Well dad about gave me a heart attack just now came banging on my bedroom window to wake me up ( usually dont get up till like ten first few days I'm home) asked me if I wanted a quail ...then proceeded to just hand me a hamster cage with a singular quail... Apparently something happened with the way they tried penning them and ...yeah I got this guy..... girl.... whatever I'm not the best at identifying the bits and bobs on birds ... Think it's a girl tho ,no stand out plumage or anything.... So guess it's time to build a quail tractor
...and get on Facebook and try and find some one selling these things, because no one has quail in stock and I don't think they do best as solitary critters


So right now stick between the design I wanna do for this thing think 6' long 3-4' wide would be plenty....but should I do a box or A frame ? I'm not the best at calculating and cutting angles with wood but pretty sure I could just build a glorified saw horse for a a frame right ?

Guessing it is a male Coturnix quail.
Others may have a better guess.

Better rid yourself of that hamster cage or the wife is gonna want to fill it.

Should have saved yourself all the time and money and fried it up

That's one sweet little quail tractor. Check in with Keith, he might be able to set you up with some kin-folk for your solitary bird.

Check out PVC hoop frames. Lightweight, easy to build.

Tasty

I been in the quail business for a little while now , looks like you have a male( rusty red Brest ) females will not have red but lots of spots , they are very good to eat ,and the eggs are very good, just as good as chicken eggs and i think there easier to deal with . get you some hens and a incubator and you will keep a good supply of meat.

X2.....So true with some spouses......lol

LOL, Wolfie! The look on your face in that pic say's it all. Better put some wheels on that tractor.

Those type of quail are egg laying machines.

It cracks me up when he makes that face!!

He does seem to wear that face more frequently now that he got hitched.
I just wish that the face I been wearing for 39 years of "bliss" was as positive as his is.

I raise a lot of coturnix quail. I think I have raised over 1.6 million since 1995. I think it is best to raise them in deep litter, followed by on wire, followed distantly by on pasture. They don't pick up much nutrition off of grass and being more active, require more feed than the other methods. Aesthetically pastured is probably more pleasing for the keepers. If you are keeping small numbers the difference in extra feed cost won't make a significant difference. If you start raising thousands, the cost difference will add up quick.

A friend of mine, who had 2.5 million laying hens, switched to a new rodenticide, that saved him 18 grams of feed per chicken a day. He was ecstatic because at that scale he saved 99,206 pounds of feed a day, which makes a huge difference in profit.

Keith

Well still trying to build his new tractor and found him some girlfriends but till then general cluckster....yes we named him ... Is living in one of the spare reptile tanks.


Lil sucker likes to eat I'll tell you

Ok so question, these lil dudes don't really make nests right ? They just kinda drop eggs wherever like ducks right ? Or so there a way j can make a area in the enclosure where they would be more prone to lay ? Also they don't sleep on roosts like chickens right ?

I don't like getting woken up early what can I say lol ! Nad yeah definitely getting wheels on it... mainly because the wife is gonna be the one moving it , probably gonna make a lil Hitch for it so her can hook it to the lawn mower

I think you're correct. It's been a long time since I kept coturnixes . But again , it's been awhile. Bird dog training birds is what I had them for.

Coturnix hens mostly drop their eggs wherever they are, which is often near the feeder. Some hens do lay in corners. Coturnix don't perch. They mostly sleep in small clusters on the ground.

Keith

Welp the tractor for the lil guy is coming along