Anyone keep quail?

[grrlscout]

Back yard chickens are illegal and my city, and my back yard is very small.

This morning, I saw class on quail raising, offered by my local permaculture group.

I thought this might be a solution for my issues, as they would be classified as pets, and can be raised (happily) in a cage.

I'd want them for eggs only. Maybe as meat birds later. But I would have to work up to that.

Just interested in hearing any personal stories, if you had experience raising small game birds.

[Winnie]

It wouldn't hurt to go to the class. I've not kept Quail myself, have thought about it, though. I'll follow this with interest!

[hunter63]

I haven't fooled around raising/keeping quail, but have some experience with pheasants.

My reasons for raising them is a little different, they are for the dogs to practice on, trailing, pointing, flushing, and ultimately shooting and eating them.

They are a "wild bird" as apposed to domesticated bird, tend to not "play well with others" if kept in a pen.
Chickens will attack a weak or injured cage mate, but pheasants will really go after others if kept too confined, run low on food, or maybe just bored? Lost several this way.

As I generally get them in August as chicks and keep them till late October, then either train the dogs, or release the survivors, with hopes of a self maintaining flock. (hasn't happened).

I guess I would be interested in the information that you are referring to.
Be aware that a lot of "raise whatever" for fun and profit, are really a pyramid scheme, you buy them from a breeder and raise them your self to sell to others.

The guy I get my pheasants from that has an old incubator and does the whole deal, including quail, chukar, and other game birds, for hunting lodges.

Quail eggs are small, about the size of a quarter, I'm guess you would need a lot of them for an omelet.

[grrlscout]

From what I have read so far, Coturnix (a Japanese breed) is the preferred breed for beginners, as they don't take up a lot of room, are fairly gentle, and produce relatively large eggs, for their size. They can lay 200-300 eggs a year.

In my research, I have seen lots of those sites promising to make you loads of money raising quail. :angry: Luckily the org that offers the class is non-profit and reputable. Some members do sell their chicks.

The class is in December, and it's only a $10 donation. So I might just check it out, if for anything, curiosity's sake.

[grrlscout]

Oh and so far, these seems like the most unbiased and complete site that I have found:

http://raisequail.com/raising_coturnix_quail.html

[hunter63]

From what I have read so far, Coturnix (a Japanese breed) is the preferred breed for beginners, as they don't take up a lot of room, are fairly gentle, and produce relatively large eggs, for their size. They can lay 200-300 eggs a year.

In my research, I have seen lots of those sites promising to make you loads of money raising quail. :angry: Luckily the org that offers the class is non-profit and reputable. Some members do sell their chicks.

The class is in December, and it's only a $10 donation. So I might just check it out, if for anything, curiosity's sake.

I'm thinking that you are going about this the right way.
I would guess the then $10 bucks would be a good investment. but use your head.

Note: just because it's a non-profit organization, doesn't mean much, as they can be blinded by "Marketing" as well, in their efforts to save the planet.

Good luck to you, sound like a fun project! Let us know.

[your_comforting_company]

I don't want to give conflicting info, but quail are quite more communal than pheasants. I know folks who raise all sorts of fowl, including emu's and peacocks. There are several quail farms around here and they keep them in what looks to me just like a chicken pen. Of course, these folks raise them as part of wildlife restoration and for hunting clubs, so folks don't hunt the few wild ones that are left. It is something like a unicorn to see them in the wild anymore.

I would recommend the "pharoah" quails, as that seems to be what folks here raise for meat. I know quail eggs are quite small, and as H suggested, it would take quite a lot to make a meal, but if you use them as a supplement, like for cakes, or whatever, you should be fine.

I recommend taking the class as well, and would definately ask about the pharoahs. They are VERY tasty! Baste or grill wrapped in a slice of bacon.. mmmm-mmmm!

[LowKey]

Grandpa used to raise quail down in Florida. He had a pen attached to the back of the shed with a bunch of nesting boxes you could get to by sliding a door inside the shed.
It was a pretty sturdy pen to keep out predators (and not just the neighbor's cats). I think he did it as something fun for the grandkids but I'm sure he ate them too.

[oldtrap59]

My dad raised pheasents and quail for many years mostly as a hobby to release into the wild on several of his family and friends farms. At one time for whatever reason he decided to try keeping some of the coturnix for a couple years. As I remember they came in several color varities, one of those being the pharoah. That is the one that looks something like the bobwhite. They also came in white and a kind of copper brown. Now they probably have many different colors besides those. I know that when he got his the seller made all kinds of get rich quick claims.( Don't think Dad got rich) :>) I do know that they laid like cazy and in no time he went from a few to alot. We ate them like you would fix any wild shot quail and after he had alot of hens laying we pickled the eggs which we really enjoyed.
As I remember you don't need to feed all the fancy gamebird feeds to get them to lay at a high rate. Just plain old chicken laying mash and keep em under lights when the days get shorter. Btw. A bag of chicken feed goes along way with these little birds and they don't take up much space.

Oldtrap

[Winnie]

There's a lot of info at Backyard Chickens forum.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=48

[panch0]

I don't keep any but man are they tasty! I never thought of raising quail. My father in law has about 20 chickens, I may mention quails to him.