Q&A for How to Care for Quail

First of all, yes the eggs will be fertile. This is assuming you have a mature male quail of the same breed. Secondly the female quail should be laying eggs year-round just like a chicken. Colder weather may affect them and so does lack of calcium/sunlight. Stress also stops quails from laying. Be sure to promote egg-laying in your quails. All breeds of quails lay eggs year-round.

Quails have good instincts. They could be out in the rain for a reason, such as having some fun (yes, quails do this). Look for symptoms of illness, but they're likely just fine.

Try purchasing some poultry chick starter for the baby quail. Make sure you crush the starter up so that the chick is capable of eating it. Generally, a feed that consists of over 25% of protein is great.

Definitely pair them up with another quail. Quails can be purchased online, from breeders, or at pet shops. Quails do not favor well alone.

Japanese quails are perfect. They're low-maintenance, friendly, and provide you with eggs.

The majority of birds can tolerate cold weather unless it's absolutely freezing. In this case, they need your help. Some birds do not come from cold climates and cannot adapt to it easily. If you think your quail are struggling in the cold weather, then put their cage under some shelter or maybe inside your garage. Provide warm bedding, too, and make sure the water remains unfrozen.

Yes, although some quail may not enjoy this, depending on their personalities.

Make his cage a bit interesting. The best item pet owners like to give to their birds when they feel that they are lonely are mirrors. Mirrors give birds the illusion that another bird is there with them, and then they make company with their reflection. Another way is to treat him with interesting foods, add little toys and most importantly are hide-aways which quails love to escape to. Check out wikiHow articles on how to entertain your pet bird. It will benefit you and your quail a lot!

I'm not a quail expert, but with chickens you separate the old and the young. If you want to try to integrate them later, have their runs/cages side by side so they can see each other but not attack. This way they will get used to each other.

Try to look at its size more so than its color. If you search different quail breeds online, you'll be able to tell what kind of breed yours is. Size is an easier way to tell quail apart, although a light, golden-brown plumage is more common in Coturnix/Japanese quail than in any other breed.

The cat can cause stress to the quail simply by being being close by. This can result in fighting, no eggs, and no breeding. Your cat can also kill the quail, if it has access to it. Keep the quail in a separate room where the cat cannot get into, and make sure they have a secure housing set-up.

Yes. Bedding doesn't really serve the purpose of keeping quail warm; rather, it absorbs the mess they create and makes clean up easier.

Most people are against free-ranging for quails due to the amount of predators there are. However, if you want to give it ago and aren't afraid of the risk of quail loss, start a new experiment! Even experts can be wrong. Clip the quails' wings, supervise your flock at all times and ensure you have a safe and secure garden for them to roam in. Have plenty of low, thick vegetation for them to live in. Always be careful with mowing or harvesting if you free-range quail.

Some light source is necessary. At the very least, the coop should have a few windows and be well-ventilated.

To help your quails beat the heat, make sure they are getting plenty of water, including a shallow water dish for them to wallow in if they get too hot. An effective and easy trick is to fill a water bottle with water, freeze it over-night, wrap it in a thin tea-towel and place it inside your quails' enclosure to keep them cool. Lastly, make sure the coop is well ventilated! They need a good air flow to reduce humidity in their housing. Keep them out direct sunlight, too. To help keep your quails warm in harsh winter weather, incorporate more effective bedding, such as hay and nesting material. If it gets so cold that you face snow or temperature below 5 degrees Celsius, then you might want to consider a heat lamp for your flock to huddle up to. They are quite effective and you can use them to raise quail chicks in a brooder, too!

It depends on their purpose, the amount you are keeping and how you like their living conditions to be. Quails can be housed in coops, wire cages, hutches, runs, aviaries, etc. Coops can be a bit big for quail but they'll enjoy the space. Watch out for ones with ramps though because the quail may find it difficult to go up them. Wire cages are specifically made to keep quails above-ground. The wiring at the bottom lets droppings fall through and lessens the chances of quails getting diseases from their waste. Hutches are more suitable for quails as small ground-birds and are cheaper too. Chicken runs and aviaries give your quail a lot of space and easy access for you.

The only cause is another quail picking at your quail's back. This could be because of boredom, or you could have a quail bully. Separate quails that don't get along, and make sure they don't get bored.

You can give it a try by transitioning the breeds of quail however there will most likely be many fights between the quails. People have performed experiments and tests on whether their Japanese quails and button quails can live in harmony but they usually don't succeed. The bigger quails usually bully the smaller quails, resulting in the small quails getting access to no food.

Yes, in the quail world it doesn’t matter that they are related. Once they have matured (at 6-8 weeks), they will breed.

Yep! Quails love bedding to keep warm, hide in, snuggle up to and to build their nests! It's also good for absorbing the waste meaning less mess to clean up.

The incubation rate takes approximately 17 - 18 days. If your eggs do not hatch by the 21st day, candle them to ensure they are fertile. You should be able to see the outline of the quail chick sitting inside the egg. If there isn't any evidence that the egg is fertile, you will have to throw it out to prevent it from bursting.

Yes, but they should not play with or handle them without adults/parents around. Be sure that the young children do not feed them table scraps or food without your permission as well.

Diarrhea is a sign that something is wrong. If your quail is not treated with the right kind of care promptly, she may become dehydrated and pass away. It's important to ensure that she eating and drinking like normal, and to stay clear from vegetables that have a high water content (such as iceberg lettuce). If your quail is refusing to drink or eat, you may have to syringe-feed her to make sure she is getting nutrients and fluids in her body.

You need a wide cage rather than a tall cage.

There would be no reason for your quail to avoid light, unless it's too hot or trying to hide from predators. Quail are ground-dwelling birds that naturally live in grasslands and hide beneath bushes and shrubs. When they are out in the open, they feel vulnerable and can easily become scared.

That sounds like a exceptional outcome, but the quail shouldn't require any special care. The article above provides the best care guide for quail pets.

No, quails have an extremely low chance of going broody, let alone hatching babies. They may attempt to mate every now and then but they most likely won't go broody and create a nest.

What provoked your brown quail to kill the silver quail could be anything, so no reasoning will be a 100% certain. However, there are two things that are quite common to be the cause. Firstly, if the brown quail was a Coturnix quail, they will immediately attack other quail of another breed. Secondly, if both of the quails were male (button quails) their instinct is to fight, as they are very territorial.

It depends, and it's mainly up to you personally. As long as there's no evidence of the quails fighting then it should be fine. But if the quails don't get along, they must be separated. Mainly it's the males who cannot tolerate each other.

A heat lamp is the most effective way to warm a cage, but considering it isn't working, you might want to bring them indoors or insulate their cage. Provide plenty of bedding and nesting material, too.