Beginner Guide: Getting Started with Quail

Have you been wondering about what it would take to raise your own quail? In this beginner guide, I will share with you what it takes to get started with quail!

For the later part of 2023, I was looking online at people who were raising quail, and started looking into the benefits of having quail at home/on a homestead and got inspired! After following Julie from Farm Store – Sadie-Girl Farm (sadiegirlfarm.com) for some time, I clicked the “Checkout” button on her website at the first of the year and got myself 2 Blue Ridge Jumbo Quail and 2 blue-egg laying Celadon quail. These little girls were a little pricey. They are from a small farm, and are bred to guarantee you adorable little blue eggs. Had I done a little more homework, I would have got started with non-specialty quail, which would have been MUCH less expensive. I have seen many quail for sale on Craiglist or through local accounts for as cheap as $5-7 per bird.

I knew I had some time before the chicks were ready to be shipped to me (I purchased “teenagers” meaning the chicks were about 3 weeks old). In the meantime, I visited our local rural library and checked out a few books on getting started with quail/quail keeping. I also read through the Sadiegirlfarm blog and the guide to keeping chicks that she offered. I would recommend reading through her content as well-it’s a great guide to get you going!

A Few Things to Know Before You Start Keeping Quail

Here are a few key points that are important to know before getting your first little birds:

1. They require about 1 square foot of living space per bird. That’s not very much, so they are easy keepers in a small space! (I’ll talk more about what we built for a quail hutch).
2. Quail food is pretty readily available, although once they are mature than they eat chicken feed as well! We started out with a Quail Starter feed available at Tractor Supply! Purina 30% Protein Starter Game Bird and Turkey Feed, 40 lb. at Tractor Supply Co. We also picked up a small chick feeder/waterer to put in their coop. We let them eat as a please, which makes them pretty easy to care for!
3. They lay fast and furious! Whereas chickens take several months to start laying eggs, quail start laying within 8 weeks from hatching! Once they start laying, they lay about 1 egg/day! I am sure they slow down some in the winter months, but two of our four started laying at 8 weeks, and we have got an egg a day since! The other two looks a few more weeks to start consistently laying, but it is amazing to see how many little eggs they produce!

More on the Quail Hutch!

Despite my husband asking me (on more than one occasion) to select a plan for the quail coop in the 5 months that followed my purchase, I, of course, did not. Instead, I waited until I got the confirmation that my quail were getting ready to ship to call my father-in-law (in a slight panic) and share some Pinterest plans that I found. He was able to use this free Pinterest how-to guide from Simply Made Homestead as a rough guide: Quail Cage Build Made Easy — Simply Made Homestead. Within two days, the quail had arrived, and I had a coop made just in time to home them!

Currently, I have 4 quail, so we are actually only using the top layer of the cage, with room to add more quail to our gang! Also not pictured is an oil drip pan that slides under the top layer for easy cleaning! My father-in-law, being an avid hunter, also made the door handles on the cage of some old brass, which was a fun and unique addition to our coop! I have read that they enjoy environments that mirror the wild, so I will be adding some sticks and a dust bath to their coop here soon!

Benefits of Quail Keeping

We have had out quail for a few months now. A few things I have learned:

• They are a pretty skittish (and yes, I did accidently let them out of my cage and have to call my mom to help me return them to their rightful home)
• They aren’t the best option if you are looking for a pet that you can get out and play with. They are wild birds, and they will fly away if given the chance
• They are very productive and if you have cost or space requirements, then this is a great option! The feed lasts awhile, and you can care for several quail in just a small footprint.
• Quail will start producing very quickly! They will also provide adorable little eggs every day for you to eat and enjoy!

Although the quail were originally intended to be “mine”, my husband has taken a liking to these little birds. He is the one feeding, watering, and checking in with them on a daily basis. I will definitely continue to use up the eggs in my cooking/baking. Given that this was my project, I will keep up with cleaning the coop too!