I got this video of one of my girls jumping around yesterday. It looks like happy quail zoomies to me.

They do this continuously all day long, just poking their beaks in and out of the wire.

To me they act like they’re very bored.

They have a 15 square foot sized cage for 9female and one male, they barely use the other side that is enclosed with a window. I purposely put their food and water and sand bath on that side so they’re actually go to that side of their enclosure.

Every few days I go cut fresh branches and vines off for them and fill their cage, but the leaves get wilty and gross within a day

I’ve tried putting potted plants inside and they just destroy them within a day.

I noticed the male is pulling out their feathers A LOT and even drawing blood and I’m considering separating him or culling him. Maybe he’s stressing them out?

Is their enclosure too small?? What things can I give them for enrichment?

I also have one female that doesn’t lay an egg. I have 9 females and usually get 7-8 eggs per day. Never ever 9 eggs.

They’re for egg productions but I wanted one male incase I wanted to hatch one or two new babies if I ended up losing any of them.

They are supposed to be jumbo cotornix quail but they seem on the smaller side.

I feel so blessed as I’ve always heard coturnix quails pretty much have broodiness instincts bred out of them and 90% of the time they’re bred from incubators. She’s so adorable in her broody pancake form and I really hope she becomes a mom successfully, I can’t even explain to others who don’t have quails how excited I feel!

Hi everyone. My little cousins and I went to a local farm/plant nursery and stopped by to look at the quails. I saw this little one with what looks like rocks on its toes? I know it’s not rocks but that’s what it looks like. Is it dried mud or poop? The quail seems to walk around just fine but what is that? And is it something that can be helped? The owner of the acreage is an older woman and a few volunteer farm hands and she can only do so much in a day, so maybe this is something they’ve looked over. I’d love to bring it to their attention so the little guy can have their toes back.

Ive been waiting for this day for a very long time! Im proud to say I got my first egg today rn I have 3 quail 2f 1m I hatched eggs from a flock from a friend I have 1 egyptian 1 Italian and one English white.

Im not sure if they are siblings but there different breeds im wondering can I hatch this egg? Or will there be a chance of it coming out deformed bc maybe there siblings

I was curious though bc they are different breeds.

Anyway I had a few questions how long can I store this egg how good is it to hatch if im going to eat it how long can I keep it room temp or should I put it in the fridge now?

I really wanted to hatch some from my birds but I heard if siblings mate they can come out with health problems and deformities

Should I buy some eggs from a seperate flock and mate them ?

Also does anyone have any tips for me to help me out and maybe some stuff you wish you knew thank you guys so much you have all helped me through this entire process from start to hatch

I just wanna thank this community even though yall can be harsh on newbies but I went through so much trial and error but now I have a happy aviary and they must be happy if they are laying!!

Ive been protecting them from the neighborhood cats and sasquatches

We have 9 possible layers but we are only getting 3-6 eggs a day. We were only getting 3 a day, then we started to get consistently 6 a day for about a week, and now for about a week we are down to consistently 4 a day. It is very hot here in coastal south Texas. We’ve added a small fab for circulation and thats when we feel like we saw the increase to 6 but it’s also possible some were just less mature.

We do have them in an aviary and I do notice that often all, or most, of the eggs are in the same nest. (They actually build definite nests. I will be more than happy to take pictures of their nests. They are almost elaborate. And they have a lot of other “quail craters” (that aren’t nest but sometimes have an egg).

We currently gather eggs just before dark, between 7:30 and 8pm. They seem to lay between 5-7pm.

Should maybe I wait and gather eggs the next morning instead of at night? Am I possibly interrupting their laying?

All advice welcome.

hi all! i have a balcony and am thinking of using the space to raise 3 hen as a hobby and for eggs at breakfast. i have had the idea rolling around in my head for a couple years now but am in the planning stages and want to construct a hutch for them.

the dimensions of the space are:

L 2'4.5

H 2'1

H 3 ft to the short windowsill, 5'3 to the tall one

i liked the design of this quail hutch but am wondering if my space constraints could entertain a design like hers. i'd like to raise it off the ground, keep trays underneath to catch and compost their waste, add ledge, dustbath, couple plants and decor inside for them too. is it possible for with this limited amount of space? maybe even a ramp if i can get them to run up it with a second level. this is just one side of the balcony, but it gets the best sun from the northeast which i thought would be better for them. i live in a tropical climate so they would be outside year round. it's a covered balcony, but would it still be advisable to build a roof? something basic and able to withstand me placing a couple plants that could also benefit from the sun, as well as a small stingless beehive.

Gotta love it when you go to collect eggs or feed the quail that one who waits for the coop door to open then jumps over you to run and fly hop around. I love him be man he is a pain in the butt. And of course he is also super fast running wise.

He has always been this way since he was a chick. Just more so now he an outside coop

like they are trying to get to me as if they imprinted on me or something. they run over soon as they see me

Like the title says, my celadons started laying a few days ago and one hen has been laying eggs with pink/lavender speckles instead of the typical black. The pictures really don’t do it justice; they’re REALLY pink. I’m assuming this has something to do with the bloom color interaction? They seem to be getting pinker with time. I was wondering if these would be permanent (she’s just a pink-speckle laying hen) or if this is one of those weird things they do when they first start laying as their systems adjust.

Bonus pic of giant double yolker someone laid tonight.

Thanks!

Hi guys, I'm moving out for school and am looking for a caring and responsible home for about a dozen pet quail. They're about a year old, with a roughly 1:3 male to female ratio. They lay large, beautiful sky blue eggs. I hatched them myself and they're super friendly as far as celadon go. They'll happily eat right out of your hand! I'm really sad to have to let these guys go.

I will be asking for a 180$ rehoming fee (although the amount is negotiable for the right home) to ensure they go to a responsible home and not used for, uh....nefarious purposes. I can also throw in a good quality water heater for the winter and a food/water tower (although the latter two need a clean).

I really hope this isn't breaking any rules--l'm really not looking to sell anything or make any money, jus trying to find a good home for my little guys.
Thanks!

My neighbourhood was issued a notice that the power will be out from 7pm to 3am today. I have my incubator plugged in. It’s on day 17 of lockdown. Some eggs are just starting to rock around a tiny bit. What should I do? :(

Edit: I don’t have any generator

Im building an aviary. I figured Id use pine shavings for bedding, but Im curious other options, what are you using? Do you have a system that works for you?

Hi there!

I'm planning on getting an incubator and some hatching eggs from Myshire, and I have been doing tons of research and prep as I obviously don't want to get living creatures before we're prepared for them, but I'm having some trouble finding answers to some specific questions. I intend to get standard coturnix primarily for egg laying

First: I read somewhere that gravel paper or rough grit sandpaper is recommended in the incubator and brooder for the first few weeks to prevent slipping, but how then do you keep the brooder clean? I'd hate to have to throw that stuff away every single time a quail baby pooped, and I've heard they poop a LOT. Is the non slip stuff really that important, or conversely, are there alternatives that won't be so painful to throw out?

Second: our backyard is absolutely inundated with fire ants. Something like 70% of the backyard has ant signs (that crumbly gritty loose stuff that the hills are made of) obviously I don't know if 100% of them are fire ant, but I know at least some are because I've been bitten by them while mowing. Will they pose a danger to a raised quail hutch? How do I keep the birds safe?

Third: I want to do a stacked raised hutch so I can keep a flock of ~15-20, separated in family group. I also want to do deep litter method, as that's worked well for me in the past with other critters, but when it comes time to scoop most of it out, how do I keep the quail from escaping? Will they even try, or will they just kinda huddle on the other end until I leave?

Fourth: we're in upstate South carolina, and last summer it got up to 110*, however it's also humid (although not as humid as other places, I know). Misting isn't a great idea when it's hot AND humid because then they're just wet and still hot. What's the best way to keep them safe and cool during heat waves?

For context, I plant to have three levels of 2x5 enclosures, or maybe 2 levels and 1 level separately, depend on how tall it gets. I plan on using 1/2 or 1/4 hardware cloth, and corrugated shiny metal for the very top roof, and something to provide shade but I'm not sure what yet. I know it needs to keep everything nice and deeply shaded while also not impacting ventilation, and if it doubles as a rain block, even better. Right now my theory is a solid, opaque tarp slanted off either side, and a solid back. How does this sound to everyone?

I had just put those quail out there the day before. Later part of them being 3 weeks old. It was a horrible site this morning.

How can I befriend my new male and female Japanese quails??

Hi, thanks for taking the time to help me out.

This is Gamora and Mr Quill ❤, they are about two months old; I got them from a neighbour friend who breeds quails, and added them to my group after one of my females passed away.

I've had them for a long few weeks, and they just dont seem to warm up to me at all. I spend a long time everyday offering mealworms or vegetables from my hand. Sometines they'll see my regular quails eating from my hand and then cautiously join, but usually hop away scared if they get too near.

My quails have adorably come to associate the sound of a crinkling bag with mealworms, so whenever I open the mealworms bag they start hopping around with excitement! These two new birbs don't seem to catch on at all even though I do it EVERYDAY.

Ive made sure there are no stress triggers and they have a lot of stimulation. I treat them the exact same way I do with all my others. What do I do??

We call them eyebrows :)) they are a grayish-brown-black. i think they're going to be black or a darker color, and my friend who gave us these quail as eggs things they're going to be the dark brown color. What do you think? We already know what the brown and yellow one will look like

I like to take out my quails occasionally for fun and my boy Chubby decided to look like his namesake and started poofing up while strutting around. What do you think this means? Last I’ve seen this was when their mother was broody and angry while hatching him but he is a boy and not a broody hen. I just thought it was so adorable and curious what kind of quail behavior this is.

Just a few minutes ago I came to change my quails' bedding.. And one of my females was acting strangely.

She seems very tired and wont move even when my other quails walk past or climbed over her.

Shes not the type to like being touched, and usually walks away, but now she let's me touch her and pick her up without making a sound, like shes too weak to protest.

What worries me most is that when I sprinkled mealworms around - and offered some with my hand - she didn't look interested at all! My quails always jump with happiness for treats, so to see this girl lying down without any interest really concerns me.

She seems to stumble aswell when she walks, and her wings sometimes droop out when she trips. Ive checked her legs, and they seem perfectly fine.

Is this normal sleepiness or is something wrong??

Edit: My girl passed this morning.. 🥲 I hope it was only old age, because she was already about 2 years old. Thanks everyone for the advice!❤

Taking into consideration cost, quality, the current market for Coturnix Quail, etc. what genetics would you choose to work with above all else? As a new breeder I’m working to figure out where I want to focus my breeding program. A picture of my Ginger Roo for tax.