quail

[countryman]

does anyone keep quail ?are common quail best ?what sort of no's do you need?have got chickins already, just need some useful advice on them, pen will be about 4mx2mx2mthanks for any help

 

[RoofTops]

There was a bit about quail on one of the BBC Food Revival programmes recently (an excellent series for those who haven't been watching it).

It starts at about 21:20 on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...sh_Food_Revival_Series_Two_Eggs_and_Mackerel/

If the link doesn't work you can find the programe on iPlayer - it is the programme about eggs and mackerel.

 

[Sean.]

I had a few years ago, they are very placid.

Think more like keeping guinea-pigs than poultry, we had Japanese quails really easy to keep.

The following has some good advice, and suggestions.

thepoultrysite - raising-japanese-quail

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/607/raising-japanese-quail

 

[porterswoods]

I have a few, keep a lid on them. The little blighters can fly quite well, many an hour has been spent chasing Quail.

Very placid and easy to keep, good for kids. I ordered eggs from a well known auction site. I am supposed to have some Cortunix and some Jumbo, but i cant see which is which, and they lay well in the summer not so much in the short days.

 

[DorsetB]

I am just about to build my quail pen for next year. I already have chickens and bantams, but will keep the quails separate as the chickens are a bit boisterous and intimidating for them.

I see you are in Hampshire, have you tried getting yours here:

http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/poultry-suppliers/breeder.php?no=701

I think they sell eggs as well as young 'uns. I will be going there in the spring to stock up. As others have mentioned, they can be very quick! Japanese are the way to go, so I'm told.

As an aside have you thought about bantams? I have raised mine from eggs, and they are extremely sociable, quite small, nice egg layers, and much less messy and noisy than normal chickens.

PM me if you want the details of someone I can recommend who breeds & sells quail and is very knowledgeable. I saw some of his hatchlings last year: they were underneath one of those heated "roofs", and they caught my eye as he was chatting to me: about an inch high, running around like small clockwork figurines, very cute.

 

[drstitson]

easy to hatch - like bumblebees.
however stupid creatures - eat sawdust and die. tend to bully each other. we gave up and let our last few go.

BTW turkeys are much more fun.

 

[The Cumbrian]

. we gave up and let our last few go.

BTW turkeys are much more fun.

I sincerely hope you don't mean you turned them loose into the wild and if you did they weren't Japanese Quail.

Firstly it is an offence to introduce an "alien" species into the wild and you may inadvertently have started a situation equivalent to the grey squirrel v red squirrel problem.

Racoons are distributed across much of Europe because in 1934 Hermann Goering (Yes that Hermann Goering) gave permission for a release in Germany. (There are estimated to be 1 raccoon per hectare in some German forests.

 

[susbees]

easy to hatch - like bumblebees.
however stupid creatures - eat sawdust and die. tend to bully each other. we gave up and let our last few go.

BTW turkeys are much more fun.

Those'll be the ones that fly up and break their necks when startled? Guinea fowl are fun - our last one still lays eggs at about six. Mind they do tend to walk in front of fast moving traffic

 

[Skyhook]

easy to hatch - like bumblebees.
however stupid creatures - eat sawdust and die. tend to bully each other. we gave up and let our last few go.

BTW turkeys are much more fun.

The white plastic turkeys we used to keep were stupid and boring. Norfolk blacks look more interesting.

 

[Headnavigator]

I was thinking of keeping either quail or guinea fowl from next year. Anyone else have guinea fowl and bees?

 

[Luminos]

I'm told that guinea fowl make an irritating noise, though what one person may find irritating, another may not.
Turkeys are not supposed to be kept with chickens, due due a disease called "blackhead".
When I enquired about keeping quail with chickens, I was told they "ought" to be kept separately (but not the reason).

 

[markp]

I'm finding out the hard way about bullying. I hatched some four weeks ago and everything was going well until I checked up on Friday to find the smallest had been pecked to an inch of her life! She has been isolated and has made a big improvement but it was disturbing finding a quail which looked like it had been scalped!


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.957780,-1.148188

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have no experience of quail but it never fails to surprise me how awful my chooks can be to eachother. No wonder they look like little dinosaurs.
That was one of the reasons I got a cockerel. He keeps them in order.

 

[Luminos]

I have no experience of quail but it never fails to surprise me how awful my chooks can be to eachother. No wonder they look like little dinosaurs.
That was one of the reasons I got a cockerel. He keeps them in order.

Does he wake them up at 3.15 a.m also...

 

[MJBee]

A word of warning - Make sure that any pen you keep quail in is rat proof. I had two complete families wiped out a few years ago

 

[madasafish]

Kept quail for 4 years.. Don't buy English Quail - they escape. Japanese Jumbos are best - docile and big eggs.. (Or T&M)..

Turkeys are fun.. American wild ones are very spectacular looking and fun.. but dumb.

 

[JamezF]

I went to visit some hives I look after at a local farm last week. I drove up to the gate of the paddock where the hives are kept and there were two guinea fowl perched on the gate. I should not be in the last surprised if they suddenly go missing around Christmas time

James

 

[JamezF]

I have no experience of quail but it never fails to surprise me how awful my chooks can be to eachother.

I've not found the chickens to be too bad once they get used to each other. They have absolutely no mercy when they're a few days old though -- they'll pick on any chick that looks in any way "odd" and keep going until it's dead.

On the the other hand, I showed a couple of six month old cockerels no mercy this morning either. Roast chicken for dinner this evening...

James

 

[Headnavigator]

I went to visit some hives I look after at a local farm last week. I drove up to the gate of the paddock where the hives are kept and there were two guinea fowl perched on the gate. I should not be in the last surprised if they suddenly go missing around Christmas time

James

First catch them James . . . . . .

 

[Erichalfbee]

Does he wake them up at 3.15 a.m also...

NO..........he sleeps in our undercroft after one of our neighbours complained
We live in the countryside and it wasn't a direct complaint,rather one to the council.
I asked the environmental health chap whether they got many complaints about rural cockerels and he said, "sadly,yes".
Must be a reflection of the number of people who move here from the towns.