# Thinking of getting some Quail



## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

My big old Brahama cockerel died last week, with him gone I'm thinking of putting my Brahma hens and my Bantams together, I couldn't do it before without risking him killing the bantams in an attempt to mate with them, he'd have crushed the poor things!

That would free up what is currently the Bantam enclosure which would be ideal for Quail, I'm thinking of CPQs which I can get from the same local breeder who I bought the bantams from.

I did say I wouldn't get another cockerel, but I have a beautiful Lavender Pekin hen, and the cockerels in this colour look stunning, I've not had a bantam cockerel before and just wondering are they very noisy?


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## henry415 (Apr 1, 2012)

Lovely little birds are quail. But watch out, they're real escape artists!


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

No problem, their enclosure would be inside the larger chicken run, so even if they managed to get out they couldn't go anywhere!


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

It's not that they're any louder but, bantam cockerels have a much shriller crow than a large bird. Pekins are one of the worst I've kept - there's nothing regal or stately about their crow. Just youtube them.
As for quail I'd always go for jumbos, they have more personality than the chinese painted and will cope better with the outside weather. Also they lay plentifully and spare cocks make a fine lunch.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Yes it was the pitch of their crow that I was thinking of, the Brahmas may be huge but they have a fairly low-pitched crow that doesn't carry far, I never had any problems with the neighbours who are reasonable distance away, and with the windows and doors closed I rarely heard him myself.

I used to keep him shut in the coop until 08.00 or so as it muffled the noise, I could do the same with a bantam cock.

My reasons for wanting CPQs are firstly their size, I can accommodate quite a few in the bantam run which is approx 8' x 4', they also have a reasonable lifespan compared to other quail, some of which seem to have very short lives indeed (even if you don't wring their necks and eat them!).

I'll have a think about it, maybe go down and see the breeder and see what he has.


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

do both runs have a roof on them as cpq are realy flighty i find compared to japs that will be come tame over time and you can eat the eggs


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

you`d get a nice set up of japs in that run, and they`re much nicer birds than cpq.
tame down and arnt as flightly, and lay like real troopers too.

i dont find pekins too shrill and annoying, they arnt that noticeable tbh. silkies are another matter, sound like they need wd40!


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

> do both runs have a roof on them


Yes, the main run is roofed with HD corrugated plastic, then the bantam run is a large shelf at one end. I was thinking I'd stretch a piece of netting across the smaller part to stop the quail braining themselves on the roof!

I do like Jap Quail but they don't live very long from what I've read?



> silkies are another matter


Yes my silkie hen is by far the noisiest, hate to think what a silkie cockerel is like.


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## JoPwerks (Mar 15, 2012)

Graham said:


> I've not had a bantam cockerel before and just wondering are they very noisy?


We had a rescue one and he made as much noise as a normal one, but it was great 

Also he had a lovely chick


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Graham said:


> My big old Brahama cockerel died last week, with him gone I'm thinking of putting my Brahma hens and my Bantams together, I couldn't do it before without risking him killing the bantams in an attempt to mate with them, he'd have crushed the poor things!
> 
> That would free up what is currently the Bantam enclosure which would be ideal for Quail, I'm thinking of CPQs which I can get from the same local breeder who I bought the bantams from.
> 
> I did say I wouldn't get another cockerel, but I have a beautiful Lavender Pekin hen, and the cockerels in this colour look stunning, I've not had a bantam cockerel before and just wondering are they very noisy?


I visited a poultry dealer a couple of weeks ago and was surprised just how loud the ko shamo and seabright bantam cockerals were. There wasn't any real difference between the ones I heard and large fowl to be honest.

According to my book Keeping uail by Katie Thear, Coturnix quail can live upto 10 years, but commercial layers live between just one and two years.

They do lay very well and reach maturity at just eight weeks so maintaining a breeding flock will be very easy. You can eat the eggs and roast the spare males too. CPQ's are too small for this. 

I'm in the middle of my quail project right now. A few pics...





































I've got the quail shed sorted, I just need to have layered external runs built so they can go outside. 

Be careful as to what colours you buy though. These are some of our 'pet quail'. The white bird is the cock. Putting him to the italian, range and jap can result in some colours which are not easy to sex externally.










I'm wanting to produce jumbo japs on a larger scale though. 










The cream coloured breasted bird is a female. The reddy brown breasted bird on the right is a male. This isn't their home they were just placed in this cage for the pic, so I could show people how to sex regular japs. 

Hope that helps.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

> Coturnix quail can live upto 10 years, but commercial layers live between just one and two years.


Is that because they get culled, or do they only live that long for some other reason? How long would you expect yours to live?

Im not too bothered about eating either the birds or their eggs, I just like the look of them and the little CPQs are particularly attractive I think, maybe I'll end up getting both!


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Graham said:


> Is that because they get culled, or do they only live that long for some other reason? How long would you expect yours to live?
> 
> Im not too bothered about eating either the birds or their eggs, I just like the look of them and the little CPQs are particularly attractive I think, maybe I'll end up getting both!


I think naturally they have the ability to live to ten years. But commercial strains (which have been inbred) that have been produced for high egg productivity, laying around 250 to 280 eggs per year have a lower life expectency. The dealer who sold us our pet birds claimed they'd live for just two years as the high egg laying took it's toll on the females. Which ties in with the info from the book. 

I expect mine to live for a couple of years. Though I've not kept them long enough to have any accurate info yet. 

I agree that CPQ can be very pretty. I also like the look of bobwhites and plan on keeping some of them. You might want to take a look at them too. I'd recommend you getting a copy of that book before you buy any birds. It's only £7 or so and very informative.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Yes I may get a copy of that book, several places online have it for about a fiver inc postage.

How would you know if the birds you're buying are a short-lived commercial strain, or ones that are going to live longer? I just don't fancy getting birds which are essentially going to be pets, only to have them croak after a year or two!


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

my japs did around 4 years on average, i`ve always bought hatching eggs from different sources to keep the genetics diverse though...

the quail book is a good one, it just dosnt tell you how evil and vicious bobwhites are though, they start bumping each other off at a very early age.


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

pigglywiggly said:


> my japs did around 4 years on average, i`ve always bought hatching eggs from different sources to keep the genetics diverse though...
> 
> the quail book is a good one, it just dosnt tell you how evil and vicious bobwhites are though, they start bumping each other off at a very early age.


All quail are evil in my opinion. I've had CPQ scalp each other and Japanese half killing each other. 1 male to 8 females and still get the odd one beat up or injured. Great birds though.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Is it advisable to have a male, or would all females be OK?


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## ljb107 (Nov 16, 2008)

Graham said:


> Is it advisable to have a male, or would all females be OK?


Well it depends on whether you want fertile eggs or not from them :2thumb:


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

ljb107 said:


> Well it depends on whether you want fertile eggs or not from them :2thumb:


I'm not intending to breed them, so from that point of view a male is clearly unneccessary, I was thinking more about whether a male would help to keep the females from squabbling amongst themselves, does that happen with quail?


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Graham said:


> I'm not intending to breed them, so from that point of view a male is clearly unneccessary, I was thinking more about whether a male would help to keep the females from squabbling amongst themselves, does that happen with quail?


Yes. My pet birds are all females kept in check by a male. I have a group of all females that do squabble and a large group of males that take out all of their frustrations on each other as they've all just reached sexual maturity. 

However this won't be an issue with the males as they'll be in the freezer within 24 hours. 

If you like I'll PM you a link to my 'quail blog' on another forum. Some of the info and some of the mistakes I made are documented. 

On te livespan question, I believe that some strains are shorter lived due to the inbreeding used to develop them. I'm afraid I can't be any more help than that as I can't find any relaible info at the momnent.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

> If you like I'll PM you a link to my 'quail blog' on another forum


Yes please, that could be very useful.


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