Pigeons and Quails

I expected to find Pigeons and Quails in the critters section - almost nothing. Why? At the beginning of the 20th century, pigeons were almost a staple in the USA. Quails, especially Japanese quails were a delicacy in the 1990s. What happened?

My guess would be because there are other critters more commonly utilized, so those who do raise them probably don't think others would be interested, or maybe others are also curious, but not finding anything, gave up, instead of speaking up. If you're interested, why not start a thread about them? There are, I'm sure, birders in permies that might be able to help you get started, even if no one else here is raising them, yet.

I'm thinking to make an outdoor aviary for quail. Many people keep them together with pigeons, because pigeons will stay in the upper part of the aviary and quail on the bottom, eating the food that pigeons drop to the ground.
I would keep just quail and maybe pots with tomatoes above them. I read that quail don't like rain and their aviary must be dry all the time, and tomatoes don't like having their leafs wet, so it's like a thing they have in common.
I'll post a drawing soon.

My son raises quail.  He likes the ability to quickly change genetics with them.  He sells eggs and meat from them.  The eggs pickle fast and make a good treat. They are easy to clean/butcher.  They also eat little.  He is experimenting with a chicken tractor style meat pen at the moment.  He plans on running them about a week after the turkeys or rabbit to clean up the insects.    

Although they do not have their own forum, there is a significant amount of discussion on here about quail at least. I myself have raised quail and found them to be very economical, and the eggs are very tasty. They're small so it's a lot of work to do for meat, compared to larger animals. I think our american serving sizes are so large now it would take at least 3 quail for one adult entree. If you're raising them yourself that's a lot of killing and cleaning, and if you're not, that's about $27. Basically our culture has given in to easy... if it isn't convenient, it isn't marketable.
I definitely recommend raising them for eggs. Much better return for the food you feed them that way, plus you can eat the extra roos you have to cull anyway.
The quail that are commonly raised now commercially (coturnix) are all descended from a very few extremely inbred quail that narrowly survived WWII in Japan. The famine during and after the war was so severe that there wasn't food to spare for livestock, so they got eaten instead.
The quail that are endemic to America lay a lot less eggs and are not tame. They are considered game birds and most of those eaten would have been hunted from the wild, rather than raised by people. I did find some very interesting books with (outdated) care instructions for guineas, chukars, quail, pheasants etc. at the library that was from the 50s, so at least as a hobby some people did raise them here in the not so distant past.

Also, the search function is very convenient! You can click the search link at the top of the page and just type in "quail" or "pigeons" and you will get a list of the threads that mention them. I do this whenever I want to read about something a little obscure or that I just can't find immediately.

Haven't heard about quails in a long time, also I don't know many people interested in raising them. I affirm that they were considered a delicacy, but I never tried them. But from time to time I like eating quail eggs, I know  that they are healthy.

Here is my idea for a quail aviary. It would be on the terrace or somewhere near the house.



1. The coop, where quails go to sleep. People say that they can climb a ladder up there. It would have to be super safe because the martens are really determined in my neighbourhood. They've already destroyed my roof :(
2. There could be a potting table for tomatoes, tall enough that quails wouldn't jump into it, but they could hide under (they enjoy having places to hide). The plants could be attached to the roof of the aviary.
3. There could also be another pot on the outside, for some climbing edible vines, which could attach to the mesh.
4. That's the roof, made of cellular polycarbonate or something. Quails hate rain but they like heat and sunshine; like tomatoes. Of course there would also be a gutter to collect rainwater.
5. The red thing is a drinking trough for the birds.
6. Rainwater container; it could be used to water the plants. I have a bigger rainwater barrel underground, but it's farther away.
7. Some really solid barrier to contain the bedding and to keep martens away.

So it's like a combination of quail aviary and a greenhouse or potting shed... From what I saw, it's more popular to keep only ornamental plants in aviaries, which provide shade and hiding places for birds. And to keep quail together with pigeons or parrots. In such case the coop would have to be taller, so the pigeons would take the upper part and quails would take the ground floor.

Or, an idea which seems popular, although I probably wouldn't choose it: keeping pigeons (or parrots) together with quail. Is it quail - as in: fish - or quails?



The plants inside would have to go, and be replaced with some tree branches for pigeons to sit on. And they would need their own, taller coop, or both coops could be made into one.

Flora Eerschay wrote:Or, an idea which seems popular, although I probably wouldn't choose it: keeping pigeons (or parrots) together with quail. Is it quail - as in: fish - or quails?



The plants inside would have to go, and be replaced with some tree branches for pigeons to sit on. And they would need their own, taller coop, or both coops could be made into one.

Webster says the plural of quail can be either quail or quails.

The Velacreations blog details keeping quail on wire over a worm bin and under a bunny coop.

Latter while keeping quail in caged raised beds they managed to spark the brooding instincts in quail hens.
Something about the soil and foilage did the trick.
They hatched and raised their own chicks.
Evidently they do a good job at insect control without doing much if any damage to the crops.

Some people give quail eggs to pigeons and they raise them. Maybe that's another benefit of keeping them together.

Replying to an old post, anybody still here?

I love the images with quail aviary ideas. Did you end up getting quail? How's it going?

I found that water is best elevated a bit (on a brick or the bell hung from a chain, for example) to avoid them pooping in it.

I've read about bantams being used to brood quail, but I'd never heard of pigeons doing it. That's an interesting idea.

Mine like to sleep low, especially in their sand box. They might prefer a ground house without the ramp.

I think the collective noun quail (like fish) sounds best but quails is ok too and is used lot in a fb coturnix group I'm in. Use what you prefer. No worries.

I'd love to drum up some more enthusiasm for quail. I adore mine!

Cheers,
E