Livestock for Small Spaces - Coturnix Quail

When we lived in Kentucky our house was in the suburbs on 1/4 acre.  We chose the house mainly for the lot!  It was large for the area and backed up to a tree line.  It was a little bit of privacy in the otherwise fairly barren and exposed cookie cutter suburban development.

We had an HOA which did next to nothing (except charge us money and plant flowers at the neighborhood entrance), but said that we could not have poultry on our property.  I was adamant about raising my own birds for eggs since I had long ago given up eating factory-farmed animal products.  I simply hadn't eaten eggs in years!  So I found a way around the rule:  quail.    Technically not "poultry," quail are classified as "game birds."  They are small, quiet, attractive, and not as messy as larger birds.  Needing only about 1 sq ft per bird, you can easily keep a small flock in your backyard.  Coturnix quail are the type usually used for eggs and for meat.  They are about the size of a large robin and lay amazingly large eggs given their body size.

Need another reason to raise quail (even if you can have chickens?).  Quail are excellent feed converters!   Chickens need roughly 3 pounds of food to lay 1 pound of eggs (a 3:1 feed conversion ratio) while Coturnix quail need only 2lbs of food per 1 lb eggs (2:1).  These little birds are a must-have for the urban or suburban homesteader who is ready to take on the responsibility and work of small livestock!

We got 10 female quail from a local urban farmer and kept them in a pen which was comprised of a coop and a run open to the grass.  In all, the set up was about 12 sq ft.

Inside the run. The birds loved exploring the tall grass.

     In the beginning I cleaned out the coop every few days and moved the entire set up every day.  But I quickly learned that with 10 birds, even once a day was not enough.  I also learned that quail dig.  Nice little round bird-sized holes. Perfect for twisting your ankle in.

So after a few months of time on grass, just as fall was setting in, we transitioned to a permanent location in between the strawberry patch and vegetable garden.  I started using a "deep litter" method, where fresh straw is layered in every day or as often as needed, while the previous days straw is left underneath.  This is a perfect solution for winter  The deep layer of straw with composting manure generates heat and keeps the birds warm, while the top layer is always clean for nestling down and laying eggs.  We did this in the run as well, since the grass was gone after a few days of a permanent location.

We are looking into getting quail for the new homestead soon.  We may start with chicks this time (we bought 4 week old birds last year) in a brooder, perhaps in the garage.

I'm thinking about building a permanent aviary instead of a tractor type run.  Both set ups have their advantages and disadvantages.  The coop/tractor gives them access to fresh grass.  But it can be very hard to move without injuring a bird (as I learned) or yourself (if you have a back back and knees like I do).  It also exposes all your grass to digging and copious amounts of bird poop - which will fertilize your grass, but also kill some of it, unless you want to move it twice a day.  Depending on how much space you have and what else you use your yard for, this may be a great option.  But in Kentucky we found that we were creating chaos in our relatively small yard and making it difficult for the kids to play.  Not to mention our hound-mix dog, Hudson, loved to roll in the really stinky grass after we moved the pen - yuck!!  

A permanent aviary could afford the birds even more space (since I wouldn't have to move it), and provide branches for hiding and perching and stimulation. It could be tall enough to clean out without bending over.  As long as the birds are constantly given greens, grass, weeds, and kitchen scraps (I found that mine especially loved cantaloupe rinds, pecking out every last bit of fruit) in addition to their pelleted food their diet should not suffer because they are not actually on grass.  The soiled straw could be composted immediately after being taken out with a pitchfork on a regular basis, or could be left in per the deep litter method and removed for the garden several times a year.  

I'll share some more lessons we learned from our first flock of quail and an update on a new flock later! 

In quail keeping as in all things,

Soli deo gloria
Lauren