Japanese Quail

Well, it isn't easy to find a lot of information about them on the internet, but there is some. I also found a couple of people to talk to who have kept them.

It is looking like

1. A female can lay up to 260 - 300 eggs a year, which are small but usable. The manure of course is great for plants. 

2. While they will most certainly need some bought seed, they will also enjoy some vegetable scraps, leftover porridge etc, as well as the insects they scratch out of the ground;

3.  and yes, they do scratch about, just like the mega chooks..so a mini tractor system just might work!

Let's get started....

Meet the quail

We bought these three quail from a small breeder in Galston (in Sydney's north-west). I had found this wire rabbit type cage at the last kerb-side pickup. I gave it a wire mesh floor. The mesh is too small for them to squeeze through, but still allows them to be able to scratch around in the mulch. It makes it hard for dogs and other animals to get at them, too.

This cage is nice and light so I can shift them around. They love finding little insects and grass seeds etc. 

Can you see them? How great is their camoflage? They are, from L to R: Cheepers, Sally and Yoko.

Our first eggs!

Spring is here and we have been rewarded with our first eggs. Thanks girls!

There is another development though. One of the 'girls' has begun to crow and chases the other two around, attempting to mount them.

I had decided just to get hens as I didn't need a male and I was going for maximum efficiency in egg production. As they young when I got them, sexing was an approximate art, but was told I could bring any back if they turned out to be male.

Dilemma

I've ummed and ahhhed over the last week or two but have decided to activate my quail swapping option. I called Claire the quail provider this afternoon.

"Bring him straight around, if you like," she said. And so we said goodbye to 'Cheepers', and came home with 'Scrambler', who is settling in to the pen tonight.

Scrambler is big, soft and low set; much more like the hens and less like Cheepers, who was leggy and lean.

hen & cock

In this photo you can see the difference in the body shape of the hens which are either side of the cock. The markings around the neck can also be an indication of sex apparently, but not the general body colour. Our new hen has a very similar colouring to our old cock (I'm sure there's a nicer way to describe him...)

quails + hen + brush turkey = ???

Ok, I jumped ahead a few steps and didn't tell you. Sorry, I'll fill you in. Since beginning the experiment two years ago, I have two quail, neither original. Snow, who is placid and delightful, and Hail, who is the devil incarnate. As well as introducing more 'hidden areas' in the enclosure to provide variety, comfort and respite from each other's company, I also bought a bantam sussex cross hen to shift the dynamic of the pecking order (not a usual solution, admittedly, but one that seems to work ok). However, as the picture shows, our hen has quite captured the heart of a brush turkey, who has made a nesting mound nearby and is trying to 'rescue' the maiden.