Single hen

[madchickenlady]

I've been looking at the quail in my local pet shop, and was just wondering how difficult they are to keep? What kind of set up do they need? Can you tame them? Will my pekins eat them for breakfast? Do you have to clip their wings? Any experiences greatly recieved!

[Lewis]

I do!

I think they're easy to keep, less work than chickens because they're so small.

Mine are in rabbit hutches at the moment. They're not as tame as the chickens but they're not too scared of me.

I wouldn't keep them with pekins, but I've seen them kept together.

 

I love posting it theres a few pictures on my blog.

 

I've recently clipped one of the males wings because he's particularly scared and flighty but the others are ok for now.

[Willow]

I keep quail. I use a rabbit huch and run. They will escape so you can't let them free range. They are easier than chickens but becuase they are kept in an enclosed run you don't interact with them in the same way you do with chickens. They don't fly but they do jump when disturbed (pad the top of the hutch and run with bubble wrap).

 

I don't provide artifical light so they don't lay over winter (I think they need a rest), they have just started this spring. They lay an egg a day when they get going. I feed them the same pellets as the chickens and they are happy.

 

The hutch isn't ideal as it's not so easy to clean as an eglu and it's a little difficult to know where to put them when you're cleaning them out (I use a cat carrier). I'm not sure what would work best without being too expensive. If they put themselves away in a house at night I'd go for a rablu I think but it would never get used.

[bronze]

I do too

 

No to pekins. Even a pekin is quite a bit larger than a quail

[Willow]

Cats love quail - when we initially got the quail our cats as wellas visiting cats would spend ages lying beside the hutch looking in The quail were unbothered, appeared to have no idea the cats were predators. Cats got bored eventually but it took months.

[Wraith]

I breed & keep many different types of ornamental new world quail some of them can be very hard to raise & keep but the normal commercial quails are much easier to raise & keep. They can make great pets just like poultry but they don't like wet cold conditions !! You need to keep them in a sheltered run otherwise they will escape. There best kept in there own run away from poultry. You can tame them easily with mealworms