# Quail? specifically the celadon. anyone raise?



## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

so my plan was to raise rabbits, but no way am i going to find the space and time ,never mind the butchering. so i thought of quail to supplement my cat and dog feed.

anyone have time to give me info on how to raise them? what cages do you use? inside or outside(im thinking outside since i dont think being in the barn without light would be very good)? I have been reading that 4-5 girls with one boy is recommended. im going to guess you need at least two groups possibly three to keep from inbreeding. Any recommendations for places to buy chicks? (if that is not allowed then leave it out)


----------



## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I know @Lil Boogie has quail.


----------



## BarnOwl (Sep 6, 2020)

I had coturnix quail for a little while before I decided to stick with just chickens. I had about 15 females to 2-3 males. They were in a 8 ft x 3.5 ft quail hutch that I kept outdoors. I bought hatching eggs from MyShire Farm ( Myshire Farm ) and would recommend them, though I'm not sure if they have celadon eggs.


----------



## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

ok thanks, do you have photos of your setup? why did you just stick to chickens? i cant do hatching eggs as i have terrible hatch rates.


----------



## BarnOwl (Sep 6, 2020)

daisymay said:


> ok thanks, do you have photos of your setup? why did you just stick to chickens? i cant do hatching eggs as i have terrible hatch rates.


My set up wasn't too fancy. If I had decided to keep the quail long-term, I think I would have liked having some kind of a walk-in aviary or coop for them. I would have liked for them to be able to have some plants and dirt to scratch around in. The hutch needed a roof. I kept it in the garage for the winter when they were chicks and outside in the spring/summer with the roof covered in plastic and tarps.

You might be able to find people selling chicks fairly cheap on craigslist and local swap meets. If you want to breed, to my fairly limited knowledge, quail rarely go broody so you have to hatch out your own. I just love hatching eggs (with the right incubator)...it can be really addicting. I would do it all the time if I only had the space for the results, lol.

The quail were fun little birds. I got them for eggs and meat. But I found that I had far more eggs than I had room to store or knew what to do with. I have limited time with a young family and a job, and taking care of the quail started to feel like nothing but a chore, so I decided to focus on what I enjoy the most (chickens and goats).


----------



## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

so like a low roof rabbit hutch then... I am thinking of putting one in my chicken run so there is an extra fence to keep out predators..


----------



## BarnOwl (Sep 6, 2020)

daisymay said:


> so like a low roof rabbit hutch then... I am thinking of putting one in my chicken run so there is an extra fence to keep out predators..


Yes, a low roof is usually recommended because they can startle and flush up and break their necks on the roof if it is not the right height. 12 inches high is usually recommended, though I think mine was something like 18 inches high and I never had any problems. Or you can go the other way and make a really high roof (like a walk-in aviary 6-7 ft high) so they can fly up and not hit their heads.


----------



## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

ok, im am not a good builder so smaller is more likely  looks like the wire would be the most expensive part of the project. your cage looks very nice!


----------



## BarnOwl (Sep 6, 2020)

daisymay said:


> ok, im am not a good builder so smaller is more likely  looks like the wire would be the most expensive part of the project. your cage looks very nice!


I'm not much of a builder either--mine came from craigslist.  If I had built it or was paying to have one designed/built for me I'd have added a roof for sure.


----------



## Calistar (Jan 16, 2017)

I have celadon quail from Alchemist Farm that I bought specifically for eggs and meat for pet food. My cats will not eat the raw quail but like the eggs. My LGD gets a whole quail as a treat when I need to dispatch one, and gets quail eggs to supplement her dinner many nights. 

I keep my quail outdoors in rabbit cages. I have a lot of issues with them fighting and picking at each other, even though my cages are not stocked as heavily as others I've seen, and even when my female:male ratio is good. They're just violent little buggers. They are also very wasteful and fling their food everywhere. I recently installed a nipple waterer from Premier 1 (meant for chicks) and a long chick feeder zip tied to the OUTSIDE of the cage, and I found that had reduced waste a lot and helped keep water cleaner. I like them, but if they were less messy and less violent I'd like them a lot more. I'd love to get some of the pretty colored ones from MyShire but I can't really justify more quail when the ones I already have are almost more trouble than they're worth. They do grow quick and they are really quick and easy to butcher though. And I love the little noises the roosters make!


----------



## Calistar (Jan 16, 2017)

Oh and they are really really dumb. I almost lost an entire clutch of ~20 chicks overnight because they all decided to not sleep under their enormous heat plate that took up 60% of the brooder. Like it was so huge it would have been hard NOT to sleep under it, but the entire clutch managed it 🤦‍♀️ I was able to revive all except a couple in the incubator, but geez...


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)




----------



## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

i just looked up the first farm. looks like they dont sell chicks. the second one i didnt see any celadon. do you have any photos of your setup? how many per cage? so sounds like i need to figure out a great feeder so they dont feed the mice.... i was thinking to build a cage inside the chicken coop, would that not be a good idea? then if they do throw out feed at least the chickens might eat it?


----------

