Just want to say thank you Mark. I've just started incubating quail and thanks to your advice, we've had our first hatch, 8 out of 12. We run a Forest School over here in England, and we're teaching our children about the natural world, growing food, wildlife and caring for animals, and the environment. I love your tips and tricks, we are regular viewers of your videos. Thank you! Janie 🌳🍀🌳
Winner of a video, I have been researching "how to raise a baby quail" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you ever come across - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (do a google search ) ? It is a good exclusive product for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my co-worker got amazing success with it.
Here in hawaii i been seeing the ones like you 1st showed. This whole time i never knew what they were. They look like chickens mixed with ducks lol. Now i know what they are, never knew hawaii had quail’s. Thnx for the video. Aloha from hawaii🤙🏽
Ive been kicking around the idea of racing quail for meat and eggs. We've had rabbits and chickens for some time. Yesterday I went to a small animal swap sponsored by our local livestock auction and animal feed store and bought 10 tuxedo coturnix quail chicks. I've gotta build em a cage and do some more studying on it. Hopefully itll prosper. Thank you for sharing,your quail are beautiful.
Good-day Thank you for being real about showing us your operation. We are doing our best to up grade but it takes time and our setup looks a lot the same in the chicken yard.
I am so glad you made this video. I have common brown outside right now, but my incubator is full of a mixture of colors I ordered online so I’m excited to see what colors I get!!
I'm contemplating raising quail for meat and eggs, and am just starting my research to see if this is worthwhile as part of my homestead. I have four laying chicken hens, just enough to keep us in eggs, but I don't want to eat them. I'm thinking quail would be a simple addition and fun to try. I'm in East Texas and am delighted to hear that Texas A&M University developed a large quail breed for us.Their reputation in animal breeding is world class! I can't wait to hear from the supplier, as they are currently out of stock.
Texas A&M are not available. They are a specific line and come with papers. What he has is English whites/dotted whites. A morph of Japanese Quail (coturnix coturnix)
It's good to see how well your quail do on the ground as opposed to the more common raised wire cages. The argument that they just foul everything up seems to be taken care of by the space they have. Do you get many snakes popping by for a snack - that would be my main concern with having them on the ground in Oz?
+Alex Tate I've seen the odd snake (maybe twice) curled up on the outside of the pen because they can't possibly get in as it is a snake and rodent proof mesh build. I've also seen hawks bounce off the mesh and owls at night sitting there pondering how to get through lol... Quail are a tempting feed for a predator that's true!
BAC soldier I believe that he splayed a foot or two of the bottom fence run out and covered it with dirt. Kinda in a pattern like this / although probably more splayed at the bottom. You do have to dig down a bit to make this work though. I’ve also heard of others digging down a foot or so, putting in the mesh, and then concreting it in.
Many thanks, been searching for "how to look after a quail" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you ever come across - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (do a search on google ) ? It is a good one off guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail without the normal expense. Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my mate got amazing success with it.
Winner of a video, I have been researching "best quail for meat and eggs" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you ever come across - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (should be on google have a look ) ? It is an awesome one off product for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the normal expense. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my m8 got great success with it.
Currently have 10 English Whites/Texas A & Ms, and 7 mixed in a brooster. There's 1 or 2 Tibetans there and what I believe, 3 silvers. First time hatching for myself and I'm captivated by the hobby. I'm not sure I'll be able to eat any of them though, maybe just egg production from these girls. And maybe some fertile ones to hatch out some for future stock.
Thanks for sharing! I can tell your quail are happy and healthy. I'm getting ready to start my first flock. I decided to go with an avairy setup similar to yours.
Beautiful birds, Mark. Mine are a native wild breed Northern Bobwhites. They are a year old this month and have only been laying eggs for a few weeks not. The eggs are pure white but just has hard the crack, I bought one of those sizer like things and that works quite well.
+Dale Calder Yes your Bobs are lovely Dale - that's a breed I've pondered getting myself they're not very common here in Oz so probably would be hard to get but they'd be an interesting bird to keep I bet. Cheers :)
Love how you can just walk around in that Pen,,,I looked at some Japanese Quail a while ago. We used to have commons on the bottom of our aviary before. I wonder if the common browns are hardier? Still deciding if I have the time to take care of them,,,probably a job that Karin my daughter would love. She would love to handle them,,I hope they will be okay with that hehehe Thanks for vid Mark Marty
After 4 years are you still raising quail? I've always learned so much from your channel and am considering quail, so it makes sense to me to check in with the people I value on RU-vid. I want to raise some sort of poultry and have a small space, so I'm curious if you think quali are still a viable option for eggs and meat in a small space.
Quail is the best small pet for me now. I had diff animals but quail is cool. Pettable, cute, can live in and out, can produce eggs, and when the crisis strikes you can raise them for meat too. But they are great even just with eggs and their cuteness. I have all possible quail colours, and also Chinese quail. These are even cuter and their eggs eaten raw are great for health. The Chinese quail are as small as a canary ;) and their eggs like 1/3 of your finger. Feel encouraged! Peace from Poland!
I know nothing about quails, but purely based on their looks I reckon the Tuxedo and Fawns look the best. Do you eat the eggs and the quails themselves. How much do they cost to buy, are they an expensive bird? Interesting vid Mark....... Cheers Adam
+Allotment Grow How Hey Adam, yes mate we eat the eggs and birds although I do prefer chicken eggs over quail eggs. An adult bird sells for about $7 (AU) but if I need to refresh my stock I'll save our own or buy fertile eggs for about $5 a dozen incubate them and in 18 days I have heaps of quail chicks running around! They are the fastest maturing poultry breed on earth going from chick to adult in just 6 weeks and are usually eaten at week 9. For self-sufficiency purposes keeping quail is pretty frugal because pound of flesh for amount of feed they eat is extremely economical compared to most other animals. Cheers :)
I’ve heard of the jumbos. Would anyone know about them. I’m building a 4.5’ X 8.5 coop with a 9’ x 4’ run attached to it. I’ve got my eyes set on Jumbo quails because they’re slightly larger. Is it jumbo browns or coutux.. or jumbo something else? Thanks in advance
+sandm6784 Yeah that's a good question and I'd be inclined to say the larger common browns have a slightly larger egg in general than the mixed breeds but that's totally anecdotal. My favourite is the Texas A&M because we breed coturnix quail to eat and they have a slightly less "gamey" flavour. Thanks :)
Thanks for sharing, always wondered about the types. Can button quails be bred by coturnix quails or are they too big should they be kept in separate cages?
Hello I am in South Africa, I have an outside aviary with a few doves, and I was thinking about putting some quails at the bottom. Is it possible to mix california and coturnix together at the bottom, will they get along? Will they breed only with their own kind?
Hi Mark. I have a little quail that went broody. I keep them in my yard which is screened in and the quails basically roam free. My broody quail made a nest under a fire bush . I tried moving her nest into a cage for fear that a rodent might try to hurt her or eat the eggs but the quail did not like that, so I put the nest back. My question is, once the birds hatch, should I move them and the mom to a safer cage or leave them be? I have noticed rodent droppings lately and it's making me quite nervous. Pls help
If I understand it correctly. The a&m is white, but are they also white meat? I know the other colors are dark meat. It seems strange they would be different. Maybe I just misunderstood what they said.
great quail video, always enjoy those. I didn't hear you mention Japanese Quail, I have Texas A&M however a friend has Japanese Quail. From what I have read they are sex linked, however her's have offspring of even white birds looking like Texas A&M. Does that mean her orginal group was of mixed breed? I read Japanese quail are a species of its own, I guess its important to add she purchased her first eggs off ebay, but sold as solid Japanese Quail.
+Ozark Mountain Girl Thanks! Yeah Japanese quail and coturnix are the same bird but there are many cross breeds confusing the original genetics; nevertheless, the main breeds shown in the video all stem from the original Japanese quail. Cheers :)
Hi mate I like your video about quails.i have a question about quails vacation do the baby quails need vacation?if yes plz tell us vacation name and time period will be thankful to you .
Are there any breeds that lay white eggs. Egg shell makes an excellent natural antacid. A white shell is more chemically pure, and easier to see as clean.
gave you a Thumbs up! Very informative video. I enjoy your videos greatly and already subscribed to you I'm now going to you website to check it out good work my friend,you are helping a lot of people out there just like me, and I thank you sir.
Blue pied - no I had never seen them or kept them before (I had to Google) they're NICE aren't they! Like a gun metal blue... lovely. I'll have to keep an eye out for that breed. Thank you for letting us know. Cheers :)
Hi , Ive been planning to get some quails for their eggs. I would just like to know, how do i breed quail? What are the measurements that i have to take to breed them? Thanks
Yes quail eggs are lovely! Breeding quail is very simple and easier than chickens in my view. I have written several articles on quail but check out this one specifically www.selfsufficientme.com/poultry/quail/breeding-japanese-or-coturnix-quail-a-backyard-guide it should help get you started. Cheers :)
Go with the original coturnix and Texas A&M but don't put them together in small areas because the different colours will fight. In a large pen like mine it's fine. Cheers :)
Sara, I believe the bird originated in East Asia and Russia but the Japanese were the first to selectively breed them for eggs. However, there is evidence that the ancient Egyptians also kept them so I guess they've been around for a long time! Cheers :)
It's aviary mesh and really tough. Three main reasons: predators - for example, birds of prey have tried clawing at the mesh several times both hawks and owls. Durability - because I buried the mesh a foot down to prevent rodents digging under and this thick galvanised stuff doesn't rush through as easily. Strength - I used limited wood on my run build so the walls are essentially all mesh and the thicker mesh gives it better strength. Regardless, hardware cloth would be cheaper and probably fine to use to cover the main framework of a standard run build as long as you don't have any big predators capable of tearing it.
the coturnix go by color not breed this a coturnix is the breed.its like labradors. The second quail is a common rosie in america. tibetan and japense are an all around name for alll coturnix quail. the fawn is an italian male just like your italian female. fawn quail are a resesive gene. i have a few fawns but those are rare and more prominate in rosies.
There's a LOT of different grains in the quail feed I use but some of the main ones that make up the micro pellets are: wheat, sorghum, canola, oats, peas, lentils, beans, barley, and sunflower. :)
