Keeping Quails: Good Complete Priced Advice
Keeping quails can be a rewarding experience, whether for their eggs, meat, or simply as pets. Quails are relatively easy to care for and require less space than other poultry. Here’s a comprehensive guide on keeping quails, including housing, feeding, breeding, and general care.
Housing
- Cage/Coop Setup:
- Size: Quails need ample space to move around. A minimum of 1 square foot per bird is recommended.
- Height: Keep the height of the cage low (about 12 inches) to prevent quails from injuring themselves if they jump.
- Material: Use wire or mesh for the cage walls, ensuring it’s secure to protect quails from predators.
- Flooring: Provide a solid floor with bedding (wood shavings, straw, or paper) to keep the quails comfortable and to make cleaning easier.
- Environment:
- Temperature: Quails prefer moderate temperatures. Keep the environment between 50-80°F (10-27°C). Provide heat lamps in colder climates and shade in hotter climates.
- Ventilation: Ensure good ventilation to reduce ammonia buildup from droppings.
- Lighting: Quails need about 14-16 hours of light daily for optimal egg production. Supplemental lighting may be necessary in winter.
Feeding
- Diet:
- Commercial Feed: Use high-quality game bird feed or commercial quail feed that contains around 20-24% protein for adult quails.
- Supplements: Provide grit to help with digestion and calcium supplements for egg-laying hens.
- Fresh Water: Ensure a constant supply of clean, fresh water.
- Treats:
- Offer treats such as mealworms, vegetables, and fruits in moderation. Avoid giving them food high in sugar or fat.
Breeding
- Breeding Setup:
- Ratio: Keep a ratio of one male to 3-5 females to ensure successful breeding.
- Nest Boxes: Provide small nest boxes or secluded areas for females to lay eggs.
- Incubation:
- Egg Collection: Collect eggs daily and store them at room temperature until you have enough for incubation.
- Incubator: Use an incubator set at 99.5°F (37.5°C) with 45-55% humidity. Eggs take about 17-18 days to hatch.
- Turning: Turn the eggs at least three times a day until day 14.
- Hatching:
- Brooder: Prepare a brooder with a heat lamp set to 95°F (35°C) for the first week, reducing the temperature by 5°F each week until they are fully feathered.
General Care about keeping Quails
- Health Monitoring:
- Regular Checks: Regularly check quails for signs of illness, such as changes in behavior, feather condition, and droppings.
- Parasite Control: Keep the cage clean to prevent parasites. Use mite and lice treatments if necessary.
- Cleaning:
- Routine: Clean the cage or coop weekly, replacing bedding and disinfecting the area to prevent disease.
- Deep Cleaning: Perform a thorough cleaning monthly, including scrubbing feeders and waterers.
- Handling:
- Gentle Handling: Handle quails gently to avoid stressing them. Quails are generally skittish and can be easily frightened.
- Socialization: Regular handling can help quails become more accustomed to human interaction.
Benefits of Keeping Quails
- Egg Production:
- High Yield: Quails are prolific layers, with some species laying up to 300 eggs per year.
- Nutritional Value: Quail eggs are rich in nutrients and often considered a delicacy.
- Meat Production:
- Quality: Quail meat is tender and flavorful, providing a good source of protein.
- Fast Growth: Quails mature quickly, reaching market weight in about 6-8 weeks.
- Space Efficiency:
- Quails require less space than chickens or other poultry, making them ideal for small-scale or urban farming.
- Low Maintenance:
- Quails are relatively low-maintenance compared to other livestock, making them suitable for beginners.
By following these guidelines, you can ensure the health and well-being of your quails, whether you’re raising them for eggs, meat, or as pets. Proper care and attention will help you maintain a thriving quail flock.
Keeping Quails: Chinese Painted Quail by Cyber Quail
First of all, what is a Button Quail? Buttons are the smallest of the “true” quails, about four inches long, and are native to Australia, Southeast Asia, India, etc.
This map has been borrowed from a wonderful book called The Atlas of Quails by David Alderton (copyright 1992 by T.F.H Publications, Inc.). In addition to the normal “wild type”, they come in silver, white, browns, and various combinations and shades of these colors, also known as “mutations”.
Button Quail lifespan:
Unfortunately, our buttons do not have a very long lifespan; females’ can be as short as 18 months, but if they are given proper care and nutrition (see below), you can expect your button hen to live three to four years or even more. Males average four to five years (again, depending on care and nutrition), but I have heard of at least a few male buttons who lived to be as old as nine!
There are actually several different species of birds sharing the name “Button Quail”, and they are all not necessarily related. The Button you will see pictured on my pages is commonly referred to as the “Chinese Painted Quail”, and is a member of the order Galliformes, family phasianidae. The other birds that we call “buttonquails” are of the order Gruiformes, family turnicidae. These “buttonquails” are not commonly kept in aviculture, are quite difficult to breed, and in fact, there are only a couple of them in captivity in the U.S. at this time!
enjoying themselves in an aviary.
Tame Button Quails
I’ve been really lucky to keeping Quails first Baby Spaz, then Bunny, Hercules, PeeWee, and Praddle. There’s nothing more adorable than having a little button follow you around the house, or come running when you call to them. But I realize that it takes a lot of patience and attention to get this sort of bird to accept us as one of their own. It’s not something you can force on them, so don’t be mad at your Button if he prefers the company of other quails.
Of course, a Button Quail who is not tame should have at least one other quail for company, so if you think you’d like to go quail shopping, look for pairs or trios that have been housed together; don’t break up that happy quail family! The rest of this article is devoted to the information I have found useful in caring for my quails, past, and present, and I hope you’ll be able to find something in it that will help make your quail experience truly fabulous!
Unique Birds, Adorable Pets.
Buttons are small, neat, and relatively quiet, (although they do have a fairly extensive “vocabulary” that you will come to understand if you take the time!). Their antics are always amusing, and they are very active, always searching the ground for seeds and other finds. Button quails can become very tame, especially if raised by hand, and if you are patient enough, may be willing to eat from your hand or even let you scratch under their chin!
The rest of this article is available from this magazine:
https://www.wwbirds.co.za/dir/download/world-wide-birds-magazine-vol-1-no-1/
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