4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Poached]

hi all

 

well today my rabbit peacefully passed aay so i was think that we had the spare hutch with run and this is it:

 

i do have a couple of questions:

can i sex japanese quail from day olds as lewis has kindly offered me some hatching eggs

 

can i feed it the same as my chickens

 

should i pad the roof if so what with

 

 

thanks

 

josh

 

edited to add: i was going to little bits of wood to the ramp so they have more grip and should i close the door at night

[Lewis]

No, sorry you can't sex them as day old. I've just had a look at some photos of mine at 19 days old and I can tell what sex they are, so it doesn't take long .

I feed mine on chick crumbs, layers pellets a bit of mixed corn all mixed up in the bowl and then some greens. You can buy special high protein quail feed. They will need more protein than chicks do when first born, so they will need Turkey crumbs (I got mine off ebay).

I haven't padded my roof, although some people do, use soft carpet, bubble wrap, something soft like that.

That house looks really good, you'll have to clip their wings and make sure they don't fly away which has happened with a few of mine.

I probably would shut the door at night, just to make sure they were safe and to keep them warm. Mine come inside the side passage with the guinea pig during the winter just because they are so small, but I think some people do leave them outside.

 

 

My Quail Blog with a few pictures and videos

[Willow]

The house looks perfect for quails. Mine love running up and down the ramp but don't put themselves away in the house at night. Putting them away by hand didn't last as they are devils for escaping.

 

Your roof should be ok but if you have mesh top them pad with bubble wrap. Mine rarely bounce but one night something must have startled one and she jumped up hit her head and it hurt so she bounced again and again in alarm and scalped herself That said they have amazing recovery powers, she lived in our kitchen for a few weeks in a brooder whilst it healed and was very happy.

 

Hatching you will get 60% males to females and I would suggest no more than 2 males to 8-10 females so that's quite a few males to cull.

 

They are the cutest things to hatch though - so tiny

 

Now mine are grown I feed them on layers pellets same as the chickens. I tend to throw in wild bird grain that has smaller grain than corn every so often as a treat but don't do that much. Mine tend to ignore treats like cucumber etc.

[Poached]

thanks everyone

 

 

patricia: i have a spare house for the males to live in seprately

 

 

 

josh

[Willow]

patricia: i have a spare house for the males to live in seprately

 

Unfortunately you'll find that as the males mature if they don't have any females to distract them they will start fight.

 

Quail can be very vicious to each other. Our initial hatching resulted in 2 males (eggs were damaged in the post so most weren't viable and I only have a little incubator). The two male chicks were fine together initially then they got so bad and so loud I had to find a breeder quickly and buy 6 female chicks to break things up.

[Lewis]

I had a bachelor group of boys, totally away from the girls so they couldn't see or hear them, and they got on fine. Unfortunately 2 of the flew away when they were in the garden so we have 1 male on his own.

He sometimes goes in with the guinea pig and is fine. I need to get some more girls though really

[Willow]

I had a bachelor group of boys, totally away from the girls so they couldn't see or hear them, and they got on fine.

 

Interesting - my two were fighting like crazy when there were no females anywhere around and calmed right down when I introduced some females.

 

Josh

Please don't get put off keeping quails. You're evidently an experienced pet owner and would be able to handle any problems and I'm sure you'd enjoy raising quail. Just want to ensure you have full info so you're prepared.