Hello from Tasmania

[Deetle]

Hi, new to the forum and new to keeping quail. About 6 months ago I relinquished all our chickens and have recently refurbished the chook shed with quail. I felt the chooks were weighing to heavily on the local insect population as well as their food was attracting scores of invasive birds like sparrows and starlings. Plus the secretive buggers nearly always laid in an undisclosed part of the garden, so egg wise we weren't getting our money's worth.
So far (3 weeks) and the King Quails are a great success. I have 5 all together (1 male) and they seem really content. In fact that's been the surprise factor for me, is how calm and peaceful they are. Especially compared to those flighty bantams. The kids adore them as the quails
go about their business, i find myself lingering in the shed a little to enjoy their lovely relaxed vibe. From day 1 we started getting eggs, and i have 6 in the incubator at present.
Ive learnt a bit from this forum already a look forward to pestering you all with my innane, noobile questions.
Peace
Deetle

 

[Marigold]

Hi Deetle, and a big welcome to the forum. It's always especially good to have a new member from outside the U.K where most of us are based, and I believe you're the first from Tasmania. The challenges and opportunities of keeping poultry in different climates is endlessly interesting.
i'm glad the quails are being successful. I've kept coturnix, but shall have to look up King Quails as I haven't come across them before. What do you feed them on? It'd be great to hear more about them, especially if you could start a new thread and post some pics of your setup in the Quail section, below.

 

[Deetle]

Hi Marigold, sorry i think ive mislead you and myself.
Seems upon further examination ( i.e 0.003 sec search on Google) i reckon i have Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) The pet shop told me King quail (Coturnix chinesis) but although the plumage isnt conclusive the spotty eggs are a certain giveaway.

 

[Marigold]

Chinese (chinensis) quail are the tiny ones, also known as button quail. Very sweet little birds, but eggs are too tiny to eat. I'm not sure your pet shop knows a lot about them, but as long as the birds are healthy that's all that matters. Coturnix are the best ones for laying, so long as they have enough light - but I suppose you're having summer now over in Tazzy.

 

[bigyetiman]

Hi and welcome to the forum from Essex. We only have hens, but looking forward to hearing about your Quails. Always interesting hearing about different birds people keep and different breeds

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Deetle and welcome to the forum. Free ranging chickens can be a pain in some respects although the destruction of the local insects, particularly the Box Tree Moth, is needed here. Our TNN's completely free range and have been known to lay in the wood store but generally prefer the coop, but they are very old anyway, so only 2 of the 5 lay. They don't really go far from the buildings as they need the cover protection from birds of prey. For us the downside is poop (the vegetable plot is enclosed) everywhere- at the moment the weather is bad so they have wandered into the garage! We also have a gravel driveway and getting poop off that isn't easy. Fortunately we don't have starlings or sparrows here although the latter was a huge problem in our last place as they ate nearly as much feed as the chickens.

Good luck with your Quail.