Be taught all about housing, feeding, watering, and elevating Coturnix quail in your yard for home-grown meat.
A chicken on the market fills a distinct segment that has trumped of us for a very long time. I do know this as a result of I used to be one among them.
See, it’s like this – I wished to begin elevating birds for eggs, meat, and the straightforward pleasure of reclaiming some independence. Nonetheless, I lived in a city the place the bylaws weren’t precisely type to of us who broke them, whether or not accidentally or design. I lived far sufficient down the backroads {that a} go to from a bylaw officer wasn’t a lot of a risk, however I do shut sufficient to neighbours that may discover new chickens, too. Self-restraint received the higher of me till a homesteader pal talked about that he was dispatching his coturnix quail – a chicken I’d by no means even heard of.
A yr later, I’d bought 35 tiny, peeping quail chicks. I knew I had rather a lot to be taught, and over the next years that adopted, did I ever be taught – generally the exhausting approach. I hope the teachings with this story prevent time, cash, and quite a lot of heartbreak.
Coturnix Quail Mature Shortly
It took me some time to grasp simply how shortly these birds mature. At six weeks outdated, they’re able to be dispatched, or as I prefer to say, “Taken to freezer camp.” The hens will start to put eggs at eight weeks of age. Usually, when you’re protecting your birds round for the lengthy haul, a two-year-old coturnix quail is an outdated chicken. Personally, I prefer to swap out my flock on the finish of the yr and course of all of my birds in mid-autumn. Nonetheless, everybody who retains these birds learns which methodology works greatest for them.
With the fast succession from chick to grownup, one other difficulty that coturnix quail keepers need to be vigilant about is the males reaching sexual maturity. I’ll put this as politely as I can – they develop into extraordinarily sexually aggressive in direction of the hens, which might trigger your birds quite a lot of stress.
My methodology of coping with their sexual aggression is to segregate the overwhelming majority of males from females once they attain 5 to 6 weeks of age. Then, I cull them. When you plan to maintain a number of the males for breeding functions (I do, and I extremely advocate it), a very good ratio is one male for each eight to 10 females. This may seem to be a fairly large ratio, however belief me, the little fellas received’t have any issues tending to the wants of the hens.
Watering Your Coturnix Quail Chicks
The primary lesson I realized firsthand occurred shortly after bringing my first batch of quail chicks residence. I researched the birds as a lot as doable, discovered a good breeder who had been elevating coturnix quail for fairly a very long time, and felt assured that there wouldn’t be any quick issues. Nonetheless, that modified about six hours into having the chicks of their brooder.
They appeared to settle in fairly properly. They discovered their meals dish and water container simply high-quality. After watching them for a few hours, I left to get another issues completed. After I got here again, 4 lifeless chicks had been face down of their waterer. I used to be in absolute shock. The waterer, constructed to accommodate standard-size poultry chicks and ducklings, was simply deep sufficient that the little quail might, and would, drown in it. This was a straightforward downside to treatment; all it took was filling the basin of the waterer with some small stones so the chicks might nonetheless drink however couldn’t commit suicide.
Feeding Your Coturnix Quail Chicks
Not like the chicks and ducklings we generally elevate on our quarter acre, quail just about eats the identical meals from day one till the tip of life. I maintain my birds on a medicated turkey starter, which is out there at most co-ops and feed mills, and by the point they’re adults, I swap to unmedicated. There are many specified gamebird feed choices from corporations like Purina, however they’re usually exhausting to supply and far pricier. Ultimately, I by no means observed any distinction within the well being of my quail whether or not they ate turkey starter or gamebird feed.
Housing Coturnix Quail
The place and the way you determine to deal with your birds will rely on what your property setup seems like. Usually, you’ll need to choose a location the place the birds will get ample daylight – extra sunlight hours equate to raised egg manufacturing (belief me, you’ll definitely need one of the best egg manufacturing you will get out of your birds). As a result of I don’t maintain my quail year-round, I selected a location that will get loads of summer time solar however is shaded through the harshest afternoon warmth.
Subsequent, you’ll have to determine whether or not to maintain your birds on the bottom in a pen or raised off the bottom in one thing akin to a rabbit hutch. Each types have professionals and cons, which I get into in one other article, however do your analysis and perceive what setup works greatest for you and your birds. It is going to go a good distance towards having a cheerful covey.
Shield Your Coturnix Quail From Predators
No matter home you construct, you have to guarantee it’s 100% predator-proof. The checklist of critters working round that received’t hesitate to make a meal out of a covey of coturnix quail is so long as it’s vast. Your thoughts may bounce to the standard suspects, like foxes, coyotes, weasels, hawks, and raccoons. Nonetheless, it’s been my expertise that there’s one predator that, so far as notoriety is worried, will clear you out of birds faster than anything: rats.
I do know, proper? This stunned the hell out of me till a few years in the past. I observed that none of my quail had been laying eggs anymore, and so they appeared to be genuinely spooked on a regular basis. One morning, I awakened and located my total flock had their heads chewed off. Some birds had been dragged as much as the mesh, the place the rat tried to drag the chicken by means of with out success.
I couldn’t determine it out. How on earth did the little demon get inside?! An intensive investigation revealed that the rat had tunneled from greater than six ft exterior the pen, discovered a delicate spot beneath the inspiration, and stashed the quail eggs away for days. When the birds fully stopped laying, the rat killed them.
That was an costly lesson to be taught, and I needed to be taught it the exhausting approach. I trapped the rat in query and dispatched it, however the injury was performed.
Rat-proofing is comparatively easy, particularly if {hardware} fabric is used for the partitions of the enclosure. Don’t skimp on this if you need your birds to make it by means of maturity. Maintain their meals saved in a distinct location and clear their pen usually to keep away from any pests that could be interested in the scent of it. Even when predators can’t get in your pen, that doesn’t imply they received’t injury the surface of it. One other nice method to see what visits your quail coop at night time is to arrange a motion-sensor recreation digital camera after which cope with the threats accordingly.
For all that may go incorrect with elevating coturnix quail, all threats to the birds could be mitigated and handled outright with a little bit of ahead considering. Having a covey that offers you contemporary eggs and a freezer shelf of quail meat is completely well worth the value it prices to get into this enterprise. Frankly, when you’re something like me, you received’t be sorry that you simply did.
