Hi! I’ve settled on building an 8x4 walk in aviary and planning to keep around 10-15 quail. Making a material list and the costs become staggering lol.

The plan was to cover the entire thing in 1/4 hardware cloth which I knew would be costly but it’s going to be around $550-600 just for the mesh alone as I’ve got over 200sqft to cover 😅🥲

We get rats and raccoon regularly so I’m not trying to cheap out or put my future flock at risk, but if you see a way to make this more cost effective without compromising safety, please share your insight! I would love to hear it.

I’ve also adjusted my aviary design a bit to minimize waste. If it goes to plan, we will have avoided almost all waste which is pretty great so that method is covered!

Thank you!

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on an app called Eggspert for people who hatch their own eggs.

It helps keep everything for a hatch in one place instead of trying to remember dates or keep notes scattered everywhere. You can track incubation progress, candling dates, temperature and humidity, egg weights, hatch results, notes, and more.

It supports chickens, ducks, quail, turkeys, geese, and other poultry, and you can keep a history of your previous hatches to look back on.

I originally started building it because I wanted something simple that was actually focused on incubation rather than a generic farm-management app.

Eggspert: eggspertapp.com

If you hatch eggs at home, I’d love for you to check it out!

https://reddit.com/link/1w48rnc/video/g9na9o8c4wmh1/player

He was in perfect health on Sunday but when I went to feed him on Monday, he couldn't stand and at the vet, she said he had fluid in his lungs and threw up the glucose she gave him, which is exactly what happened to Yiyi without warning. He was a really hardy bird which makes it so shocking. Almost had him for three years but he seemed younger and energetic. This will be my last quail as we find it too heartbreaking. It is really surprising how something so small can give such joy when it is there and such sadness when it goes. Treasure your quails because you will miss them when they go.

Yesterday I posted about a male quail I found wondering in my front yard. I'm pretty sure no one is looking for him (I named him Gomez btw). I searched my neighborhood high and low for his family. I think he may have been dumped for being a boy.

Now time for the good part of the update! I have decided to adopt him and I got him a girlfriend so he's not lonely. He was crowing all night until I brought her home! I named her Dolly! She went strait to bathing when I got her home as you can see. I wanted to get more, but she was the only female I could find on such short notice. I'll be acquiring a decent coop soon, then they'll be set for life!

I wanna thank this community soooooo much for offering so much help and advice in my last post! You guys saved me a ton time in getting these sweet borbs set up and cared for properly. 💕

Is this a male and female pair? I just got them today.

(The seller will fix it if they're both male.)

my quail who had wry neck at a few days old recovered well, but now at 2 weeks, its neck is starting to show symptoms again. it didn't really like hard boiled egg yolk, and feeding it raw yolk + E was tricky, if effective. I figure it might be simpler to just buy a poultry suppliment for it. Does anyone know a good brand and dosage that worked for you? something easy to dose it with individually for a while. I'd rather not do anything that requires isolation, every chick I've tried to isolate has gotten so stressed it stopped eating.

Hey everyone

We're just recently got 5 quail for the garden. They've only been here a day and we've got the biggest egg from them! I currently have them on shavings in their inside bit and bark in the outside bit.

I've just come to do the first spot clean and honestly trying to spot clean the bark was a nightmare. But the inside their shavings bed and their sand bath were easy

My question is can you keep quail on sand (so shavings inside and sand outside)? Can I replace the bark in their outside bit with sand and then do away with the sand bath as essentially their whole outside space would be a big sand bath?

Picture of Tim, Quinn, Maggie, Dolly and Shelly for interest (some have had a rough time with a previous boysteous quail at the breeders but their feathers should grow back in in no time)

Hello Everyone! I recently got 6 button quail that are a little over a week old. I live in central Florida where the high is around 91° F and the low is the high 70s. The store told me they can go outside at 6 weeks old but I’m reading a lot of Reddit post in this thread and a lot of people say 3 weeks.

What age can they actually go in their outside coop?

I recently hatched a bunch of new chicks, they are a little over 2 weeks old now and everything was going fine until yesterday I happened to notice a couple with leg issues, the first 3 pictures are quail #1 and 4th picture is quail #2. #1 looks a bit worse its leg is twisted to a pretty significant side angle, #2 is more straight but has this big possibly inflamed area by its ‘knee’. Do you think these are injuries or genetic deformities? They don’t seem to be in pain, they are limping pretty hard obviously, I have them separated and got the basic electrolyte water mix going for them, wondering if I need to splint them or just let them rest or if they’ll just be like this.

I found this little fella wondering around my front yard. I intend to hold onto him until I find his home or find him a new one. So I have a few questions:

1) Can I get any care tips? Best feed? Bedding? Enrichment? Reducing stess?

2) He needs a temporary name! Any suggestions?

3) If you're in the Los Angeles area (South Gate) and you're missing a bird please hit me up!

4) In the event I can't find his home, would anyone be interested in adding him to their flock? I just want him to be cared for. (I apologize if this is against the rules. I'm not trying to sell him, he'll be absolutely free!)

Anyways, thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer! I'm just want to do right by this lil fella.

Currently using pine shavings as our aviary floor bedding. Our birds just started laying again after being moved from cage to aviary, and their eggs are so camouflaged into the pine shavings! Is there any other kind of bedding you all use that makes the eggs easy to spot?

Hi my friend gave me 4 quail I’m not sure what gender or breed they are. The cage was just a temporary one I put them in while setting up the new one they are in their actual cage now! They also have an actual water system and a place for food that’s not just a bowl those were also just temporary for the 30 minutes they were in there while I set up the cage.

Hi all, this will be a little lengthy but I appreciate anyone who reads and helps! I’m considering keeping coturnix quail for egg production but would like to keep them as ethically as possible. I’m looking to build (or buy a good prefab) to keep them in that obviously keeps them happy and well protected. I’m brand new to the subject so really any well meaning suggestions are welcome.

My thoughts are building a 6ft tall walk in aviary, aiming for roughly 2 sqft per bird minimum. The length and width are less important details right now since I have yet to decide how many birds. If you have suggestions on how many birds, I’m listening!

My questions:

1) can I wrap the entire thing in hardware cloth to prevent digging underneath? I was considering two ways of doing this. One would be digging and burying the bottom and covering the bottom with sand and other debris, the other is to put it on my covered patio and cover the hardware cloth in a bedding (grass clippings? Straw? Etc). One would be permanently in one place and the other would allow me to move the aviary as needed for cleaning or even allowing some grass time while keeping them safe but would be a less natural floor for them.

2) talk to me about some tricky things to think of when predator proofing or specific products you recommend?

3) I live in south Florida, it’s regularly pretty warm here. Ventilation is very important of course but to keep them producing in the high heat, would a solar fan of sorts help this out? How do you help them through the heat?

4) best products for keeping smell down that are non toxic for pets and humans and can be composted?

Literally any additional feedback, advice, background info, etc is welcome. I’m really excited to start this.

Context: Sadly, I lost my smallest chick some days ago. It was super weak ever since it hatched and just never recovered. When I was isolating it, I had put it with the second smallest bird for company. That one was also starting to do poorly, and I didn't have much hope for it either. It couldn't bear being alone, and I didn't want to stress out my healthier birds, so I put it back with the others and it was immediately happier. The others don't bully it so I thought, well even if it dies soon it won't be lonely.

Half a week later, I did -not- expect it to still be alive, but it's still hanging in there! It eats, it drinks, it can even dash around if it wants. But it spends most of its time resting or propping itself up on the feeder. It barely grows, if at all, despite getting in some feathers. you can see how much smaller it is than the others. it's a little over a week and a half old.

The issue I suspect (pictured) is the hardened stump left over from its umbilical cord. it never fell off. I haven't dared touch it except to wipe poop off once in a while. The others don't peck it, luckily. I put the entire flock on rooster booster for 4-5 days. I think that has helped it, but only marginally.

Does anyone know what to expect with this sort of thing? A chick that isn't growing but doesn't really seem to be -dying- either. I'm worried about when I have to lower the temp in the brooder again for the others.

Another question: does anyone know what color type this gray one might be? it's getting so pretty 💕

One of the babies that hatched tonight/this morning 🥹 they are all with their mom now, she is so protective!

OMG SO COOL

yayaya i’m so excited! i got them originally because my male had been harrasing my females but i have since gotten rid of him, so no more harrasment for any of the ladies and they can all live in harmony. also, if anyone knows what type the brown one is lmk i’ve never seen it before.

9/10 week old Butler bws. They are in two different grow out boxes before I adjust ratios and move to a bigger coop. The ones in the black box are very curious and friendly, the other group is flightier. Not sure if it’s because more males = flightier? And a closeup of Calico Jack, I think is a roo? TIA

I just filled up the sand in this little grow out pen and this guy was sooo mad that everybody was enjoying it around him. I know the pit is small, but they’re getting a 5ft long enclosure just as soon as this barn is built up and they’ll get a big cat litter box full

All 4 from this hatch have patches of light and dark feathers even on the one with a lighter base color (shipped eggs, supposedly from TOF celadon lines)

I researched list after list of color genes and havent found pics that resemble them. Any clues greatly appreciated

So i hatched 3 button quail accidentally as my hens were sitting on them. i currently don't have an enclosure that they can go in and can't pick one up until monday. If I set my incubator up with bedding and food can they chill in there until then? Would I need to slowly lower the temp?