. Quail
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Topics on
this page:
- Breeding
- Feeding /
Diet
- Housing
Quail
-
Transporting Quail
- General
References
- Specific
References
Australia has 10 native species of
Quail. The King Quail, Brown Quail and the Stubble Quail are true
quail, comprise 3 species and belong to the genus Coturnix. The
other 7 species of quail are referred to as Button quail and belong to
the genus Turnix. It is easy to distinguish between the two genus
of Australian quail. The Coturnix quail have four toes and three
of the toes point forward and the other toe points backwards. The
Turnix quail have three toes on each foot and each toe points forward.
In the Turnix or Button quail the hen is larger
than the cock bird. The Button quail hens have a brighter
coloured plumage than the males. In the Coturnix quail the sexes are about
equal in size but the males have a brighter coloured plumage than
the hens.
All species of quail build a nest on the
ground. Best results occur when the quail build the nest in the
covered part of the aviary. The incubation/hatching times as well
as the time a young grows and reaches independence can vary due to
varying weather conditions and temperatures. In colder conditions
the time taken to hatch and grow can take longer. Equally during
hotter months the times can be less than average.
The other quail as shown in the list
opposite are introduced species of quail commonly held by
aviculturalists. (Bob White, Californian and European quail)
Quail can be used to add visual balance
to the aesthetics of an aviary. Finches and suitable small parrots
flying around and occupying the middle and upper part of the aviary and
the quail taking up the lower level and floor real estate.
Breeding
Quail differ in one huge respect when
compared with almost all other species of birds. Quail are
generally divided into two groups as far as incubation are concerned. Coturnix hens
do the incubating of the eggs and the incubation.
Manipulating birds/pairs.
With the Turnix quail the males
do the incubating. This trait is taken advantage of by many
aviculturalists. With the Turnix quail the pair is allowed to
establish the aviary as their own, then when the mating and nest
building is completed the hen lays her clutch of eggs. After the
cock bird has shown he has definitely started to incubate the eggs, the
hen is often removed so he will not be distracted from the duty of
incubation and future rearing duties. Sometimes the hen can entice
the cock bird away from the incubation duties to start a new nest.
This will result in the loss of the first clutch of eggs. If
sufficient aviaries are available the hen can be placed into the new
aviary with another cock bird to establish another nest of eggs.
When her second clutch has been laid and is being incubated by the
second cock bird, the hen is once again removed from that aviary.
Care must be taken if this method is used as some hens or cock birds may
not approve of the new mate and aggression can erupt. If
aggression happens it can result in severe injury to one or both birds,
or in some cases the death of one of the birds. A bad injury may
prevent the use of that bird for the rest of the season, or in some
cases the bird may not be of any further use as a breeder bird.
Care must be taken to ensure the Turnix quail hens are given adequate
breaks between sessions of laying. Better results are often gained
if the hen is not allowed to lay more than three consecutive clutches
and the hens should be given sufficient time to grow and reach full
maturity before breeding is attempted.
Coturnix hens do the incubating of the
eggs and the incubation. As with the Turnix quail, some
aviculturalists can "double use" some birds. With Coturnix quail
the opposite of the Turnix quail is practiced. The cock bird is
removed once the hen has definitely commenced incubation duties.
The same problems and benefits have to be observed as outlined in the
above paragraph.
Many quail do not like nest
inspections, so it is advisable to avoid inspecting the nest till
after at least the first week of incubation. This is particularly
important for quail that make a substantial nest, often with a covered
nest. Many go to a lot of trouble to establish a private secure
nest so it is best to respect their wishes. Curiosity can result
in the death of a clutch of eggs. The nervous sitting bird may
panic, fly high and fast and hit the roof and cause injury or death.
Coturnix Quail (True Quail) and
the introduced quail.
Incubation lasts about 21 days. The Brown,
King and Stubble quail lay large clutches of eggs, often 2 or 3 times as
many as the Button quail. With the Turnix quail the males
do the incubating. The cock bird will mate with multiple hens if
given the chance.
Many quail will lay throughout the
year if conditions are suitable. Unfortunately some species
ability to raise their own young resemble that of chooks and lay lots of
eggs but have lost the instinct to incubate and raise their own young.
Many commercial farms now breed some of the quail species as a meat bird
for the domestic and restaurant trade. These farms place all the
eggs in large automatic incubators. When the eggs hatch the young
birds are placed in environmentally controlled brooders. The baby
birds have no contact with adult birds while they are growing up.
Many of these artificially raised birds are sold and purchased by aviculturalists and placed in their aviaries. These birds without
the clucky natural instincts can be disappointing to the beginner
aviculturalist as well as those who do not have the equipment or time to
artificially incubate and hand raise the young. Those non clucky
birds also tend to lay their eggs anywhere they like and generally not
in the same spot each time.
For the quail with normal / natural
breeding instincts, the most productive months are generally Spring
through Autumn. The nest is made in a depressions in the floor.
The depression is lined with grasses, leaves and other soft material.
Some pairs will build a basic but adequate nest but others if given
large quantities of good quality nesting materials can build a large
nest and in some situations may have a dome shaped covered roof.
Nest inspection should be avoided for the first 7 - 10 days.
When the babies hatch they are
able to run around the aviary and the hen will call the young to her and she will drop
food in front of the young and allow them to pick it up.
Turnix Quail
The breeding behaviour of the Turnix
Quail differs from that of the Coturnix and the other introduced
species. The Turnix or Button quail cock birds do the incubation.
The hen bird will mate with multiple cock birds if given the chance. The Button quail only lay about 4 white/whitish eggs per clutch. The
duration of incubation is only about 14 days. This is much shorter
than the Coturnix quail which has an incubation of about 21 days.
When the babies hatch they they are able to run around the aviary and the cock bird supplies
food from his beak directly into the babies beak. Generally the
hen does not get involved in the feeding and raising of the young.
The young will start to feed themselves after about the first week.
The cock bird will offer the young food till they become independent at
the about the 3rd or 4th week.
Nest inspection should be avoided for
the first 7 - 10 days.
For the quail with normal / natural
breeding instincts, the most productive months are generally Spring
through Autumn. The nest is made in a depressions in the floor.
The depression is lined with grasses, leaves and other soft material.
Some pairs will build a basic but adequate nest but others if given
large quantities of good quality nesting materials can build a large
nest and in some situations may have a dome shaped covered roof.
If the situation arises that Button
quail eggs have to be incubated and / or any baby quail hand raised,
this presents a bigger problem than with the other types of quail.
The Coturnix quail instinctively pick up and eat food off the floor
whereas the Button quail expect the food to be placed in their beak.
In a worst case scenario it may be necessary to hand feed the food into
their beak till they are old enough to feed themselves. For the
quail with normal / natural breeding instincts, the most productive
months are generally Spring through Autumn. The nest is made in a
depressions in the floor. The depression is lined with grasses,
leaves and other soft material. Some pairs will build a basic but
adequate nest but others if given large quantities of good quality
nesting materials can build a large nest and in some situations may have
a dome shaped covered roof.
Feeding /
Diet
Food requirements of quail are fairly
basic. A good quality finch or small parrot mix, insects, some vegetables,
seeding grasses and sometimes a
pre-mix soft food. In the wild quail, like most birds, need daily
access to water and hence are found in close proximity to a reliable
source of clean water. Due to the encroachment of farms and
housing to most birds natural range, many quail and other species of
birds now make use of artificial water supplies like dams and water
troughs. Fresh clean water is essential for all aviary birds.
Quail scratch through their food just
like chooks. This habit can result in the scattering of the
uneaten food onto wet areas or to areas under the finch or parrot
perches or roosting areas. One good method of minimizing the
scattering of food it to attach a plastic mesh similar to that
used in climbing plant trellis ( square 50 mm openings ) just above the
level of the seed. This can be on a frame for easy refilling of
the food utensil. If young birds are not in the aviary the depth
of the feed container can be deeper than when the young are running
around. A deeper container minimizes the amount that will be ejected
out of the container by the adults.
They are usually housed in an aviary
with one or more pairs of finches or smaller parrots. They are most
commonly found housed with finches and finch like birds. They can
sometimes be found in aviaries housing the smaller parrots. Quail
often have no choice but to eat the foods that are supplied to the other
birds. This is often a mix of basic finch seed mix along with some
other select seeds and often a supply of live food such as mealworms.
Mealworms can be fed as the larval (worm) stage as well as the pupa and
beetle stage. The 3 mealworm stages have similar nutritional value
but give the birds the impression they are being fed a variety of
insects. Do not overlook the feeding of commercially raised cockroaches.
Cockroaches come in a wide selection of sizes from baby cockroaches a
few millimetres long to the adults that are usually about 30 mm long.
Commercially raised cockroaches are used widely in the raising of many
species of juvenile and adult reptiles. Sprouted seeds may also be available along with some vegetables and
fruits. The pre-mix soft foods are often fed to some types of birds
are often loved by some quail. Those housed with small parrots
will pick through the parrot mix and consume the seeds they like and
other fruits, vegetables and live foods.
The cheaper species of quail are often
put in an aviary to help "clean up" the floor. They usually
receive an adequate balance of foods and nutrients but with the rarer
more expensive quail there should be more attention to the quail
receiving a more planned balanced diet. Adequate supply of
insect live food will be beneficial especially during breeding season.
The grits and calcium supplies provided
for finches and parrots should be available to quail.
A clean fresh supply of water should
always be available but care should be taken when the young are running
around to ensure they do not drown in the water bowl. A number of
methods to minimize the drowning of baby birds include placing clean pebbles or small
stones in the bowl, place a mesh screen in the water (preferably
stainless steel) to minimize the depth, or replace the water bowl with a
shallow dish.
If the quail are housed in an aviary
with birds that are fed from an elevated platform, care must be taken to
ensure the quail have sufficient of their preferred seeds/grains and not
have to survive on the unwanted food of the other birds. Quail eat
the whole seed. Most other types of birds remove the seed husk
then eat the de-husked seed. Sometimes it can appear there is
adequate seed on the floor for the quail but closer inspection reveals
it is mostly the empty seed husks.
The inclusion of a compost heap within
the aviary to attract insects should be strongly avoided. In the
"old" days when commercially grown insects were either too expensive or
unavailable are long gone. Compost heaps are a source of many
bacteria and fungal organisms that may be detrimental to all types of
birds. Crickets, mealworms and cockroaches are a much safer option
and the price is now less than a few years ago.
The use of pelletised foods is
increasing in all areas of bird feeding and many people have good
success with the use of poultry pellet feeds as a supplement to the
above discussed foods for quail. The commercial farmers of quail
such as European quail have developed and produce a nutritionally
balanced pellet food suitable for aviary use for most types of quail.
Housing
Quail
Allow extra space if one manipulates hen/cock bird
as outlined in the above heading "Breeding - Manipulating birds/pairs". Extra aviary
space is needed for both the manipulation of the adults as well as the
potential increased number of young.
There are a large range
of opinions as to how many quail can be housed in an aviary. Every
one has differing styles and designs of aviaries. Just like other
types of birds, the temperament of each bird may vary widely. Some
placid and docile while another of the same species may tend to be
aggressive. For the sake of simplicity and in the interest of
maximizing the chances of successful clutches being raised, it will be
assumed that the housing for all quail is one pair per aviary.
It will be assumed that no other species of quail will be housed in that
specific aviary.
Best results are generally achieved with
one pair of quail per aviary. An aviary of 2 metres long and about
1.5 metres wide with at least half the roof covered, should cater for most quail providing they have areas on
the floor that allow adequate cover for them to retreat to and feel safe
and secure. The back wall and at least half the length of the side
walls should be a solid material. If quail are startled they tend to fly off the floor
at a steep angle and often hit the roof at a solid speed. This can
cause severe head injuries or at worst the death of the quail.
Wing feather clipping can minimize this potential problem. Wing
feather clipping also minimizes the risk of the quail flying into or
onto the finch nesting sites and disturbing the nesting or roosting
finches and/or small parrots.
Quail are usually compatible with
finches, finch like birds such as softbills, small docile parrots, doves
and pigeons. Problems can occur with finches etc. that spend a lot
of time at floor level or use the floor space as their courtship, or
mating site.
Quail are usually housed in an aviary
with one or more pairs of finches. They are most commonly found
housed with finches and finch like birds, but they can sometimes be
found in aviaries housing the smaller docile parrots such as some of the
Neophemas. If housed with large birds, the young and sometimes the
adult quail, may be killed or eaten especially when the larger birds
approach breeding season. They can make a nice snack for some
parrots and their young.
This usually means the quail have to
accept whatever aviary design the other finches or parrots need.
Quail adapt well and if given a few basic needs will thrive and
successfully multiply. A
large planted finch aviary with a dry earthen floor and some tall
grasses is ideal. If quail are housed with compatible small parrots, the aviary is
usually devoid of plants, shrubs, ground cover plants and grasses.
This does not rule out the successful breeding of quail in these
aviaries. It just means the floor landscaping of the parrot aviary
has to be modified to include a few items to allow the quail to feel
relaxed and safe. Place a few inverted wooden crates that have a
few lower panels removed, at the back of the aviary. Inverted
polystyrene boxes with part of the part of both opposite walls removed
can make a cheap alternative to wooden crates. A quick cover of a
earth coloured paint will blend the box in better. The Styrofoam
boxes do not have any cracks or gaps in the construction so are less
likely to harbour mites. Placing some
dry branches, pieces of large diameter pipe, horizontal hollow log/s or
other suitable material on the aviary floor at the front and/or along
the side wall will help the quail feel safe and secure and maximize the
chances of successful breeding in a parrot aviary. Fake rocks as
used in landscaping and by reptile breeders can allow for creative
aviary landscaping. The fake rocks are light and can easily be
moved / removed for cleaning or relocating to another aviary and are
virtually indestructible. The fake rocks come in a large variety
of heights and sizes. These items can imitate nature and allow
quail to nest behind or beside these objects and feel safe and secure. The crates and
other furniture will allow the quail to hide and build a nest without
the constant unwanted attention of the other aviary occupants. The
aviary furniture and hiding places will allow them safe refuge when the
owner enters the aviary for feeding, watering and cleaning duties.
Potted plants and trays of growing
grasses (including small bamboos) can be placed in an aviary that has a
concrete floor. These can be removed and refreshed as required
with minimal disturbance. Do not remove or replace these items if
the quail have built a nest beside or close to these items. Wait
at least till the eggs have hatched.
At the end of each breeding season the
dead or fake branches, grasses, and foliage, can be removed and either
thrown away or cleaned thoroughly and reused. Timber furnishings,
logs, potted plants, fake rocks should be returned to the pair that used
these furnishings that breeding season. Familiarity of
surroundings may keep them in a more placid temperament. Removal
of the old leaf litter or the layer of sand will minimize the carry over
of mites, bacteria and fungal contaminants. Fresh leaf litter will
generally make the aviary better looking and smell fresh.
Most parrot aviaries now have a concrete
floor but if a cover of clean dry sand is placed over the concrete, it
will provide a suitable surface for the quail. A layer of sand
over a concrete floor will benefit parrots as well. A portion of
the aviary floor can have clean dry leaves and grasses added to it to
more resemble a forest floor. Fresh or dry eucalypt leaves can add
a fresh smell to the aviary. Quail in an aviary with a dry floor
with a sufficient depth of sand, dirt or similar material will dust
bathe.
Most baby quail are very small and very
mobile so the aviary should have a 300 mm high barrier around the entire
aviary (including the door) of either mouse proof wire mesh (7 mm) or a
solid smooth material such as flat galvanized sheet steel. Check
that the gaps around and under door are not wide enough to allow any
babies to escape. Do not
forget to put the barrier between individual side by side flights to
prevent the babies escaping into other flights that may house birds that
may kill the baby birds or leave the baby quail lost and unable to find
their way back to their parents. Make sure there are no gaps under the
lower edge. The babies of many species will run through the usual
13 mm wire.
If the aviary is large or there is a
chance of the baby quail getting "lost" in the aviary, it may be
beneficial to place a solid barrier around an area to restrict how
far the babies can roam. It must not restrict the adult birds,
just the babies. This is often used to good effect in bad weather
conditions to keep the babies restricted to the warmest, driest, safest
areas. If this is done, do not forget to supply the baby quail
area with an adequate safe supply of water and food.
If a clutch hatches in cold weather
conditions the provision of supplementary warmth/heating may increase
the survival chances. There is a large variety of heating
appliances designed and approved for the poultry industry that can be
used in a dry aviary situation. Get appropriate advice to select
the best one for an outdoor aviary and have it installed by an approved
installer. Heated rocks as used by reptile breeders may help.
During wet or winter conditions the
finches and any small parrots can escape to the higher dryer parts of
the aviary and not have to return to the floor till they need a feed or
drink. Quail do not have this option so when designing the aviary
for the rarer Button quail pay particular attention to their need for a
substantial part of the aviary to remain dry and hopefully with minimal
draughts.
As adult quail and the baby quail are
almost always running around on the floor it is essential to check at
ground level when entering or leaving an aviary. It is easy to
miss seeing quail at ground level when entering or leaving an aviary
especially when carrying foods, cleaning equipment or when carrying
bulky items. The provision of a safety double door or a walkway
will minimize the escape of these active birds.
Always have an aviary ready to house the
young quail when they become independent from their parents or if the
parent/s show aggression to the young birds.
Quail that are noisy, especially in the
morning, should be housed in an aviary most distant away from
neighbours.
Suspended cages and suspended aviaries
are generally unsuitable for quail.
Australian quail generally do not use a
perch either during the day or to roost on during the night. Two
of the introduced quail, the Californian and the Bobwhite will use a
perch at night to roost.
Transporting Quail
Transporting quail can be more of a
problem than most other types of birds. Quail take off vertically
when frightened and can damage themselves if they hit the roof of the
carry cage/box. To minimize the risk of injury, the height of the
carry cage can be reduced and a 1 cm thick sponge/foam rubber roof
lining can be glued on (to the inside of the roof). The carry cage
does not have to be much higher than the height of the bird when it is
standing. The ceiling padded carry cage can be suitable for other
flighty birds such as some of the dove species.
Top of - Quail - Page General
References: Refer to references listed on "Book References"
web page.
Specific
References:
Keeping Quail - A Guide to Domestic and Commercial Management.
Author Katie Thear
"A Guide To Pigeons, Doves & Quail their management,
care & breeding". Publisher Australian Birdkeeper Publications. Author
Danny Brown B.Sc. (Hons). Cost is about $40. Published 1995.
Top of - Quail - Page
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