Coturnix Quail Anyone?

[frustratedearthmother]

Gizzards are generally the place you'd find pebbles and such to help grind the feed. I cut them open, clean 'em out and peel off the thick lining inside.

"Bird gizzards are lined with a tough layer made of koilin, a keratinous material of 90% protein and 10% fat, to protect the muscles in the gizzard."

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've used all manner of cages, lol. I have gone now to all hardware cloth to keep mice from coming in and eating their feed. Different size cages get different amounts of birds. Smaller cages I'll generally keep my concentration of male/female about 1 to 3 or 4. Larger pens maybe 1 male to 5 or 6 females. I've never had luck having two males in the same pen even with extra females. They fight like crazy. But, I've kept males together if no females are present.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I never tried having a male only pen.... my males were always with the females.

When I hatched a bunch a few months ago I separated them by sex. They were quite young, but they got along fine. Might have been because they were younger. I have one pen now though that has three mature males in it and they're pretty ok together. They might chase each other a bit, but they aren't attacking each other. Doesn't matter much though cuz they're headed for the freezer when I have a spare minute.

what size cage would you use for 6?

Most of the info says .5 to 1 sq ft per bird. I try to give them about a square foot per bird. The last cage I built is 4 foot long and 18 inches deep so it is right at 6ft. I like that size because it's easy to reach the birds/eggs if needed by not having it too big.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Do you have any girls in with them?

Not with that bunch. Males only. The rest of my pens are 1 male and females. The number of females with a male depends on the size of the cage.

I've had quail chicks and chicken chicks in the brooder at the same time. I always kinda wanted to try letting a silkie or serama hen hatch some out - just to see how it would go. But, since I don't have a silkie or a serama that's not likely to happen, lol!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Once upon a time I repurposed some old shelves into cages. I still use it - but I only put three birds per shelf. Only thing I don’t like is that I have to put bedding in the shelves- which means the bedding has to be changed- ugh!

 

[flowerbug]

for a second there i thought you were going to say the snake hit him in the eye.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm working on quail cages before I try to obtain more birds. Even with wire openings as small as 1 x 1 on one cage, 1 x 2 on others I would still lose quail to predators. Sooooo, today I started the job of attaching hardware cloth to each cage to make them more secure. I don't think any critter except maybe a flea could get through them when I finally get them finished, lol. I'd like to start a major breeding project with the quail and be able to use them to supplement the dogs food.

Might need a new incubator...my Brinsea bit the dust and the part to fix it was almost as much as buying a new one. I have an older styrofoam model that I've hatched tons of chicks/quail from, but it's not reliable anymore. I did get a new thermostat for it but I haven't changed it yet. Need to add that to the "to do" list.

 

[baymule]

I cut them up the back, spatchcock style, and fried them. What ways do you cook them?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I fried the last ones that I cooked and DH loved 'em! But, I actually love 'em baked with bacon around the breast and some honey/garlic/cumin/siracha glaze. (Light on the siracha for me).

I've seen them kept in converted rabbit cages. The few quail I have now toss feed out and the chickens come a'running. They clean up anything under the cage that the quail drop. So, not a bad thing.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

For mature quail - If the rabbit cage has 1/2 x 1 on the bottom - they'll be ok with that. The birds themselves will be fine in 1 x 2 or 1 x 1 cages - they can't get out of that size openings when mature.

However I'm wrapping my entire cages in hardware cloth to keep out predators as opposed to keeping quail in, lol. We have rat snakes that will easily fit through those openings when they're hungry. But, when they eat a quail they don't fit back through to get out. Yikes!

They can definitely use chick feeders and waterers. The only issue would be if they were itty, bitty tiny babies - they will drown in a chick waterer if you don't put rocks or marbles in it. You can get waterers that have a smaller surface area for game bird chicks. That one is fine for babies.