Birds could move from level to level up little ladders. There was plenty of space, and it was possible to create quarantine areas or areas for chicks simply by shutting the openings between levels.
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"Rapiness" is pretty common in the animal world, birds especially. :/
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"Rapiness" is pretty common in the animal world, birds especially. :/
Agreed, but quail (IME) take it to another level!
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I hear ducks are pretty bad too, mallards especially.