Coturnix Quail

 

We began raising Coturnix quail around mid April. 

We started with 27 eggs (acquired from a friend).

The Coturnix Quail incubation period is 17 days, forced air incubators temperature 99º to 100ºF with a humidity level of 60%.

On day 17 at 3:10 our first baby quail pecked through the shell.

                  Of the eggs that hatched three chicks died,  7 males and 7 females lived to maturity. 

The birds mature in six weeks with an average weight of 5-6 oz.

Their space requirements are small (LOL! These two think they need to be in the same spot).

Quail don’t eat a lot because they convert feed into protein efficiently.

The Coturnix Quail will began laying eggs at seven weeks old and reach a slaughter weight of 4-5 oz.
Our quail are laying pretty well, an average of 1 egg per female, per day.
Which means that we are collecting around 7 eggs daily at this point.

Boiled quail eggs

The kids helped me build the cage.
Everything  we used (including screws & nails) except for the wire was recycled;
either taked from the old house or leftover from previous building projects.
The floor/base of the cage is an old shelf.

The completed cage.