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Farming Friends Forum » Quail

1. smitty55
   Member

   Hello to all,
   I just signed up here. A little about me and my wife/ best friend and partner.
   We live in Missouri and have recently started raising birds for the second time, long story about the first time. Years ago we raised guinea,turkey and chickens. We now have a smaller place (3 acres) which is easier to manage, no more rental property for us EVER!
   We have peafoul, turkey (white & slate) chickens many breeds and quail. The quail are new to us and they present some unique issues. I have several problems with these cute little rascals. The male when I place a female in with them tear her to peices. I mean they pull the feathers out of her head and leave her bleeding. I had a white female I thought was dead, she may yet die. I took the male out and put him by himself. About a week ago, I placed a female in a gage with a male, she died. I was thinking of a heart attack, I'm serious. We started this quail deal knowing they are tough to raise, or so we've been told. But I didn't think we would have these kinds of problems. We bought 30 eggs, placed them in the incubator. 15 of the little guys hatched, cute as I don't know what. Of the 15 we have 9 left. They are eight-ten weeks old, no eggs from any of them yet. Of the 9 remaining 4 are female. I know I will have to buy several more females soon..
   Issue number 2: how does a person stop them from wasting the feed. I put some in every morning, they jump in the dish and act like they are taking a dirt bath. The feed ends up on the floor as it falls through the wire floor. If I place in a dish outside their cage the chickens come in and get it, any suggestions?
   This looks like a great site to share information and ideas.
   Thanks for you time
   Hap & Donna Smith south east Missouri

   Semper FI
   U.S.Marine Corps (retired)

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. Omegaman
   Member

   Hi Hap, Hi Donna
   I'm afraid I can't answer your questions (I have no experience of quail), but I still wanted to say hello, and welcome. You are right....this is a great site and I am sure that the members with their wealth of experience will soon come up with some things you can try. Good luck with the problems.
   Ken
   PS: USMC...great pedigree!

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. smitty55
   Member

   Hi Ken,
   Thanks for the warm welcome. USMC great pedigree, yes Sir indeed. Are you a Marine?

   Semper FI
   U.S.Marine Corps (retired)

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. Omegaman
   Member

   Sorry to say no. My daughter is a Captain in the UK Army, and other daughter's husband is a Major in the Rifles Regt....hence I have the greatest respect for serving and retired military personnel. I spent 40 years working in the defence industry so got to meet a few people.
   My particular interest in this site is due to some wild ducks that fly into my garden each year and raise a family on my fish pond. 10 youngsters flew off last year, hoping for 9 this year.
   Regards
   Ken

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. TopVeg
   Member

   Hi Omegaman

   Our hens used to scrat the food out of the dish so I know just what you mean. The answer seems to be to get a feeder which they can't get their feet into.

   We have made some out of a plastic tube which we fill with food. We put little holes around the edge at beak height so they can peck the food out. We hang the tube up - over a flat sheet of wood, which we try to keep clean, so they can pick up any they waste.

   Hope that makes sense!!

   http://www.topveg.com

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. sallie
   Member

   Hi Hap and Donna,

   I have quail and keep them in my old dog kennel and run. The food issue is simple. Get a poultry feeder (Chick size is best) with anti scratching bars. I feed my 13 with one of these and there is only a small amount of waste. As far as the males attacking the females you need to put all the females in with one male and let them get on with it. My females do occasionally look the worse for wear but recover quite quickly, however 1 male to 1 female may result in too much mating and therefore exhaustion on both sides and damage to the female's head and neck. I have about 6 definate females out of the 13 but may have more. Mine are a funny mix of colours so the breast colour cant be seen and I dont know which are male and which are female!! So far this year all are getting on well but I may need to cull out some males if they get rowdy. I hatched these last year and did have 38 but most of them were males so I had to reduce the numbers then a rat got 4 of the remainder (probably females knowing my luck) so down to lucky 13 which have survived over the winter.
   Good luck with the quail. They are great little birds. If you visit the quail thread you will see my run and my funny coloured birds!!

   Best Wishes

   Sallie.

   Posted 2 years ago #

7. smitty55
   Member

   Hello Ken, Sallie and Top,
   Great ideas all. I will for sure look into the poultry feeder makes sense to me. I currently have the quail in individual cages to prevent injury. I have sexed most of them using the vent method. I plan to band the males so I can tell at a quick glance who is who. I too may have cull some males or get more females, I think I will do the later. Then I will follow your suggestion Sallie, by putting 4-5 females in with a male. We also plan to build a better holding area / run, which will allow for them to have dirt and grass. Our chickens do very well as free rangers, so it makes sense the quail would do well on the same system with a little less freedom. What I'm thinking is a cage that would hold several quail and I'd be able to move to green grass occasionally.
   Sallie, I will go look for the pictures of your quail run. Thanks again to you all for the help.
   Hap

   Semper FI
   U.S.Marine Corps (retired)

   Posted 2 years ago #

8. Willa
   Member

   Hi Hap,
   The problem you have with your quail rolling in the food might be solved by getting them some grit. My 2 button quail love to take baths in it. About the other problem, that's happened to me before and though the female (coturnix) didn't die, her head was injured. It's been a couple years and the feathers still haven't grown back. I ended up giving the male quail (bobwhite) back to the breeder and we got another male (coturnix) instead. Now I have no problems with injurys or fighting. Your problem might be because of one particuler male.
   Just because I'm curious, what kind of quail do you have?
   best of luck,
   Willa

   Posted 2 years ago #

9. Mama
   Member

   Hello topveg, I am really interested in your home feeder. My husband made some for our chucks ducks and geese and put a roof on to stop the food getting wet.They do work but would always like another idea. Could you explain it a little more clearly for me please. Regards Mama.

   Goose Girl

   Posted 2 years ago #

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