ohiogoatgirl
Lovin' The Homestead
hello everyone
i am wondering about button quail. i saw an ad for some on CL and hadnt heard of them. so of
course, curious me, goes and looks them up.
i'm not finding a whole lot of information on them. its like three people with them shared
their info and then the rest of the web just copy/pasted it. :?
my biggest questions right now are:
*size- they get to like 5 inches tall at most? are they worth keeping for meat? i mean if they
are a little meaty then they look like they would be easy as pie to butcher. but isthe meat
tasty or enough there to be worth butchering?
*eggs- i read that they "are egg producing machines" and that the females if not fed well will
go right on producing eggs and take calcium from their own bones and eventually get so weak
they cannot stand or walk. okay but how many do they tend to lay?! argh.... like one per day?
two per day? one every other day?
*housing- i'm in ohio and i really dont think i would want them inside the house. for one i
have a small room as it is and for two i'm not one for animal smells in the house. could i have
them in a barn outside? even through the winter? the coldest we get is usually about 10*F and
rarely lower. the barn is quite draft proof and i am working on a non-electric and non-flame
way of heating the barn. i'm also wondering if it would be better to have a sort of large
colony set up or smaller family set ups. such as a "room" in the barn of about 5ft by 4ft and
about 7ft tall. then i could have lots of shelves and ramps and perches and hiding places,
which would in a way make it much bigger because they could get away from each other if they
wanted to. and have fake vines and plants all about. and hay as bedding. OR do i want to do
cages? i was thinkin family group set ups for cages. so a cage of about 2ft by 5ft and maybe
2ft tall. and probably two adult pairs per cage. this give plenty of space for young hatchlings
to grow up as part of the family. but i am wondering since they are only about 4-5 inches tall
as adults how small their feet must be so what size wire mesh would i need for flooring? and if
it was real small would that just be too much a pain in the butt to clean versus the colony
type idea?
*feeding- i want to be as self-sufficient as possible. i found that they like millet, apple,
cabbage, cucumber, broccoli, corn. they like mealworms and crickets (i'm not a bug/worm person
though i dont imagine it would be hard to have a little mealworm or cricket "farm" bin but i
have no idea what those eat). 22-25% protein feed is best. feeding mashed up boiled eggs with
the shell (for calcium). i have read that turkey mash or non-medicated game bird feed is a good
base. and i read that people who have large aviaries use the little button quail (which are
ground bird but can fly a good distance) to live on the floor of the aviary to eat the spilled
and otherwise wasted feed. and that they live entirely on the spilled feed. which to me doesnt
seem like it would be all that much.
and the incubation period is 16-21 days and they begin laying as early as 6wks old!
so can anyone give me any more tips or info on these? thanks!
i am wondering about button quail. i saw an ad for some on CL and hadnt heard of them. so of
course, curious me, goes and looks them up.
i'm not finding a whole lot of information on them. its like three people with them shared
their info and then the rest of the web just copy/pasted it. :?
my biggest questions right now are:
*size- they get to like 5 inches tall at most? are they worth keeping for meat? i mean if they
are a little meaty then they look like they would be easy as pie to butcher. but isthe meat
tasty or enough there to be worth butchering?
*eggs- i read that they "are egg producing machines" and that the females if not fed well will
go right on producing eggs and take calcium from their own bones and eventually get so weak
they cannot stand or walk. okay but how many do they tend to lay?! argh.... like one per day?
two per day? one every other day?
*housing- i'm in ohio and i really dont think i would want them inside the house. for one i
have a small room as it is and for two i'm not one for animal smells in the house. could i have
them in a barn outside? even through the winter? the coldest we get is usually about 10*F and
rarely lower. the barn is quite draft proof and i am working on a non-electric and non-flame
way of heating the barn. i'm also wondering if it would be better to have a sort of large
colony set up or smaller family set ups. such as a "room" in the barn of about 5ft by 4ft and
about 7ft tall. then i could have lots of shelves and ramps and perches and hiding places,
which would in a way make it much bigger because they could get away from each other if they
wanted to. and have fake vines and plants all about. and hay as bedding. OR do i want to do
cages? i was thinkin family group set ups for cages. so a cage of about 2ft by 5ft and maybe
2ft tall. and probably two adult pairs per cage. this give plenty of space for young hatchlings
to grow up as part of the family. but i am wondering since they are only about 4-5 inches tall
as adults how small their feet must be so what size wire mesh would i need for flooring? and if
it was real small would that just be too much a pain in the butt to clean versus the colony
type idea?
*feeding- i want to be as self-sufficient as possible. i found that they like millet, apple,
cabbage, cucumber, broccoli, corn. they like mealworms and crickets (i'm not a bug/worm person
though i dont imagine it would be hard to have a little mealworm or cricket "farm" bin but i
have no idea what those eat). 22-25% protein feed is best. feeding mashed up boiled eggs with
the shell (for calcium). i have read that turkey mash or non-medicated game bird feed is a good
base. and i read that people who have large aviaries use the little button quail (which are
ground bird but can fly a good distance) to live on the floor of the aviary to eat the spilled
and otherwise wasted feed. and that they live entirely on the spilled feed. which to me doesnt
seem like it would be all that much.
and the incubation period is 16-21 days and they begin laying as early as 6wks old!
so can anyone give me any more tips or info on these? thanks!
