Anyone raising quail? (guess it's official.. I am)

The fancy heater showed up, so we've got them moved over to the tub to start growing. Instead of a heat lamp and the fire hazard that comes with it, we got this thing. It only gets warm and you just adjust the height so that the chicks can lay under it directly to stay warm. So far they seem to like it, some sitting down, some standing, some running around causing trouble. It's only using 20W vs. 250W for a lamp, so over time it should save energy too and hopefully not burn out or burn the house down.

safe_chick_heater.jpg

I've since rotated it 90 degrees so the cord is along the wall. When they're larger I'll remove the water and food dishes and go to the regular feeders. Those are heavy ceramic ramekins stolen from the kitchen, they're too heavy for the birds to tip over.

The score card so far is:

- 15 eggs dark but didn't hatch
- 2 eggs light that didn't do anything
- 20 eggs hatched
- 2 fatalaties

So.... 18/37 or 49% success? I guess that's good for a first attempt. My partner's first attempt got 0%, so I'm kicking his butt for sure. :) I was pretty mindful of keeping the humidity correct (the temp is automatic) but I did open the thing a lot when the chicks were in there which is not optimal. Next time I'll already have the brooder ready so I won't have to leave the chicks all piled in there and dealing with trying to keep food/water squared away inside the incubator. It says it's not intended for that and I can see why.... but I had no choice due to my lack of planning this first round.

And of course, it wouldn't be Jayne's Farm without a web cam or two...

chick_cam.jpg
 
We added some rocks into those water dishes just in case anybody gets wet and can't get out. So far they seem to have no trouble drinking around the rocks and those that insist on running across the dish are no longer getting soaked.
 
Lost one the other night, can't tell what happened. Didn't drown or anything, was just lying there. The rest are doing very well, even the one the woman named "wobbles" has learned to walk around now and they're all eating and drinking pretty continuously.

yes, she's named 3 of them already, but I keep reminding her they go to their real home in a few weeks. she's going to be sad.

upload_2019-11-23_8-38-34.png
 
The wife wasn't happy with the plastic tub as the brooder, so I cranked this out real quick. Need to re-hang that door, no idea how it got crooked. They're living in the laundry room now, easier to clean up with the utility sink right in the same room.

quail_brooder_8.jpg

Solid bottom, they won't sit on wire (and have the poop fall through) until they're in the next hutch (as seen earlier in the thread).
 
ronn47 said:
So now your wife has named the animals and they are living in the house with you.

Damn son.
Click to expand...

They were in the basement before, they're just up in the laundry room because... reasons. Dammit!

They're not staying, they're going to the other location in 2 more weeks. She'll cry when they leave, I suspect that's going to be a thing every time a new batch of chicks gets hatched.
 
Jayne said:
They were in the basement before, they're just up in the laundry room because... reasons. Dammit!

They're not staying, they're going to the other location in 2 more weeks. She'll cry when they leave, I suspect that's going to be a thing every time a new batch of chicks gets hatched.
Click to expand...
Ahh, but she's cute, so keep her.
 
Don't know about quail, I will ask my brother, but with baby chicks you have to make sure their butts don't get crusted over with poop. Pressure builds up and it gets messy, death results if you don't catch it in time.
 
Another batch in the incubator and since I've moved the new brooder over to my partner's site I needed another one for the house. I've come up with a simpler (and lower) design, going to crank out two of these so that we have 3 brooders available and I'll just rotate them out to the remote site and as the birds age into the other enclosures I can bring them back to load with more chicks.

Easier design, and with the lower height I can use 1 piece of 4'x36" hard cloth and cut out both the roof and the front door from the same piece of material. Back will still be solid (until I run out of scrap ply wood then I'll probably go wire because it's cheaper than ply).

I also got smart, and instead of making the door fit inside a frame, I just made the door fit against the outside edge. Way less precision needed. Here the door looks off because it's not actually on it's hinges yet, when done tomorrow it should be the same height as the rest of the roof.

IMG_6494.JPG

I found this scrap linoleum tile and am using it to make the floor. Should be easier to clean. When this is used up I may end up getting whatever random tile or pergo is on closeout at Home Depot. Some 2x2 bracing and $5 worth of pergo is cheaper and better than plywood for this application.

IMG_6512.JPG
 
Finished that brooder, and also built this one over the break. This is an outdoor hutch with two sides, wire on one for easy poop cleanup, and a closed in side they can escape the cold in. I saw the idea of putting a sand bath in the closed side as well.

quail_hutch_v3_1.jpg

simple door between the sides to be able to lock them in/out as needed:
quail_hutch_v3_3.jpg

and yes, more of that lovely tile. Still have more left, so expect it inside everything.
 
Moved the latest hutch to the offsite location, and popped the older birds in there. They all look particularly angry standing on the wire, but it's the first time they've had to do that. They've got the other side to go to when they want to get out of sight and onto shavings again.
quail_in_new_hutch.jpg

The latest batch has hatched, 17 so far. Moved them into the new brooder and they seem to be doing OK. We weren't sure about this batch since the USPS lost them and they bounced around in unknown conditions for an extra 2 days on their way here.

There is one little guy that keeps falling over / laying on his back. You can see him on the right in the middle there laying sideways. He seems like he's not going to make it.

quail_january_babies.jpg
 
Bailey Boat said:
You raise 'em, I'll shoot 'em...... Got 8 this past Sat and expect to get more next weekend... Yum!!
Click to expand...

Raising them as fast as we can!

There was some 'bird humping action' in the older bird cage yesterday so they're getting ready to start another generation. Have to seperate them before eggs start getting produced, don't want them inbreeding while waiting for the 2nd set to grow up. First batch is local, second is from TN so they shouldn't be related. Want to order a 3rd batch or find someone to trade males with at some point so we keep the genetic diversity up.
 
This latest batch went to the other location today; having a whole pile of birds in your laundry room is not advised. I've got to come up with a better solution and make some mods to the brooder.

Loading them from the brooder into a box for transport was somewhat funny. These guys can fly unlike the last batch. 3 managed to escape and fly around the room. Two landed in the open and sorta froze just looking around. The 3rd ended up behind the dryer, that was less funny getting him out of there.

The wife wants me to make something out in the chicken coop to hold the "pet" birds. She's got 2 now that are too weak/crippled to rejoin the others (we tried today and had to remove him because he immediately started getting pecked down and it was clear they would kill him) so they have to have a home outside of the operation. Island of misfit birds. Sigh.
 
After dealing with birds flying around the laundry room when trying to clean the brooder (these bobwhites are flyers!) I made a movible barrier to block half the door. That sorta worked, but what I really wanted was a double sided brooder; keep the birds in one half while you clean the other, then when it's time to clean again just move them to the already clean side and deal with the new poop.

I modified the last one, managed to cut the door in half and reuse the halves with no drama, and put a little swinging door in the partition I added inside. We'll see if this works (does require a 2nd heating brick but I have a backup unit that I can use).

brooder_door_split_3.jpg brooder_door_split_2.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: NKD
With the whole virus thing and everyone hoarding paper products I'm running out of paper towels to line the brooder with, so... we're going to try some of this Outdoor Limited packing material that they so nicely include with every order.

Now that they're out of ammo though, I wonder if I can order empty boxes just filled with packing material? :)

packing_material_cage_liner.jpg
 
Jayne said:
With the whole virus thing and everyone hoarding paper products I'm running out of paper towels to line the brooder with, so... we're going to try some of this Outdoor Limited packing material that they so nicely include with every order.

Now that they're out of ammo though, I wonder if I can order empty boxes just filled with packing material? :)

View attachment 199009
Click to expand...

Walmart still has plenty of copies of Hillary’s book...just sayin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Latest hutch build is complete and it and the 30 birds are over at the other site as of today.

This hutch is a BEAST. It's so freakin' heavy. The woman wouldn't let me go get any materials because of the virus so it's made 100% of scrap lumber. I had actually been holding on to the rotted/split 2x6 joists pulled from the deck during the rebuild last year for some reason, so I trimmed those down into usable 2x4 pieces. A friend that moved away gave me a bunch of random 2x8 and 2x10 scrap so I cut those down into 2x4 and 2x2 and whatever else I needed.

The top is 1" plywood, way way too heavy but it's what I had. I didn't have enough for the front door, but I had these 8' long 3" wide plywood pieces trimmed off something, so I used those to make the door by overlapping pieces. Lath? I dunno, there is a name for that technique. It worked, but the door is kinda heavy.

It's ugly, but it's solid and the birds seem pretty happy in there. I hauled it over without the legs on and then screwed them in before we carried it into the stall.

8_foot_hutch_1.jpg
 
Our original hatchlings are now producing, I present to you... gen 2 chicks (you can tell due to the lack of finger grooves and no accessory rail):

second_gen_chick.jpg

I've built and delivered a few more hutches, I'm making refinements to every version. I finally got to make one out of all new materials instead of my scrounging, and it took:

qty 10, 8' 2x4s
qty 1, 4x8 sheet of 1/4" plywood
15'x3' 1/2" wire
8 hinges
4 latches
pile of screws
~8 sq ft. of 'floor material'

I had half a 2x4 left, used everything else. Getting pretty efficient using the 3' wire as a 2' and a 1' strip, etc, etc. Next one I build I'm going to get a single 10' 2x6 to make the 4 legs out of, the 4' long legs are just a little short. 4' 6" is more comfortable for me to work with.

I'm still using leftover concrete siding for the floors, when that runs out I'll have to come up with an alternative.

I've been getting the hinges and latches off amazon, they were about 50% cheaper than locally source, now they're only 25% cheaper as amazon has really cranked up prices on some things with the current conditions.

They're asymmetric now, the enclosed areas are smaller and the wire areas larger. Also doing two distinct sides, that way we can have 2 breeding sets per 8' of hutch space with way less fighting.

asymmetric_hutch_build_1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Due to current conditions we couldn't get the usual game bird chow we've been feeding and ended up with one bag of the really "good" stuff. Mazuri layer, at about 2x the price of the purina.

I wasn't happy with it because the feed is too large. Even full grown quail can't eat it because the pellets are too big. I suppose if they got hungry enough they would peck at it but I don't want them starving. I just set the coffee grinder I use to make baby quail sized food to a coarser grind and that works to make adult sized food. Unfortunately I'm going to be grinding quail food for months now.

On the plus side, now that they've been on it for a few weeks the size of their eggs has been increasing dramatically:

egg_size.JPG

Hard to see scale exactly but in general the eggs are all larger, and sometimes we get these jumbo eggs that are at least 1/3 larger than even the new large size. I can't imagine that's fun to lay.

I've popped some of those huge ones into the incubator, going to see if they're viable or if we're just creating monster sized duds.
 
I’m in the same boat with chicken feed, it’s hard to find exactly what you want all the time. One plus to that is I’m learning more of the out of the way places to buy feed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Got a text from my quail partner this morning... he wants out of the game. Wanted to know if I'm willing to take all the birds back to my place.

So, gotta figure out what to do here. There are WAY too many birds for me to handle. I figure I've got a few options:

1. sell of hutches + birds to people who want their own starter setup
2. keep the best of the breeders for my home setup.... turn the rest into food, sell/recycle hutches
3. keep the best of the breeders for my home setup.... release the rest into a few farms (@Sneakymedic likes this idea already)
4. release them all into our yard, see if we can get them to establish here.

#4 is the worst idea by far, #2 seems likely

On another note, 10 babies hatched last night, gotta move them into the brooder this afternoon when they're all dry.
 
We had our first 'incident' this week. One of the big birds killed one of the little guys. I isolated the big guy, then moved the largest of the little birds out so they wouldn't be a threat, moved out the big guys girlfriend (who just started laying the day of the kill, so maybe he was protecting her) and then reintroduced him to the flock.

That didn't work, so we went to plan B.

upload_2020-8-10_19-47-2.png
 
How much meat is that? hard to tell scale from the photo. How many of those does it take to make a meal?
 
Jayne said:
We're having good luck with chickens, but I've got someone who's interested in raising quail (for hunting/meat purposes). I can't do that at the house with the woman around, but he's got property and the man power to keep after them if I can come up with the enclosures.

Reading up it seems they would never survive here, the temperature extremes are all wrong.

I figure someone has got to be doing it.

Read one book, have others on order, but info about doing it here in NC will be the hard part.
Click to expand...
My son has 100+. He's close to Atlanta.
 
Just got the last 18 birds from 'off site' today, thus endith the quail business.

2 of the little buggers got away from me while processing today, one flew into the neighbhood behind us and the people we're friends with over there reported a quail under their firewood holder. Guess that little guy gets to go be free for a while until a hawk or owl does him in.

I've still got my breeder set, so in the spring we'll be back to eggs and chicks for personal use only.
 
Breeders have been laying for a bit now, got the first set of eggs sitting waiting for the incubator to stabilize and then they go in.

This season one of the two males was getting picked on a lot, by the other male and all the females. They beat him up pretty bad, I separated him and let him heal up and then popped him back in. Things were OK for a few weeks, then they went at him again and actually blinded him in one eye before I could stop them. Mean little bastards.

I was going to just process the wounded bird but the wife insisted that I not, and put him in with her bird "bob" (the crippled bobwhite that hatched last season). Now "one eyed Jack" is living his best life in with bob; they seem to get along just fine in their own little cage.

With only 1 male, I'm not sure that all these eggs will be fertilized, but hopefully he's a horny little guy and doin' da' bidness' with all the ladies.

Depending on the hatch rate of this first lot, I may have to order eggs from another quail farm to replenish my flock.

I've got extra hutches, if lumber wasn't so expensive I would build a roof over one so they would have an outside cage and have more light vs. being stuck inside the extra barn stall. I've added a window to the stall, but it's still not as bright as being fully outside.
 
Thread back from the dead... I just got a ship notice for my eggs for the spring.

Last year I finished up by harvesting all the birds. I didn't have enough to have a self sustaining flock and the expense/work of feeding them all winter with them not producing anything was more than just eating them and then restarting with fresh commercial eggs.

I'm doing all bobwhite quail this time as they're easier to 'feather sex' (ie the boys and girls have different coloration that's easy to distinguish) vs 'vent sex' (requires flipping them over and figuring out what the plumbing is). This way I can ensure I've got the right mix of males to females and to prevent fighting.
 
Getting ready to do our last quail hunt of the year on released birds. Friend of mine reserves 150 from a breeder and we usually have 3-4 hunts on his land. If you plan on selling to sporting types, you are going to need a facility big enough for them to fly in. At the old Rock Creek Dairy preserve they used to have a huge old dairy barn that they had screened the windows over. Couple times a day someone would go in and "herd" the birds to make them fly. Not as good as wild covey flushes but still made for a tough target when flushed.
 
It was interesting reading about your experience with "Gentleman Quail" (re:Old Man and the Boy).. There's reference in that book to "inbreeding and infighting" when they get too numerous. Thanks much for keepin it going..
The wild coveys are doing very well at our hunt club and have been for years far as I can tell. It's nothin unusual to trip over'em out trampin'.
They seem to stay in the same places year after year. Woulda thought with the pigs gettin so thick that they'd suffer for it.
But can't tell that anything has changed just yet. :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom