Not set in stone but I may be getting use of someones garden, they want chickens but are interested in quails. The only birds I have ever owned are finches so quils are alien to me. I know theres a few different species like chinese/japanese and thats all I know.
How big a space do they need?how many do we start with?what do we feed them? Any useful sites?
They are kept in much the same way as chickens, but always think smaller,...if they are penned, then have the pen secure, they are good at getting out of the smallest holes,...... the eggs are a lot smaller of course,...as are the birds if you ever come to eating any
If you are going to breed,... then the Chineses painted Quail at least,.. have young that more resemble bubble bees than foul, they are so small and will easily get through the smallest guage wire,... you will need wood or simular around the bottom of the wire then to keep them in
Kept ferrets wich are master escape artists, are chinese the smallest breed? And are they noisey?
You want Coturnix / Japanese Quail if you are going for meat, they are flighty buggers so you will want enclosed housing, make a covered run. Feed them on chicken layers pellets or mash once they are 5-6 weeks old, chick crumbs before that.
Easiest way to dispach is cut the head off with a pair of scisors at 6-8 weeks. Dont mess around plucking them, just skin them and put a bit of bacon over them.
Never seen quail themselves sold at the local auction, but see the eggs most weeks for hatching, also on ebay. You will need an incubator, I have got one coming this week but want to raise some new chickens, after that I might hatch you some quail if you buy the eggs.
You can stock them at quite a density, but aim for 6-8 females to the male other wise you get lots of fighting. They also jump up a lot when startled so the run should be high. I would keep them in more of an aviary than a chicken run, with that green nylon fine mesh along with wire mesh, somewhere that will not get muddy for them and housing they can get out of the wind in.
They are very decent feed converters.
Yes Chinese are smaller than the Japanese,... but they are not noisy as I remember
And dont keep them with other poultry, they do not get on.
My freind saw them in a shop in sunderland, I dont trust pet shops. Wich auctions do you use pelaw/norham road? Thanks for offering assistance with your incubator
(21 January 2013, 22:54)Metroyeti Wrote: [ -> ]My freind saw them in a shop in sunderland, I dont trust pet shops. Wich auctions do you use pelaw/norham road? Thanks for offering assistance with your incubator
Yeah, Pelaw, proper pikey but canny craic. Did not know there was one at Norham Road, what day / time is is? Sure if I know that I will be able to find it, if it is anything like Pelaw just look for transit pick ups and old 4x4's.
They have a goods auction on before the livestock, sometimes get some decent timber, mesh and so on, seen a few air rifles, bows, x bows and loads of tools and some right junk.
Its worth going to Pelaw just to see some of the home made rabbit and chicken housing people are selling.
Not been to either of them yet, been a hectic few months for me. norham road one is past tescos, more newyork end of norham road, think its saturdays only. Been told about some of the stuff they sell at the auctions, but one mans trash is anothers treasure. Do you ever see lovebirds at the auctions?
Yeah, surprising amounts of fancy birds get sold. Everything seems to go really cheap at Pelaw as compared to what you would pay at a show or from a breeder. Only ever really have a good look at the chickens but 90% of them are tip top.
Once I have my incubator set up I will be putting chickens through, still go for enough to make some money back on them and pay for my incubator, chicken run and housing etcetera.