Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Margaret on February 11, 2012 at 8:38am

I keep most of our quail in a large cage on the lawn, which also contains young chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, sometimes ducklings and an adult partridge and some guinea pigs. They all get along just fine. I haven't had anything die from diseases, although I do put garlic in their water regularly. I have read quails are susceptible to the normal poultry diseases so they receive a mix of turkey and chick starter (and other feed) along with the other birds in that cage, which I think contain antibiotics to blackhead and coccidiosis.

It is a pain having ducklings in with everything as they dirty the water so I avoid it whenever possible. The quails are moved to their proper aviary or eaten when they are laying/ fully adults and newer/ smaller quails replace them in the mixed cage. The only problem I have had is they need a lower water container than the other birds when they are young. Also, the type of wiring on this cage allows them to fit their head through the wire when they are not yet adults-one had his head badly pecked by a free ranging peacock or rooster when he did this so just make sure your quail cage is designed properly. It certainly is handy having lots of the littlies in together though.

Margaret

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by steve craft on February 11, 2012 at 6:20pm

Thanks for the info

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Matt Soldano on February 13, 2012 at 10:14am

Hi Margaret,

  Id like to add some quail to my laying flock of chickens and ducks.  They would be housed separately in a enclosed pen of their own, as all my birds roam about freely during the day. From what I understand quails are not like chickens and will run away if given the chance. My question is once they reach laying age, what kind of nest box's are required. Also, how old can I process a quail and still have good meat? Is it like a roasting chicken compared to an old stewing hen?

Thanks

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Margaret on February 26, 2012 at 12:34am

Hi Matt,

We are still quite new to quails (been doing it about 1.5 years now) so best to hope someone with more experience replies.

I certainly wouldn't let quails loose like other poultry as they would be gone very quickly (run away or mauled by larger birds...). Having said that, there have been several occasions where someone has left the quail cage door unclipped and we have had from 2 to a dozen loose for up to several hours before anyone noticed. We have always managed to catch them as they were within about a 10m -15m range (keeping close to the remaining ones in the cage?) and came when called and food was offered. I think the trick is to condition them-everytime I take food to the cage I call them so if something does happen and they escape I have more chance of getting them back as they will come running for food. These are Japanese quails though. We lost a button quail the other day and have no idea where it went as they are awfully flightly and not nearly as tame as the Japs even though they are treated the same.

I don't use nesting boxes like for other poultry as the quails don't seem to use them (don't know if that is how all Jap quails are or if mine are odd). I just have the floor covered in some sawdust, long grass cuttings, etc and they lay wherever they want on the floor of the cage. My buttons lay in an enclosed little box area though as they apparently like privacy.

Re. age for eating them, I am not sure how they taste if they are really old. Our quails are eaten by about 6 months at the latest, which I guess is old by quail terms, (usually it is a lot earlier) and they taste fine. Gettiing organised would be the key so they are fattened up quickly and not hanging around eating food for months on end but not growing any bigger.

Hope this helps somewhat, Margaret

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion