I have raised Coturnix Quail a few times now. When we still lived in the city I started with a set up in our garage. It was my attempt at having a little something homesteady when I couldn’t have a homestead. This first go-round with quail got a little out of hand quickly. I ended up winning a few sets of hatching eggs and I hatched my own and before I knew it we had quail everywhere. Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch but quail take just 18. They also start laying eggs at around ten weeks of age, some a bit sooner. So, it was pretty easy to build up our supply of quail. We ended up getting rid of all the quail as it got to be a little too much to handle inside the garage.

The second time I had quail we used a rabbit cage outside since the garage was not an option and I had only one breeding set. I love quail eggs, especially pickled quail eggs. Not the kind that I make my own brine, but boil the eggs and drop them in your favorite pickle juice. Pickled quail eggs done this way are delicious. We ended up getting rid of the quail this time because winter was coming on and keeping them outside in our yard ended up not being the best option either. Where we live is super windy and in the yard in particular we had huge snow drifts since the fence catches all the snow. I still liked quail but we simply weren’t in a situation where it was working out to keep them.

Fast forward to now and we once again brought quail back into our lives. I found a guy down the street who homesteads and got one breeding set from him. They are outside in the chicken coop area but inside a rabbit hutch. Quail are small and jumpy and can’t run loose with the chickens. My ultimate goal is to build them their own much larger space, but for now, a rabbit hutch is just fine. It’s plenty of space for a handful of quail. When we brought these guys home they were laying eggs. Within a few days, they quit, and for the last probably month maybe more they haven’t laid a single egg. A few weeks back I figured the problem was that they weren’t getting enough sunlight, so I opened up the lid of their housing and placed a wire covering in place. It seemed to have done nothing. But I guess it just took time because today I got our first quail egg again after the long break. I am so excited to have quail eggs back in the house.

Keeping Quail Considerations

If you want to keep quail for yourself there are a few things to consider. First and foremost I would start with a good-quality quail. The ones we have now are from a guy down the road and they aren’t the best quality of quail. I did that because I had a hard time finding quail around us. I know from experience that shipping quail eggs here and hatching them doesn’t work well. I don’t know why, because most people seem to do ok, but something happens in the mail on the way here and I never have great success. I get almost 100% hatch rate when I do my own but I will hatch 3 chicks out of 24 when I get shipped ones. If you don’t have this issue then ordering hatching eggs from a good breeder will be the best way to go. I ordered from SouthWest Gamebirds a few times and they have really nice quail.

If you are going to keep your quail in a small space such as the garage just know it is going to make a giant powdery mess. Their food is very powdery since they like the crumbles and when you add their dander to that and wherever you keep your quail will be covered in dust. I would have some sort of plan in place to deal with that if you want to keep quail in the garage or other small space.

Quail are stupid. They do some things that are just hard to believe. I had a quail, more than once, walk straight out of their cage about six feet in the air and splat on the ground. Since they are little and light it didn’t hurt them but be aware that they would walk right off a cliff given the opportunity. They also jump straight up when they are scared and will break their own necks on their cage. So, it is recommended to either have a really tall cage or a small one. Nothing in between. They are really small birds so the height of the cage needs to be only around one to maybe two feet. Anything taller and they easily hit the ceiling and will kill themselves. There are tons of plans online if you want to build your own, and the ones you can buy and put together yourself will have the spacing already figured out.

Quail are mean. They do not take very well to introducing new birds and a cage full of males will likely end in injury. Coturnix Quail have very thin skin. When they fight they peck each other and easily rip the other’s skin open. This typically happens on the head. Numerous times I came out in the morning and found blood everywhere and a quail with their head ripped open. If you clean it, and keep the quail separate, they will often heal. However, if you find out you have a particularly mean quail who is always the instigator, I would recommend culling that quail. If you have a cage full of males I would keep them far away from the females and in the dark. Otherwise, they get too excited and will end up fighting each other and we are back to the bleeding head situation.

I would recommend having a plan if you need to cull one of the birds. Most people who raise quail, especially Coturnix, are doing it for me at and eggs so that isn’t an issue, but if you are not you will likely at some most need to cull one of the birds. Have a plan ready to go. My first quail I had to put down broke her wing and was in a lot of pain. This may be hard to hear but I took a pair of scissors and beheaded her. This is actually how most people deal with their quail when processing for meat. Even harder to hear but good information, if you can stomach it, a quail’s head is very easy to pull off. My husband prefers this method to the scissors. It’s quicker and you don’t have to worry about scissors being sharp or not. Not to mention it’s probably the quickest way to go.

Lastly, quail stink! They do not smell like chickens. Their poop is so much worse. You really have to stay on top of quail cages or they get nasty pretty quickly.

Quail Benefits

I really do enjoy having quail. I love that when you can’t have chickens you can typically sneak in a few quail and no one will notice. They are not super loud but they do make noise. I am a rule follower at my core, but we had quail we weren’t supposed to have and the whole time I was incredibly worried someone would find out and report me. No one did thankfully. If you are mindful about keeping them clean and dealing with the dust then you can keep quail in a small space. They are considered perfect for someone wanting to homestead who doesn’t have the space.

We did not really care for their meat, but many people love it. If you want your own meat source, quail are a very quick way to get that done. They are much smaller than a chicken so you need to put more in the freezer but they get there so much faster. I believe jumbo quail are processed at ten weeks. I usually processed mine at around eight weeks though because they would start fighting and being loud and it wasn’t worth it to me to wait the extra two weeks.

Their eggs are delicious. Quail lay an egg almost everyday. So, although you need 3-4 quail eggs to equal a chicken egg they do lay more consistently. I prefer chicken eggs for most things, but those pickled quail eggs are my favorite. Again, if you can’t have chickens then being to have something is awesome.

Lastly, they are adorable. Quail are so stinking cute. We loved having them and playing around with colors. Like chickens, they are simply fun to watch. They chicken scratch, they take dust baths, they pretty much do all the things that chickens do but in a smaller package.

If you are thinking about adding quail to your home I say go for it! You will never know until you try. If it doesn’t work out that’s ok, but its better than forever living with the “what if”.