Quail

[GilpinGuy]

Uh, this is a super cool conversation. I have been raising quail in my back yard for the past three years. Just finishing eating the last of them though as I am switching over to rabbits now just to try something new. Quail sure were great though and we loved the eggs. I would do it again.

Cool - welcome to the forum! If you have any info that I've missed or got wrong, please contribute to the discussion.

[Jonsey]

Cool - welcome to the forum! If you have any info that I've missed or got wrong, please contribute to the discussion.

It looks like you are doing great with it. I wonder what you ended up feeding them. I found it a little more challenging to make my own food for them since they require so much protein. But they fit into the neighborhood better than my chickens did.

[Jonsey]

Here is how we did ours, though I like how compact your set-up is. We chased them all into their little barn at night which was kind of high maintenance, but it worked out alright. I made my kids do it when I didn't have time.

[GilpinGuy]

I wonder what you ended up feeding them. I found it a little more challenging to make my own food for them since they require so much protein. But they fit into the neighborhood better than my chickens did.

I feed them Mannna Pro gamebird/showbird starter. 24% protein. I have just found a source for organic feed closer to home, but I haven't seen a price yet. Most of the organic feed I've seen is rather expensive.

[Jonsey]

I feed them Mannna Pro gamebird/showbird starter. 24% protein. I have just found a source for organic feed closer to home, but I haven't seen a price yet. Most of the organic feed I've seen is rather expensive.

Agreed on the amazing reproductive time.

I use Manna Pro for my rabbits. It seems high quality. I think I used Ag Land for my quail and it worked well too.

The cost for the organic stuff just blew me away so I started experimenting with little bulk bags of grain from the health food store. My mixture varried, but I put things in there like millet, red lentils, oats, and so forth. I soaked them overnight to soften them.( I added kefir later but that is kinda a long story)They continued laying when I did this, but the babies did not grow as big on this diet. If I did it again, I would probably try sprouting the mixture to get more food out of It. All this is pretty time consuming but I had fun with it.

Also, I have to say, nice job on the watering system. I have been thinking about setting something like that up but haven't got around to it yet. It looks very convenient.

Thanks for sharing your quail story.