If you’re tired of grocery store egg shortages and ready to have fresh eggs coming from your own backyard covey that scramble, boil, bake, and taste just like chicken eggs, then seriously consider quail! They are the sweetest little birds who have quiet chirps and gentle personalities. Let me share all the reasons Coturnix quail are SO EASY to keep!
Coturnix Quail are Seriously Easy to Keep
Backyard quail are incredibly gentle and quiet. They don’t bite, they don’t scream, they do not need elaborate coops and they barely eat anything. Quail are intelligent enough to quickly learn to use small animal waterers and no-waste feeders. And they poop fertilizer that your front lawn and flower beds are going to love!
Frequent Egg Layers with a Small Appetite
Standard Coturnix Quail eat about 2 Tablespoons of commercial quail feed per day. Jumbos eat around 2.4 Tablespoons. The 30% game bird feed they eat until around 4 months old comes from local feed stores, Tractor Supply or Amazon. After 3-4 months old you can switch them to a 16-18% protein laying hen (chicken) crumble, sold at the same feed stores and which Amazon will also deliver, so you continue to get lots of eggs!
Quail Know How to Use Automatic Feeders & Waterers
For being so small, quail figure out their automatic feeders and waterers quickly. Like within minutes. This is incredibly handy for busy families who may not always be in town every weekend…or may be across town at sport tournaments all day. Quail enjoy the quiet shelter of their coops and don’t mind one bit if they do not get frequent attention from you. (Think of them as being little birdy introverts!)
Your Quail Coop Can Be SOOOO Cute!
Quail coops are not commonly sold in stores so you typically need to build one. We have step-by-step building plans in our shop that make it easy for absolute beginners and use only 5 common tools. Paint your coop any color you prefer and add darling accessories, wreaths and signs to make it one of a kind! We suggest opting to build coops that will sit below your residential fence line, like the 54 inch tall one shown below.
Quail are A Lot of Fun for Kids
Coturnix quail can be gently trained to accept handling and being hand fed treats, which makes them wonderful birds for children to own. They benefit from having solar garden lights in their coops (I use these triangular lights) and would love a strand of string lights or just about any pretty LED garden light you desire to give them. Quail also enjoy hide boxes and will make use of any fairy house or stick teepee your children would like to create for them. (It will eventually be trampled but that only means the kids need to spend more time crafting another!) Hardwood branches clipped from non-toxic trees and bushes are ideal but quail are totally fine with popsicle stick structures, too.
Quail Eat Clover Weeds
If you’ve got the classic three-leaf clover sprouting up in your yard, you’re already growing quail snacks! Toss these weeds to your covey and watch them gobble down the tender young clover heads. You can also give them sprouted microgreens, like alfalfa sprouts, which they love!
Quail Hens are Ultra Quiet
Female quail make tiny chirping noises that sound very much like a small cricket. Your neighbors won’t hear a thing! Even if you decide to keep a male quail, called a rooster, his ‘crow’ is a wild bird call that may sound similar to native wildlife in your area. You can listen to a Coturnix quail crow and hear the tiny hen noises on YouTube.
Quail Begin Laying Eggs Quickly
Cotunix quail hens can come into lay during the 6th week of life. This is remarkably fast, compared to chickens who need 6 months to begin laying eggs. Quail also lay more than chickens, producing nearly 300 eggs per year.
Quail Chicks Can Be Hatched At Home
Cotunix quail are remarkably fertile and if you decide to use an incubator to hatch eggs inside your home, the hatch rates tend to be rather high. Quail chicks are fragile and need special care but if you’re interested in a self-sustaining flock, hatching your own chicks is the way to go!
Coturnix Quail can be Breed to Lay Colored Eggs!
Thanks to the celadon (blue) egg gene some quail carry, it is possible to buy or breed quail who lay blue eggs – called Celadon Quail – as well as speckled celadon and jumbo sized celadon. A mix of robin’s egg blue, speckled bluey green and the cream-and-coffee-brown eggs quail normally lay are a delight in the kitchen!
Quail Eggs Taste & Bake Like Chicken Eggs
Cute little quail eggs scramble, fry, bake and taste like chicken eggs. Fresh eggs coming from your backyard covey are delightful to use in the kitchen. Baked goods taste the exact same when made with quail eggs!
Your HOA Allows Quail!
Coturnix quail are not poultry. They are legally classified as game birds in most states in the US and some states classify them as pet birds. Unless your neighborhood HOA forbids quail or game birds specifically by name, you are allowed to keep them. Even if your deed restrictions forbid poultry and chickens, quail are game birds and exempt from your HOA rules!
Coturnix Quail are Very Easy to Keep
Now that you know Coturnix quail are easy to keep, continue reading to learn more about these delightfully sweet prolific egg layers:
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