Getting Started With Coturnix
Coturnix Quail are growing in popularity to homesteads everywhere, big and small. The very versatile bird is easy to grow, keep and harvest. They are fantastic for human food, dog food and reptile food. Quail come on a variety of colors.
There are 3 ways in general to get started, eggs, chicks and adults. I suggest finding them local to see if you like them, try them out for a few months and see how they fit into your lifestyle. There are as many ways to keep them as there are people, and no two will do exactly the same.
Depending on your needs, you might only want hens for eggs and pets. Some may want a steady supply and have an incubator. Maybe you want to raise them from chicks but don’t have an incubator. Find what works for YOU. If you decide to get shipped, find a reputable breeder and USPS EXPRESS is the only way to ship live birds.
Don’t overthink the tiny details, of all the pieces of info to take away from this, temp is always 99.5F and the more you leave them alone, the better the hatch rate.
The above graphic shows you the highlights of each stage. The best advice I can give you is enjoy the journey! You will make mistakes, but don’t get discouraged. Once you get thru one 8 week period, you should see the big picture and can make adjustments to suit what you need.
Housing choices will vary widely. For breeding, I believe you need egg roll out cages. For people raising for personal meat and eggs, a rabbit hutch can work really well. For pets and eggs, an aviary can be most enjoyable. Any variety in between is fine tho! Make a list of what you want and how much work you want to do. Every set up has pros and cons, cages have poop treys. Aviaries have deep litter and eggs can be missed. Hutches can be moved and manure can fall on the ground. I saw a picture the other day and the person was building a low table with a wire top so the toddler could see the birds inside the table! Or a cage under a bench to hide them from the HOA.
If you have more questions, I am sure I said some off the cuff stuff when I was on Coturnix Corner Live and you can see that here. We also discussed this on Poultry Nerds Podcast and you can hear that here. Let me know below in the comments if you have further questions I can answer!