Raising Quail Indoors

Monek Marie

I have raised Quail outdoors and indoors and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of raising Quail indoors for me is security, safety and climate issues. My winters can be brutal and if I feel I should bring my quail in they have to adjust to a new surrounding and will not lay eggs for a bit. I don't like seeing them stressed and I miss my eggs. They are also fun.

For anyone in an urban area raising your quail indoors may be a perfect solution for limited outdoor space.

My quail are in my basement that used to be an apartment. Its dry and quite nice. In the winter I put a tarp up behind them to catch any window drafts a bad storm might cause. Any other time they are near the window for natural lighting, which they love.

My quail use 3 foot of space. They set on a table in a cage that is about 3 foot by 2 foot by 18 inches tall. This will comfortably hold six quail. I have five: four female and one male. Under the table I have a plastic container to hold all their supplies. My set up, including feeding and cleaning takes 2 to 4 minutes a day. I also have planned how to set their area up if I need to travel. I add an additional waterer, fill the feeder and I can be away five days with no issues. My bin also has a small mini vacuum for dust and dander.

Quail seem to better in smaller pens. In a larger pen they can get flightly and can actually hurt themselves by flying in to the side of the cage.

Notice the egg that has rolled to the front if the cage and can be easily harvested.

I made my cage with a slightly sloping floor so the eggs would roll forward for easy harvesting without having to open a door. The cage was zip stripped together and is very strong. Its five years old and still as strong as the day I made it. I also have a spare cage so I can really clean the cage and disinfect it if it needs it. Its also good to have a spare cage on hand for a sick or injured bird. The floor is 1/4 inch metal wire so manure can fall thought onto the chips and metal tray. Normally I have a small wood piece in the pen so they can have a break from the metal floor, buts its outside drying after being cleaned.

I also have a small bucket with a lid that I dump the manure and chips in to off of the tray. I throw a few kitchen scraps in the bucket and start composting it. There is no smell and it starts breaking down fast!

This cage cost me about $7 to make. The wire was bought at an auction for $1 and made several cages. The water container is an old nut container. I added a automatic fowl water, cost $4. The feeder was given to me. And the zip ties i used were $1. This was a very low start up cost for fresh eggs and meat

My quail are very quiet and at this time are laying 4 to 5 eggs a day. The eggs may be small but they make great scrambled eggs, pickled eggs and deviled eggs. And my nieces and nephew like an egg that is their size.

The photo below is a harvest from six days. I will probably pickle them.

Quail can be used for meat at 6 to 7 weeks old and will start to lay around that time too.

In my area I can purchase quail for $1 top $3 a piece. If I want a different breed it will be a littler more, but still reasonable. Quail do not lay on eggs in captivity so if you want to hatch eggs you have to take that into consideration.

This spring I will be adding to my quail and selecting a few new breed to try.

@happy-trails @Marjory Wildcraft @naomi.kohlmeier

RustBeltCowgirl

What is the size of your cage? Also, how tall are your birds?

Monek Marie

@RustBeltCowgirl about 3 foot by 2 foot and 18 inches tall.

My variety are small, 4 to 5 inches tall.

My first cage was 3 foot tall, which was way too roomy for them. They prefer small spaces

Michelle D

@Denise Grant wonderful information thank you for sharing. Could you give details on how you built the cage?

karenjanicki

That is a fantastic set up! Great ideas! Thank you for sharing this. I'll be bookmarking this one for later. ❤

Monek Marie

@Michelle D Yes, I will put together a description of how to make a cage. If I have enough wire left I will do photos.

I will be after I build a new goat lean to. I have new goats on tehr wy as soon as I get my lean to done. Using 6 by 8 pallets will help it go up fast (I get them free) If you have any pools supply stores arounf they are ther best place for large free pallets and free buckets

Michelle D

@Denise Grant Thank you so much!

flowerpower *

The eggs are so attractive.

Monek Marie

Those quail are going crazy with the egg laying. I am making min deviled eggs tonight and pickled eggs tomorrow.

@Michelle D I will measure the cage tomorrow so I can make a cage description for you

Michelle D

@Denise Grant Thank you so much! No rush. I know you have your hands full. I hope your mom is doing well.

Monek Marie

@Michelle D Tomorrow's supposed to rain so I will be indoors. Good excuse to get caught up on things. Sometimes a rainy day is good.

Mom is doing fine. No pain in her leg and she has no problem moving around. I'll be changing her bandages here soon.

Michelle D

@Denise Grant I definitely appreciate you taking the time to get that information together for me.

I'm glad to hear that your mom is not having any pain and is moving around well.

RustBeltCowgirl

Hmm, I see some craft possibilities in those eggs.

Cornelius

I can't wait to have quail, but I will have to wait until I move :(

Thank you for the dimensions of the cage!

LaurieLovesLearning

I decided a while back that I wanted to try quail. Lately, I decided that I would sell my seramas and get quail instead.

One day, I want to get serama again, but when I do, they will be better quality than what I have now.

I thought we would have to house them in the basement, but I found out that our uninsulated garage will work just fine. So, that's even better. Then we could raise enough to feed our cats & dog.

Monek Marie

I love my quail because they are so easy to care for.

I keep them indoors all tehr time now. I used to move them in and out but it upsets them when they are adjusting to the change so I leave them in so I know they are safer.

Carlos Clavell

I've enjoy reading your post regarding Quails. Its very encouraging. I've been planning on owning since the Summer. I've finished my three stories, 2' x 3' cage size for each level, my final piece to add is watering and feeding system. I'm still researching much prior to the purchase just to ensure I didn't miss anything.

I understand feed has gone up in prices and I've heard several approach to supplement feed. I was curious what are you doing supplement feed? Do you mix your own, add black soldier flies lavae?...

Regards,

LaurieLovesLearning

@Carlos Clavell We are just using prepared layer feed mixed with wheat & turkey grower.

We still have lots of soldier fly larvae and could most likely feed some to the quail since we only have one serama rooster left (our SFL was originally bought for that chicken breed), but the quail would have to share our stash with our peafowl. Since both are game birds, both would benefit from supplementation.

I would be most likely to feed it to the peafowl at this point, actually, or possibly to prepare the quail for breeding as part of a breeding ration.

Having read more lately about einkorn and its high protien content, it got me curious whether we could grow it here for all of our birds. Game birds require higher protien & molting birds do as well, so it might be worth doing. Hulling shouldn't be an issue either if it is just used for birds.

jowitt.europe

@Monek Marie ai am planning to buy 5 quail this spring. I was reading this discussion with great interest. Keeping them inside is much safer than outside. Do you keep them inside winter and summer? Or do you take the cage out and give them some space to run in summer? You write that there is no smell. That is amazing. And what is the temperature inside, so that they lay eggs?

LaurieLovesLearning

@jowitt.europe Just like chickens, the temperature isn't what triggers egg laying. My pullets have been known to start laying in the coldest part of winter.

Age (of course) is the most important factor, then it is amount of light. Timers are your friend. Our quail are in the basement, which gets less light, so we supplement.

Monek Marie

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/909201#Comment_909201

I leave them in all the time. The reason being -when I take them out they have to get used to change and they will stop layng for a bit. I thought it was me but my friends had the same issue.

I found overall its safer and easier to keep them indoors.

Quail are very happy in smaller spaces. If you make their pens too large they can hurt themselves. And being so small they can get out of pens easily so if outdoors you never see them again.

jowitt.europe

@Monek Marie @LaurieLovesLearning thank you for sharing your experience. I have a winter garden. It is very light, but cool. I think I might keep them there.

Monek Marie

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/909242#Comment_909242

I think they will like that location