# Quail Breeding Experiences?



## saximus (May 14, 2013)

I've read a few old threads about breeding these little guys and it looks simple enough. I breed my own rodents which I enjoy but this seems like an interesting new avenue to explore that hopefully shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to set up. So I'm just curious to find out what people's experiences with them have been like? Are they interesting animals? Do they smell like chickens or otherwise? Anything else that may be of interest?
Thanks


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## mad_at_arms (May 14, 2013)

Will be looking forward to replies, as I am considering breeding these myself.


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## Skeptic (May 14, 2013)

I really enjoy breeding Quail. Almost as much as I do reptiles  The cost involved in setting up depends on the number you want to produce. You can get a decent automatic incubator that holds 4 dozen eggs on ebay for around $150. You typically get around an 80% hatch rate so you end up with around 40 birds every 18 days. I ended up buying 5 incubators because I've got a lot of hungry mouths to feed and that way I'm not constantly raising young quail. They are cute little critters when they hatch and are funny to watch  One thing to look out for if you are keeping a lot in one brooder is that they tend to drown one another when they're drinking. I put stones in their water container to avoid this. The odor isn't that bad (certainly not compared to rodents) as long as you stay on top of maintenance. I keep mine on shavings which I change every 3 - 4 days. 

Are they interesting? I think so, but then I'm happy to stare at a snake wrapped up on a log doing nothing  One interesting thing, I hatched out my first albino just 3 nights ago. From what I've read this is pretty rare and after raising hundreds upon hundreds of them I was excited to see something different. I've hatched plenty of pure white birds but this was the first true albino, even lacking the pigment in the eyes. I was really looking forward to finding out whether it's a recessive trait like in reptiles or not but unfortunately it didn't make it through it's first night  Oh well. My young sand monitor appreciated it


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## solar 17 (May 15, 2013)

The **** birds can be VERY vocal @ 4.30 am like Skeptic l enjoyed them but those **** birds ....no sorry they had to go and yet l know other ppl with them where the noise is/wasn't a problem. solar 17


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## Bluetongue1 (May 15, 2013)

I assume you guys are talking about Japanese quail. The trick with the water dish is to use apiece of aviary wire over the top. Easy to take off and replace when cleaning water dishes. You can also make up water dispensers with a 2L softdrink bottle and a wooden frame strap tohold the bottle. Just like the budgie cage water feeder.

King Quail are even easier but much, much smaller. The hen willsit on up to around twenty eggs - her own or those of otheer females as well. She doesn't start brooding until the last one is laid so they all hatch around the same time. The young are so small they will go straight through normal avairy wire. So you either need a barrier around the botom five cms or use a legth of mouse wire to make a brooding pen around the nest and mum,with access to food and water.

Cats on the avairy roof at night can frighten the quail and cause them to fly into the wire and damage or kill themselves. There are plenty of threads on getting rid of cats if they do present a problem.

Blue


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