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keeping quail

hughes
edited October 2009 in General discussion
please forgive me
i know nothing about keeping quail.i would like to know a bit about them.do u eat them?if so what age at?what do they taste like?can u eat their eggs?at what age do the lay at?what about feeding and rearing them.what about hatching thier eggs.
cheers
paul hughes

Comments

  • admin
    edited November -1
    Hey,

    Here's a few links about Quail:

    http://www.cityfarmer.org/quail2.html
    http://www.quailsfromwales.org.uk/Keeping_Quail.html
    http://www.gamebird.com/button.html

    Hope these help! :D
  • corrachombra
    edited November -1
    quail are really easy to keep, they lay loads of eggs which are half the size of a bantam egg, taste like hen eggs and look lovely hard-boiled in salads or in "whole egg mayonnaise". hens lay from 6 or 7 weeks old, boys are ready for killing at that age too. we feed them on chick crumbs as these are richer in protein than layers pellets. the only bad/sad thing about them is, that you can't let them free-range, they have to be kept in a shed/aviary/cage/ratproof run. :|
  • gameboy
    edited November -1
    quail can be free range we do it with all the cocks in a run 16ft by 8ft its open in middle and has both ends covered so they can run in from rain which is alot this year i keep 30 in each run and feed them corn and maze and peas i have to roall all this to get it small enough so they can eat it chick crumb to much gm in that stuff not healthy .quail love grass and love been out side but they not like the cold..
  • corrachombra
    edited November -1
    8 foot by 16 foot run is NOT "free range" by my standards, but "confined in an outside run". As we are talking quail and not chicken here, it is a good size however. Quail DO love grass, and a run is great, but rats MUST be kept out. I find they don't mind the cold, but they hate the rain...
    There ARE GM-free, additive-free and organic chickcrumbs, you know?! A lot of maize is genetically modified though...
  • gameboy
    edited November -1
    wel i can say rats wont take our birds as we run a clean area no waist feed 30 years experance all though iv seen couple of poultry places and i wondered if they keep poultry or rats ' ans sorry i would say quail out side more free than in cages or runs in shead jail type places think out side best for poultry and some types of quail a better life is good for all
  • corrachombra
    edited November -1
    Anyone who believes there are no rats anywhere near them is just doing some wishful thinking, or otherwise incredibly naive. Where there are people and/or livestock there are rats and mice!! I have not often seen a rat about and never lost chicks and only a couple of eggs that were laid outside to rats yet, but I am aware that they are there and control them with cats, and would use traps or bait if necessary. Prevention is better than cure ;) ...
  • shanejryan
    edited November -1
    Good cats = no Rats

    Simple as. we've three good cats and never have a rat or mouse around. Obviously they exist in our vicinity but they're never in or around our sheds etc
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