Help newbie to quails advice needed

Hi All came home with a trio of japenese quail today from an auction but read in their profile I will probably need more females, they are in a 6ft x 2ft hutch at the moment that we had spare, got all the feeders and drinkers, food etc just wondering if I need to add more females would I need bigger housing for them (they will be outdoors in a 6ft by 4ft run with house in the summer.
Any advice appreciated

Hi Lola

With a house and run that size you could easily add more females if you wanted to, but at this time of year unless your quail have artificial light, I don't think your male will harass your females to much until the spring, giving you plenty of time to source more girls.

Suz

Hi Lola,

Your housing is quite large, you'll you'll be able to purchase more females over the winter. A good ratio is 5:1, this will give you all the fertile eggs you'll require if you are thinking of increasing your stock.

As Suz says, in winter time, the males normally lose intrest in the females, unless you put extra lighting in for them. They require a minimum of 14 per day light to start laying and producing fertile eggs. Derek.

Thanks for the advice, any ideas of where to find three girls in norfolk? There is someone trying to re-home 4 females and a male in the paper but won't split them understandably. No plans to increase our stock, these guys are just pets.

Hi Lola,

If you can get these other birds, and have a spare coop/shed/cage, I would get them and introduce them all together on new ground, there maybe a bit of fighting at first, but I'm sure they'll settle down in a day or two.

Having males only mean the eggs will be fertile, other than that, you can still use them in your kitchen, remembering it's 4 quail eggs to a medium hens eggs.Derek.

I agree wth Derek, I would grab the 5 jap's while you've got a chance. It's a rarity for Japanese quail to go broody, so unless you incubate/hatch the eggs yourself its highly unlikely that your stock will increase.

Suz

Taking these other birds woul be 2 males and 7 females would that work out ok? Will the males fight?

they might squabble for a few days, but if introduced in neutral territory at this time of the year when their not so interested in the girls they should settle down quickly and live harmoniously after that.

I've added males & females to established groups a few times with no problems. Just keep an eye on them to start with, because 1 of the males will probably become more dominant.

Suz

PS. 2 males 7 females will make a nice little group

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