Garden is too small for chickens but I’m being told big enough for quails.

They’d be kept primarily for eggs.

What do I need to know? How much space do I need to keep them happy?

Should I be worried that I have an adapted version of the Eels song stuck in my head?

The eggs are small?
Any particular reason for not getting eggs from the shop 😉

Why wait for someday, why make a plan? **** birds in the bushes, let’s take ’em in hand

Have you read this article on keeping hens in small gardens? https://poultrykeeper.com/keeping-chickens-faq/much-space-chickens-need/

It mentions Bantams, have you thought about keeping those?

https://poultrykeeper.com/general-quail/beginners-guide-to-keeping-quail/

Quails can take off vertically….who knew

Any particular reason for not getting eggs from the shop

We like the idea of caring and raising them. Then uncaringly chucking their carcasses in the neighbours stew pot!

It mentions Bantams, have you thought about keeping those?

Theoretically we’d have enough room, but we’d need to lose on of the veg plots which we don’t really want to do.

This is a good resource for chickens, covers quails too:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/48/quail it’s the STW of poultry.

it’s the STW of poultry.

Not sure if your recommending using that forum or avoiding it!?

Actually its the MTBR of poultry 🙂

Be aware they fight like mad. Big sport in Pakistan and surrounding countries. In Halifax in the late eighties we used to see a number of families in the StJohns area with “pet” quail. Batair curry is also on the menu at the Kashmir in Bradford.

They easily get stuck in places and if you pull too hard to remove them they break.

they are cute cool looking things though.

Barely enough meat on them to be worth bothering about and the eggs are tiny. Chickens FTW.

eggs are tiny

And pretty and delicious.

I had quails when I was a kid, we had chickens and I wanted pheasants but they couldn’t live with the chickens and we didn’t have room for separate pheasants, the pheasant breeder suggested quails as we could just divide a bit of chicken shed and run off.

They’re sweet little birds but very flighty and nervous. The eggs are amazing. They’re very vulnerable to predators and even though we had fine mesh fences buried quite deep something got in and killed them in the end. Their run also had to be covered to keep predators out and them in as they can fly better than chooks.

I enjoyed keeping them but I think unless you raise from chicks you won’t be able to handle them or interact much with them, the chickens were bolder and would happily come up to you and try to peck your eyes out.

We had a male and two females, I seem to remember them being surprisingly loud sometimes and the male, Dan, was pretty horny and had his wicked way alarmingly regularly and forcefully. You need to have someone to look after them every day if you go on holiday too.

Nice wee things anyway!

Be aware they fight like mad

That is news to me, is that breed specific or across the board. Is that males fighting or females?

Their run also had to be covered to keep predators out and them in as they can fly better than chooks.

The pen would be fully enclosed by wire.

I enjoyed keeping them but I think unless you raise from chicks you won’t be able to handle them or interact much

To be fair we’re not looking for pets as you would with a dog. There’s a fair bit of ‘just trying it out’

A friend who has them can handle a couple of them, but reflects what you say about raising from chicks.

Are the males noisier than the females? We’re only thinking of getting females.

Had some when I was younger, they were incredibly flighty. Something ate them in the end, either fox or maybe rats?

Far more successful were the Buff Rock Bantams that were raised under a heat lamp in the shed from day old chicks.

Don’t have any experience with qualis, but can definitely recommend Bantam chickens. How much space do you have available? They really don’t need much – and can co-exist happily with lawns and flower beds ( and i say this as a rare plant over…. i use a bit of plastic mesh to prevent access to vulnerable plants), and can easily be left to their own devices for a week without attention. Loads of lovely, if small, eggs, huge varierty of breeds, wonderful nature. Wouldn’t be without my girls.

Quails – what do I need to know

My dad used to keep quail when I was a kid (alongside chickens). They made a nice warbling sort of noise and, err, that’s about the sum of the positives. They didn’t lay many eggs and there’s nothing to them if you want to eat them. They also didn’t have much personality. That might seem obvious but other types of bird get much tamer and have a bit more character.

How much space have you got exactly? Bantams, as mentioned, might be a good option. Much better layers.

We currently keep ducks ‘cos they’re awesome. Loads of character and lay tasty eggs, regularly. In the classic stw recommend what ya got style, then:

They are ridiculously easy to look after. Keep them on wire- it’s the cleanest and easiest way and they are so domesticated that it doesn’t worry them in the slightest. Feed them on chicken chick crumbs all the time- they do better than when on growers pellets.
1 cock to 4 hens if you want fertile eggs. Give them a tray of sand to dust in but put another bigger tray underneath to catch it if it’s not very deep.
Ours start laying at four weeks old!!

The rats slaughtered my last lot. They squeezed in through the tiny gap where the chain for the heat lamp went through!!

I’ve got more coming on 15th Jan.

Eggs are delicious but they lay a lot!! Get plenty of trays to swap and barter them with friends. You need about 8 for a decent fry up. We used to pickle most of ours but they are fiddly to de-shell.

The dogs love to eat the eggs too.

[video]https://youtu.be/KZEkXdVrX6s[/video]

How much space do you have available?

Not enough for Chickens, even little ones. Not ducks not Geese either.

Space wise it’s Quails or smaller. Theoretically there’s more space, but it’s already in use with other tasks.

They are ridiculously easy to look after

This was kind of why we’ve been thinking of them. Like a starter option.

What guage wire do you need to keep rats out?

I think it’s just standard 19g rolls but slightly thicker would be better. If you google or Pinterest for quail houses, there’s a bazzilion great ideas.