# Raising Quail



## buckhunterof99 (Mar 23, 2013)

I've been thinking about raising quail. Both for eggs and for meat. Does anyone have any information on how/where to start? Or know of anyone in the Victoria area that raises quail? Any info will help. 

Thanks


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## JFolm (Apr 22, 2012)

Paging rubber back...


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Rubberback is your man.


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## kyle2601 (Oct 23, 2008)

Quail is one of the easiest birds to raise as long as you prepare everything before you get birds. I recently got back into raising birds and I was immediately getting eggs everyday. Now I got myself prepared two or three years in advance for this and I found my birds through a craiglist ad close to me. I started out with 12 Texas A&M and this week hatched out 10 birds. I have another 28 eggs in my incubator. If you want to get in the business quicker and cheaper I would suggest finding equipment through craigslist and other avenues already built. IE: cages, water founts, feeders. There are sites like GQF, Randall Burkey and a few other with a little google searching. It all depends on how you want to start. Eggs require an incubator and brooder. Birds need cages.. If you want meat birds and eggs, I would suggest A&M's because they grow out fast and lay fast compared to most others. And they are bigger @ 16oz vs 12oz. Feed is relatively cheap but you have to be careful how you feed these birds because they waste a tremendous amount of food if they are in suspended cages. I will try and post up some pictures of my setup but it is no where near as nice as Rubber backs. I use the 18" feeder trays with holes on either side because my birds don't waste as much. The little jug type feeders is what I started with and they would drag out more than they ate. I also went with an auto water system that way I did not have to babysit the jugs all day. You do have to clean the water system at least once every two days. Birds also love sand baths so I added a pan with sand. They play in it all day long. You will want to built a cage or pen that is animal proof. ***** love quail. And so do birds of prey. I have hawks circle my house on the daily.


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## kyle2601 (Oct 23, 2008)

Not sure if these will post up but here is basically my set up in a 10x20 structure I built. I designed it with the idea that after I get a pure stock I will turn them loose in the pen.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

One bit of advice use half inch hardware cloth for everything. Chicken wire only keeps them in but does not keep predators out. **** can & will rip it apart.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

Quail are easy to raise. LOL! They are if your only raising 10. When your hatching 200 at a time it gets tricky. My passion is trying not to loose any after they hatch.
As for quail wasting food. Get the right feeder & if you are using the red feeders don't fill them completely full & add more feeders. 
You can also put a 1 x 6 or 8 under your feeder so when they do spill it they will clean up the dropped feed.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

You were worrying the helll outta us Rubberback.

Jerry


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

I raised them a couple years..both Cots and Bobs...hatching 150 every 10w or so at a time.Cots are easiest and growth rate is almost unbelievable..Bobs are not that much harder slower and wilder.lots of good inf on sites like backyardchicken.com in the Quail section

Theres a guy in Gonzales that sells feeders and has thousands of bird /aint too far frm you..jimsbirdhouse.com


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

cva34 said:


> I raised them a couple years..both Cots and Bobs...hatching 150 every 10w or so at a time.Cots are easiest and growth rate is almost unbelievable..Bobs are not that much harder slower and wilder.lots of good inf on sites like backyardchicken.com in the Quail section
> 
> Theres a guy in Gonzales that sells feeders and has thousands of bird /aint too far frm you..jimsbirdhouse.com


Yup! James that is where I get my feeders from. Good guy. Good feeders I have about 8 of them.


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## chumy (Jul 13, 2012)

Be aware that a **** can cause a massacre through a 1/2" x1/2" rabbit wire flooring. That **** cant get much meat through that wire but he sure can do some damage. Learned that the hard way.


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

*Question for you quail guys.*

My grandmother raised both coutournix sp? and Bobwhites a long, long time ago, like in the '60s. She always had to clip their beaks when young to keep them from pecking each other to death....back of the head and butts.

Do y'all have to do that, or is there some other method? Hers were never in a big pen, but mostly smaller pens (3' X 4") of 6 or 8 each in the pen. Maybe overcrowded? She also raised partridge for a while.

Just curious.

Later
R3F


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## chumy (Jul 13, 2012)

Red3Fish said:


> My grandmother raised both coutournix sp? and Bobwhites a long, long time ago, like in the '60s. She always had to clip their beaks when young to keep them from pecking each other to death....back of the head and butts.
> 
> Do y'all have to do that, or is there some other method? Hers were never in a big pen, but mostly smaller pens (3' X 4") of 6 or 8 each in the pen. Maybe overcrowded? She also raised partridge for a while.
> 
> ...


I don't clip, then again I try not to overcrowd them. I have laying boxes and boards for them to roost on so they aren't always on the wire and being run around by the roosters.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

More space & the right ratio should curve that behaviour. Plus, 28% protein feed. Quail need lots of protein.


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