How to Raise Quail: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Coturnix quail are small birds found wild in Japan and parts of Russia, where they have been domesticated since the eleventh century. Raised for their eggs and meat, Coturnix hens are prolific layers that can lay over 300 eggs a year, averaging more than most chickens do! Their eggs are beautifully speckled and weigh from nine to sixteen grams, about one-third to one-fourth the size of chicken eggs. 

Coturnix quail mature amazingly fast, starting to lay at around eight weeks of age.

Coturnix quail come in a variety of colors, such as the basic wild coloration, Tibetan, white, roux, and many others. They also come in two different sizes: standard size, which is around 9-10 oz, and Jumbo size, around 10-14 oz. Although jumbos are larger and often more desirable for many people, they do not lay as many eggs throughout the year (around 250 compared to a standard’s 300 or more) and are not as efficient at converting feed into eggs or meat. Below are shown some different colors of Coturnix Quail.

Why Raise Quail?

Before you get your quail, you should ask yourself: Why do I want quail? Do I want them for eggs? Meat? Pets? All of the above? Knowing your goals and why you want them will go a long way to determining how many you need and what equipment you may need.

Eggs

Quail eggs are incredibly delicious. Believe me, if you haven’t tried them yet, you’re missing out. They are perfectly bite-sized and make healthy snacks and adorable decorations on salads and sandwiches. Make some deviled quail eggs to bring to a potluck and you’ll wow everyone there.

Plus, they’re in demand from Asian restaurants, so you have a good chance of finding buyers for them, and many restaurants will pay a pretty price for them.

Three quail eggs are approximately equal to one chicken egg.

Meat

Quail are by far the easiest poultry to process. They produce healthy and delicious meat that can be raised in a sustainable way.

Pets

Quail are amazingly tame. My quail hop all over my hands at feeding time and walk over my feet. These adorable critters will delight kids and adults alike, but beware that they’re small and delicate.

Feathers

Quail feathers can be used or sold for tie-flying and crafts.

Manure

Quail manure is great fertilizer for gardens, and can be used for your flower bed or vegetable garden, and you can even sell it. However, it must compost for around six months before it can be used, otherwise it can burn your plants.

What You Will Need Before You Get Quail:

Home for them: Rabbit hutch, cage, stock tank, or aviary

Feeder and waterer

Food & water

Bedding (in some instances)

Pan or other container with dirt or sand for them to dust bathe in (optional)

Incubator (may be necessary)

Brooder & heat lamp or heater plate (may be necessary)

An open mind and willingness to learn and have fun! (Important!)

Where to buy quail

If you’re just getting started with quail, your best bet is a local breeder. You can find one on craigslist or Facebook fairly easily. This way you can get a look at the birds before you buy them and can ask any questions you have. A local breeder will also be able to offer you guidance and support on your journey of raising quail.

Another option is to get them from a hatchery or quail farm that ships, for example, Myshire Farm or Southwest Gamebirds. This option may be more expensive since you have to pay for shipping as well as the birds. However, if you live in an area where you can’t find local breeders, this may be the route you have to take. You can also buy hatching eggs off eBay. 

How much do quail cost?

Quail typically cost between $1-$10 depending on their age and also what kind they are. For the common wild jumbo type quail, you can expect to pay around $1-$2 for young chicks and slightly more as they get older. Laying hens may cost around $10. For rare colors or more specialized quail, like Celadons, you can expect to pay a bit more. Celadons are high in demand and tricky to breed as the male must be test bred to see if he carries the gene, or otherwise his daughters may not lay blue eggs. The extra time and effort it takes to make sure they breed true warrants a higher price.

For hatching eggs, you can expect to pay around 80 cents an egg for common breeds and up to $1.25 an egg for rare colors or Celadons.

What age is best to buy quail?

The most widely available way to buy quail is by hatching eggs. Most breeders and quail farms and hatcheries will have these available. They are also, not taking the cost of an incubator or brooder into consideration, the cheapest.

However, getting quail this way entails that you have an incubator, brooder, and full setup available for your quail. If you don’t have money to invest in this all up front, a better alternative may be to get started birds.

Quail are rarely sold as day-old chicks, since they are very small and delicate and don’t handle shipping well. Many times you will be able to find 3-4 week old birds available for sale or even layers. If all you have at the moment is a cage for adult birds, and don’t want the hassle and expense of finding and buying an incubator and brooder, this may be the way to go.

It’s important to realize, though, that you will likely need these things in the future. Quail have a fast turnover rate, so having an incubator and brooder on hand will keep you from constantly having to buy new quail every couple years as they come to the end of their lifespans. It will also allow you to hatch and raise quail for meat.

Housing

Quail are relatively simple to house. A rabbit hutch, large stock tank, or cage set in your garage or shed is often sufficient for just a few birds. In a cage, you can fit up to three quail in one square foot.

If you decide to keep your quail in an aviary or stock tank, one square foot per bird is sufficient. Wood shaving or mulch make good bedding. Try to avoid red pine, as some believe it can be harmful to birds. You can find cages on Amazon that have a roll-out floor for eggs, so that when the quail lays an egg, it rolls to the outside of the cage and can be gathered easily.

These cages have floors that allow manure to fall though to a tray below, keeping the birds and eggs clean.

You may also choose to build your own cage. Below are some resources where you can find cages for sale.

• Craigslist

• Facebook

• Dale’s Quail

• Red Fire Aviaries

• Wynola Ranch

• Amazon

Aviary or cage?

Obviously we want our birds to be as happy and healthy as possible, so it may seem like the obvious answer here is aviary, right? Well, it’s not that simple. Aviaries are amazing and natural when you can get them to work, but they are also challenging. Quail are escape artists, and it is very difficult to make an aviary quail-proof.

Also, they are more likely to pick up parasites from the ground and get manure balls on their toes. If they get spooked, they might fly up and crash against the sides or roof, causing serious head injury.

Young birds in my experience do not fare well in aviaries, but do fine in cages. You can certainly keep your birds in an aviary if you so desire, but be aware of the extra risks and challenges. Fully mature birds seem to do best, so you may be better off raising your young growing birds in cages.

Feeding

The crux of a quail’s diet is grains, as well as insects and plant material.

A good starter feed for quail chicks is a gamebird chick starter. Around 28-30% protein is ideal. You can feed this until they are about 6-8 weeks old before switching to an adult feed.

Adult quail that are laying do well on a chicken layer feed that is around 17% protein. Quail benefit from having extra protein in their diet, so it is a good idea to mix some chick feed in there as well. A 1:1 ratio is fine, and they will also do fine on a 20% or so chick feed if you choose to feed them just that.

It’s a great idea to mix in some scratch grains for them, such as millet, rice, sorghum, or oats. This provides extra nutrients and is good for their digestive systems. Quail also love lettuce, squash, and other vegetables from your garden. Pumpkin is very nutritious and also a natural dewormer.

Whenever you introduce a new food to your quail, be sure to give them a few days to learn to like it. If they’ve never seen it before, they may not be in a hurry to try it. Be patient, and soon they will eat it with gusto.

Also it is important to supplement their diet with grit. Oyster shell is best for laying birds, and plain for growing birds. You can introduce chicks to chick grit around a week of age. Offer grit about once a week or so.

As always, fresh water at all times is a must.

How to breed quail

When it comes to breeding, it is best to keep one male for every four to five hens. You may be able to keep three or two hens with a male without a problem, but he may be likely to hassle them and pull out the feathers on their heads and backs. The hens will also get tired of it and may start to fight him and peck him back.

Hens start laying at about eight weeks of age. You may not start seeing good fertility until they have been laying for a couple weeks.

Quail need at least 12-16 hours of daylight to lay eggs, so if you want eggs during the winter, you will have to provide them with an artificial light. It is best to give them a break from laying eggs during the fall to allow them to molt and recuperate their bodies. If you choose not to give them extra light, they will start laying again in early spring. Never leave a light on for 24 hours a day. Quail need a dark time to sleep just like we do.

A bit of extra protein and supplements are helpful for breeding. Mix a high-protein feed like chick feed into their layer mash and feed millet or other supplements.

Try to avoid stressors like introducing new birds or moving your birds into new cages during the breeding season. This can cause them to slow down with their laying or reduce fertility.

Quail Incubation

Quail eggs take 18 days to hatch. Gather eggs 2-3 times a day and store them with the small end down at a temperature between 40-60 degrees. You can keep them in a small fridge dedicated to storing quail eggs, a cool cellar, or even the top shelf of the fridge. There are many incubators available that are affordable and work well for the small homesteader.

What incubators to use:

• Mama pro

• Brinsea Mini II Advance

• Kebonnix

• Pro Innovators

Set eggs at 99.5-100 degrees for a forced-air incubator and 101-102 for a still air incubator. Turn them 4-6 times a day if you are turning them by hand. If the incubator has an automatic turner, make sure the turn intervals are no longer than four hours apart. Every hour or so is good. Research shows that turning eggs more often results in better hatch rates.

Keep humidity around 40-50 percent. You can do this by adding water to the incubator or wet clean rags or wick pads. Follow the incubator’s instructions.

Four days before the eggs are due to hatch, take them out of the turner or stop turning them by hand. Lower the temperature of the incubator by one degree and put in extra warm water or wick pads to increase the humidity to 70-80 percent. The chicks need this time to prepare to hatch.

Many people call this lockdown, because you should not open your incubator until all the chicks are hatched, to avoid humidity escaping and causing them to dry out inside the shells. If the humidity decreases, add more warm water or warm wet rags, or gently mist the inside with a spray bottle, avoiding the electronics.

However, if you notice any pipped eggs or chicks hatching, do not open the incubator. If you have rags or wick pads inside, you can use a straw or funnel to put water through the vents and resoak them if you have to.

Chicks normally hatch on day 18, but it is common to have them hatch up to two days early or late. Twelve hours before they hatch, you will see a small crack, or “pip” in the shell that the chick has made. Once the chick begins zipping, or chipping around the shell with it beak, in earnest, it will be hatched within half an hour.

Once hatched it will be wet and staggering around the incubator. In about eight hours it will be fluffy and dry and ready to go into the brooder.

Try not to leave any chicks in the incubator for longer than 48 hours. If the hatch is staggered and more are hatching still, reach in quickly to grab the older chicks and put them in the brooder. Quail will not go as long as chickens without eating after they hatch.

Unfortunately, it is fairly common for a few chicks to die after hatching. You will see a mortality rate of around 5%. Most of the time the cause is unknown, but if you are getting a large number of chicks that die, you will need to look into your management and see if there is anything you need to improve.

Sometimes the parents may need a better diet, or the climate where you live does not suit the “usual” way of incubating. For example, if you live in a very humid climate, you may get better results by dry hatching, or not putting water in the incubator during incubation, and only during lockdown.

Some people have found that washing the eggs with hydrogen peroxide prior to incubation improves hatch rates. Incubation is an art and a science, so you may need to do some experimentation to get good results.

Brooding quail chicks

A large 2 by 4 livestock trough lined with fine wood shavings works well for brooding quail.

A heat lamp can be used, and it should be securely suspended at least a foot above the bedding. Don’t skimp on securing your heat lamp and checking for safety. Use a chain or sturdy rope rather than twine. Carelessness could result in a fire and a lot of heartache.

A safer, and often more desirable tool for keeping chicks warm is a heater plate. You can purchase this from a local farm store or online. It mimics a mother bird, allowing the chicks to come underneath to be warm. It should be about two inches above the bedding, and it’s best to have one end slightly lower than the other, to allow the chicks to pick the spot they like best. Also, the chicks are not in the light all the time, as they would be under a heat lamp.

Chicks need light and dark cycles to get rest and grow properly, and this is something they won’t get with a heat lamp. However, heater plates only work if the ambient temperature stays above 65 degrees. They won’t work in the winter or spring, when you will need a heat lamp.

If it is winter or very cold outside, however, it may be better to use a heat lamp to provide more warmth. You may need to cover the brooder with wooden boards to keep the heat in. The brooder should be around 95 degrees for the first week. After that you can gradually lower the temperature about five degrees the following week.

Feeding quail chicks

When placing your newly hatched chicks in the brooder, make sure they have a small quail waterer available. You don’t want to use a waterer for chickens or larger birds, since quail will fall in and soak themselves and drown.

Spread out crumbles on a paper towel so that they can find them easily. You may want to grind up the crumbles to make them smaller and easier for the quail to pick up, or you can even give the quail some hard-boiled egg yolk to pick at. You can try tapping the food with your finger to attract their attention and help them find it.

Another trick is to put in a couple quail that are a week or two older, and still small enough they won’t hurt the little ones by trampling on them, and letting them show the hatchlings how to eat. After about two or three days, you can put their feed in a feeder for them.

Moving the chicks

By the time quail are three weeks old, they are mostly feathered and do not need added heat unless the temperature drops below 40. They will also be able to fly at this point, so you will want a cover on the brooder if you don’t have one already. You may even be able to move them into the grow out pen at this point, depending on the weather.

 

Health Problems

Quail are generally very healthy birds. However, there are a few problems that can arise.

Ulcerative Enteritis

This is one of the most deadly diseases in quail, which causes lesions in their intestines. Symptoms include listlessness, diarrhea, and droopy wings. This is a serious disease with a high mortality rate, so consult a veterinarian immediately if you find this. You can treat it with the right antibiotics. Chickens and other poultry can also get this disease, but are far more resistant and can often recover on their own. However, it may be advisable to treat them as well.

Respiratory infections

Quail have tiny delicate lungs, to respiratory problems are common, especially if they don’t have good ventilation. Symptoms include snotty noses, sneezing, listlessness, standing hunched with feathers dull and ruffled, and eyes crusty.

Sometimes, quail may be able to fight off these infections on their own. However, giving them some garlic or mixing a bit of apple cider vinegar in their water will give them a boost. If the illness looks serious consult with a veterinarian.

Lice and Mites

These nasty critters will cause your quail to scratch, pull out feathers, and have swollen eyes and dirty-looking vents with feathers that show clusters of eggs at their base. Mites and lice are most common in aviaries and wooden cages.

To treat these, remove your quail from their living quarters and thoroughly clean every nook and cranny, using bleach or some other sanitizing solution. Sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth around their living space to help deter the parasites. Dust it on the quail as well and spray them with a lice treatment.

Dust and respray your quail in a week, and again in two more weeks to insure you get any new mites or lice that may have hatched.

To prevent lice and mites, keep wild birds away from your quail. Keeping them in a plastic or wire cage rather than a wooden one is a good preventive measure. Also give them dirt to dust bath in and add diatomaceous earth to help deter lice. You can also sprinkle this on the floor of an aviary, especially where the birds like to dust bathe.

Internal parasites

Symptoms of these include runny stools, poor egg production, and weight loss even though they eat a lot. You can take a fecal sample to a veterinarian and they can find the cause and recommend treatment. You can also try holistic remedies, such as putting garlic or apple cider vinegar in their water. Pumpkins are a natural dewormer as well.

Wounds

Unfortunately, quail can be brutal to each other sometimes, so you may end up having to deal with wounds eventually. Often the best way to treat wounds is to quarantine the quail in its own cage for a few days to allow it to heal. Some bluecoat put over the wound may help it to heal, as well as a vitamin/mineral supplement in the diet. Give her some mealworms or high-protein feed to aid in the healing process.

Quail are very resilient birds and recover even from fatal-looking wounds very readily. So don’t despair if your quail looks seriously wounded.

 How to process quail

Quail are probably the easiest poultry to process. Here’s how you do it:

• Get a bucket of water, a pair of sharp scissors, and the quail you want to process. You may want to wear latex gloves; some people choose not to though.

• Point the quail head down over the bucket. Place the scissors behind its head and quickly cut it off.

• The bird will flap and struggle for about a minute after it has died. Allow the blood to drain.

• Cut off the wings and the feet just above the hock.

• Turn the bird over and using your fingers, split the skin at the chest. It should split easily and you can peel it off quickly. It will stick more over the bird’s rump.

• After that is done, use the scissors to cut along the spine of the bird, starting at the neck. You can cut down either side to the vent.

• Remove the spine. You can use this part for broth or you can compost it, or feed it to your dog or cat.

• Starting from the thoracic cavity, use your fingers to peel away the innards. You can save the liver and heart if you want. The lungs will often stick to either side of the ribcage, use your nail to scrape them away.

• Cut away the vent. After all that is done, clean up the bird and put it in the freezer or pot to cook.

FQA’s

Q. Can quail fly?

A. Yes. They refer to walk or run, but if spooked they may suddenly fly straight up.

Q. Can you keep quail with other types of poultry?

A. For the most part, no. Quail are small and docile and other poultry may harm them. The only time you can mix them is if the other poultry is young and not much bigger than your quail.

Q. Will quail incubate their own eggs?

A. In most cases, no. It is very rare for a quail to go broody and decide to hatch its own eggs, and even if it does happen, she often ends up abandoning the nest. However, there are still reports of it happening if they are kept in a natural environment. But for all practical purposes, you will need to hatch quail via an incubator.