Raising Quail

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My son and myself are thinking about raising some quail for his 1st 4H project. Have any of you had any experiance raising them? And do you know a good place to order some?

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You can order hatcing eggs from Ebay. I was looking last night and there are a bunch of eggs on there. Do a search for hatching eggs, of course you will need an incubator and spend the money and get an automatic egg turner (with quail attachment) or you'll have to turn the eggs every 6 hours by hand. There is also eggbid.com which has eggs and chicks for sale. You can also look at Murray McMurray hatchery I think they sell chicks. As hatchlings they will need to be kept warm and out of the weather. Of course they will need to go outside at about 1.5 months you can keep them on he ground or off the ground but make sure the cage you use can ot be broken into by foxes, coons, dogs, and or cats. There is no worse feeling than walking out to the pen and finding all your birds dead (trust me on this one!!) If you need anything else let me know...

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My son and myself are thinking about raising some quail for his 1st 4H project. Have any of you had any experiance raising them? And do you know a good place to order some?

Contact your local 4-H extension office, they usually have some list for those types of projects.  Excellent idea for a 1st project and 4-H is a great experience to grow with.  (can't tell I spent about 10+ years in 4-H can you...).

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excellent idea and great project-- I agree you need an automatic turner-- kids love to watch them hatch at least mine did-- 

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I did forget one little thing, you may want to check and see if you need a permit to keep native animals though. If you do and don't want to go through the hassle of getting one. There are a million different types of quail out there so you can get away with keeping them since they wouldn't be native to your area. Another bird that there are a lot of eggs and hatchlings for sale are chukars.

Also do a search and see if there is a local game bird breeders association. There is one here in MI that has a few shows during the spring/summer where you can find birds cheaper than getting them shipped...

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Great Idea and alot of fun. Give me a shout if you need an incubator. I have one that I am not using right now. It will hold about a thousand quail eggs and has automatic turners. Give me a shout sometime. My father in law and myself  have been hatching and raising them off and on for years. Talk to all your neighbors and people in the feed stores. Big chance you will find someone local that raises them and you can get Fresh Eggs. I use to get them from Stromberg's Hatchery but they were a little pricey.A lot of times the eggs were around the same price as day old chicks. I later found out they was a guy that lived about 10 miles up the road that raised them and got eggs for cents on a dollar.

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Right Kenster. I had to have a Game Bird permit for Indiana.

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Or you might try Button Quail. Most Pet Bird Breeders would use a couple of these to put on the floors of their averies to help in clean up of scattered feed. They come in different color varieties and are a small bird. permit will probably not be required for these. I love the posts that talk about birds for some reason.

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Or you might try Button Quail. Most Pet Bird Breeders would use a couple of these to put on the floors of their averies to help in clean up of scattered feed. They come in different color varieties and are a small bird. permit will probably not be required for these. I love the posts that talk about birds for some reason.

Buttons are pretty neat little birds and do come in some vary neat looking colors. They breed year around so getting eggs or hatchlings is pretty easy no matter what time of the year. Another quail species is the Courtnix which is bigger than a bob white and are pretty good on the table as well. I use to have about 50 bob white mutations they were called Tennesee Reds a little bigger than a normal bob and the dogs loved to train with them. And again they were pretty tasty as well. This time of the year finding eggs and day old chicks is getting pretty easy.

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by the way if you build a pen for them make sure you put a top on it from the start as hawks will get in from the top  my nephew use to raise them  in nicholasville kentucky not talked to him in a long time he raised 1,000 or more of them  at a time

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We have a local man who raises then and other upland game birds for preserves.  He keeps them off the ground until they are almost ready to fly and then places them in long flight pens to teach them to fly for the preserves when they are released.  Check with your local feed store.  They could also tell you where to get them

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Thanks for all the info everyone. I will let you all know how it goes.

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I have always though about raising them and letting them go, after keeping a few.   

Have enjoyed reading this on "how to".

PJ

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I have always though about raising them and letting them go, after keeping a few.   

Have enjoyed reading this on "how to".

PJ

PJ they are a lot of fun and with you having your own ground now around your house,wouldn't it be nice to walk out back and hear that bob white whistle.

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I have always though about raising them and letting them go, after keeping a few.   

Have enjoyed reading this on "how to".

PJ

PJ they are a lot of fun and with you having your own ground now around your house,wouldn't it be nice to walk out back and hear that bob white whistle.

Hear a couple every now and then but not enough.  Too many fox's around.

PJ