Housing your quail and best practices to think about

[@EyeOnVenture]

"They eat and they fertilize hens. Sometimes they drink water." My new favorite Zack quote.

[@MyshireFarm]

Well…..it’s true hahahahahaha

[@kanarie93]

more like they fertilize hens, and sometimes they eat and drink

[@CameronPeebles]

You're awesome, man. I ordered eggs from ya before I even found your KZbin videos, but now I'm even more comfortable with my purchase after watching some of your content. Great video & the line about the roosters gave me a good laugh. Cheers, looking forward to getting my eggs 🍻

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks and good luck on your adventure with quail

[@Genesysgrl]

These videos have helped me gain confidence that my quail are well taken care of I'm very new to quail and I'm very excited you are all here to help.

[@MyshireFarm]

That’s great and good luck on your journey!

[@anneparisi1828]

Thanks Zack

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks for watching

[@shermantincher3417]

Thanks Zack!

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks for watching

[@katrinakrakow5961]

I house mine in aviaries on deep bedding and they do great!

[@MyshireFarm]

Great thanks for sharing

[@FraylyFarmMiniHomestead]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I am a newbie and this helps tremendously.

[@MyshireFarm]

Wonderful. Good luck on your journey with quail

[@EyeOnVenture]

Good. That will be my number. 3 per foot. AWESOME stuff.

[@MyshireFarm]

Glad to help.

[@Victor_GouldianPro]

Great video once again Zak. Top advice mate. Thanks for sharing.

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks for watching

[@BagsOfLuv]

Great information Zack I was counting my square footage and not taken in consideration the feeder/waterer inside…So I’ll probably Do 2 1/2 quail Per square foot that should work out…Until I get another watering/feeding system.

[@MyshireFarm]

Good luck

[@Growing_Green]

Great video! Short and informative. I love that you are honest on how you got the # you have for suggestions and that do to your business don't always have the chance follow it.

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks for watching

[@debbythesheshedhomestead3111]

Thank for the info. I think we will be changing up the flooring for our Jumbo's.

[@MyshireFarm]

It works for us. Good luck

[@Barrell60]

Thank you

[@MyshireFarm]

Thanks for watching

[@EmmaAkolgo]

How do you calculate the square footage please

[@MyshireFarm]

Length x width

[@LuisRamirez-fy4lh]

I use SST wire no issues at all

[@MyshireFarm]

Nice

[@richnam3188]

I have an outdoor quail hutch and built it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I have noticed that the poop doesn’t always go through, but would switching to 1x1/2 inch pose a risk for predators being able to get in or grabbing feet?

[@MyshireFarm]

It could yes for outdoor I would stay with the 1/2

[@azpugmom5138]

Excellent informative video! I personally noticed my quail getting more aggressive with more space. I also noticed the egg production drop to zero...now I understand it was the extra space causing that too. What cage height do you recommend for jumbos? 10" ( previous cage was 18" and lost some after their popping.)

[@MyshireFarm]

Anywhere from 8-12 inches is fine

[@Spark_Iskra_z_Polski]

I have a bit different experience. My quail are in two separate little houses with shelves, stairs, space to run, sit or wallow about. Plus the space on the floor. Even tho I had too many males there was aggressio mostly initially or when I gave them fresh food and then males interrupted females while eating. I noticed a dramatic drop in fertility even though they were about 1:1. It is,either a genetic problem, my hatching skills or... will see. When I noticed that I separated the males, left only the best of the best in the houses ab 1:2-1:8. The unlucky ones are roaming the floor with different nooks and places to hide and now all extra incubated males end up when they are adult and everyone is finally happy. My little houses have two storeys and quail love the space. The house is divided into two parts. One for wallowing/bathing/resting deep bedded. The floors are where I put my feed (grit plus fruit in little containers) and water and there is some space or boxes for resting or sleeping. I use minimum light for plants ab 18W and at ight 0,5-1Watt. Light provides them safety at night. My quail enjoy changes because it makes their little lives more interesting. I have some quail that have had some health issues like bleeding from a broken feather or occasional poop balls on feet, even in clean bedding. I read it is some individual health issue so I take it as is and learnt to deal with it by learning to take them off and bleeding is not an issue any more. I mix colours so my quail are almost raven black with a beautiful navy glow, mosaic patterned kind of rosette perhaps, full glowy light ir extra dark red, white, tuxedos, pandas (I call so my quail with two eyes with white faces and fanched-like black-eyes), whole dark chocolate some almost red dark chocolate, manchurian, pharaoh, etc. Etc. It is a small herd divided acc to size. One is bentam-standard, one Standard Jumbo. The most quiet, unimposing males are the heaviest and uniformly dark chocolate, possibly Tibetan tho sold to me as Black English type. The smaller beautiful one called by me Picachu reminds me of a clown of many different feathers. He is my most cherished male because he seems to be a gene mix bomb. He knows that and wants to share his genes a bit too much, which is why he sometimes ends up on the floor in the Male Club. The quail seem to be happy and finally Picachu does not torment the Black ones. It is the only colour he hasnt got and he was trying to get rid of any Blacks around him, male or female but now with more space on the floor or fewer males around the hens, he does not seem to care. Also the Blacks not only became more dominant in the only-male club even tho the are closer to bentam than standard size. One Blackt that was fatherless is finally covered with feathers again. After a year of running naked! This came as a surprise to me. It is either extra space, my own feed or lower temperature related. In think past I did my best to keep ab 15 degrees Celsius minimum, but now the boys on the floor may get as little as 8 or less. And they seem to enjoy it. They sit in the open rather than in the boxes or hiding places. I also have Chinese quail living with the Coturnix quail. They love being with them. They treat these huge Coturnix Gulivers like portable heating, and it adds fun to my experience with them. My houses have electric mats set on 12 degrees Celsius on the roof and a solid wooden roof. The quail have open space covered with a net from the front. It allows me to watch them like a TV and them to see the outside. I use the net like a door and it allows them to come up if the want to look around, down at the running Club Males or show they need help. They pinch on the net then. Sometimes a hen shows this way she needs more rest, so I take her out and she goes with a visit to the Bentam house. It is really fun,... like my own Gulliver Journey to the little creatures. So is fine. I have about 30 males on the tiled bedded floor which is about 2x2meters. I use Ash, woodchips, grass pellets, grain pellets, soil made from these microscopic shell organisms, sometimes dry grass, leaves. I make my own feed from bought grain mixes for pigeons and soak the grains,add fermented beet pellets and chickpeas and garlic, and vitamins and microelements. They seem to be fine. They like the shop feed esp when young but older ones love the large grains. There is Pigeon Teeth Grit that I buy. The best I have found, and reasonably priced. It has all a happy quail needs to turn stones into poop. I pondered on culling my males but I chose to let them live and provide me with their sounds, floor activity and poop production. I would appreciate their meat a lot but cannot get to this point. So the above is my happy solution. II am working on learning how to hatch females rather than males and the number of males is proof it is not going great, but it is a learning experience. Some day I will get there :) I want to breed my own colourful quails and talk my husband into making my house design a business. Some day he will get it .) Love from Poland where quails used to be free roaming creatures :). I hope to help bring it back some day too.

[@travishanson2884]

Great video/info, if using the little drinking cups. What ratio of birds to drinkers would you recommend?

[@MyshireFarm]

We did 1 for every 15

[@dianaherring-gy1se]

I am a newbie to raising quail and watched a video with a watering system made from a bucket 🪣 and tubing going to pick to watering cups.what would you suggest?

[@MyshireFarm]

That is what we do. But we use troughs from quailcage.com

[@chrisschultz1580]

I am currently designing outdoor hutches to build this spring. I'm planning on keeping a sand bath bin in each of them. Would this be considered living space, or should I deduct it from living space? I'm binge watching your episodes and finding them incredibly informative.

[@MyshireFarm]

I would not count it as living space but some do. That is a wonderful question but the best practice is not to count it

[@azpugmom5138]

Another question, with the extreme heat here (Az), should I add more space for air flow? They are outside under a patio ( new cage will have detached roof). *this would be for jumbos.

[@MyshireFarm]

Not necessary. It would not be a bad idea though.

[@NWATransplant]

Thank you, Zack! For egg roll-out flooring, what kind of slope do you recommend? 1” per foot?

[@MyshireFarm]

Yep

[@francoisvanderwesthuysen5571]

Zak one question please. Old video but just saw it. I want to start with Jumbo quail in next months (never ever had quail’s but you’ve inspired me) . You said minus feeder and water 3 quail per square foot. Would calculation be same for jumbo or would I need to do 2 or 2 and half per square foot? Thanks. Francois South Carolina.

[@MyshireFarm]

It would be the same.

[@suburbanhomestead7777]

Hey Zac, my cage is 5 square feet. So if I can have 3 quail/sqft with 5 hens for every male, I would be able to have 3 males together in my setup? Wont they fight? Thanks so much. Also, I just hatched my Myshire second generation. 100% fertilization rate and 22 of 29 hatched successfully. Good stock from your folks in Ontario. 🎉

[@cozycows]

What about more feet per quail? /genq

[@MyshireFarm]

If you give them more sq ft then they will start becoming territorial

[@tullyriverquail]

What are your thoughts on 1/2" x 3" pvc coated for flooring (un coated for walls).

[@MyshireFarm]

3 inches is too hard for them to walk on in my experience. Sorry

[@wmay1958]

How do you ship your eggs?

[@MyshireFarm]

I don’t know what you mean. We ship USPS 5 days a week in special foamers and double boxes

[@wadebrinson8977]

I hope you can answer this question. I am wanting to build a walk-in 6wx8hx16-24 l. I would like to start 5 sets of breeders at the 5-1 ratio (total of 25h+5 m. All I need to know is will it work or must I keep them separated to control fighting over hens etc? Thank you! Wade

[@MyshireFarm]

They can all be together no problems

[@wadebrinson8977]

@@MyshireFarm thank you!

[@pjhomstead1824]

I have had quail for like 5-6 months now, and for the first probably 4 months I had them in a 1" x 1/2" high quality wire cage (8 square feet), and it seemed to work out great, with 6 hens and 1 rooster I got about 3-4 eggs a day sometimes 5, and I thought that was pretty good, until one-day I came in to check on them, and they all had blood and calluses all-over their feet. I had no idea what it was, I looked allover the internet and I couldn't find anything on it, I still don't know what it was to this day. (it was not a predator, there were no missing toes or scars or bite marks) so I made a 4' x 4' (16 square feet) ''breeder pen'' on the ground with a compost dirt floor. they seemed to have heeled, and now I regularly get 6 eggs a day, ever since I switched to to the breeder pen. also my first batch of quail are almost 3 weeks old and I can't wait to expand my flock.

[@MyshireFarm]

That’s great thanks for sharing

[@talkingoaksranch]

We keep our quail outdoors in 1/2 inch hardware cloth flooring. One day I mindlessly put a feed can underneath overnight. In the morning, all of the quails feet were bleeding. It was rats that had stood on the can and chewed on the quail feed in between the wires. I absolutely hate rats! We now make sure there is at least 12 inches of clearance underneath the flooring.

[@cliffordpace6921]

Thank you, Zak just got your eggs. What I would like to know is what breeding program do recommend? Thank you again.

[@MyshireFarm]

We do multiple colony cages about 74 of them that hold about 50-65 quail in each so our layers are not inbred so for breeding for yourself I would put them together in 2 separate cages and switch the offspring out every 3 generations and you will be completely good

[@cliffordpace6921]

@@MyshireFarm Thank you Zak that is some great info!

[@juanvalenzuela3743]

Hey zack, quick question is 3.8 to 4 birds per sq ft. Okay if they are all female birds for eggs?

[@MyshireFarm]

That will be just fine

[@pennxl]

Thanks for all the videos and information y’all put out. Do you recommend the 3.5 quail per sq foot for an Aviary?

[@MyshireFarm]

You could from my understanding go up to 4 quail per sq ft in aviary but I do not have personal experience with that.

[@SwedishQuail]

In an aviary it works better with a lot of space, more like 4 sqfeeet per bird, since all the poop will be on the ground it will be very messy if you keep the same amount of birds as in wire flooring cages, aggression seems to be a breeding problem, if you keep them tight together it will not show but when giving them space it will show more, but if you keep removing aggressive birds you will get better offspring

[@pennxl]

@@SwedishQuail thank you. I’m currently working on designing and building it. I’ll go bigger than I planned.

[@therock5739]

Nice information as usual I have a question: I feed my egg quails: lentils, sorghum, wheat, black seeds and sesame and sometimes i give them soybean meal but i get zero eggs. What can i do?

[@MyshireFarm]

I would watch our feed video that might help and make sure that there is 16 hours of light a day and 3 quail per sq ft as well as 5 hens to 1 male

[@TheRainHarvester]

I bet you could watch them with computer vision and when they mate, swap the female with another. Back to a ten to one ratio and all fertilized!

[@MyshireFarm]

It’s doable but a lot of work to do it that way but yes you could

[@TheRainHarvester]

@@MyshireFarm Maybe just put one female with the male, and swap in a new female every hour. Someone has to do the experiment to determine time and number of possible fertile eggs in a day.

[@sockeyetrout8143]

ZAK how long does a female hold the sperm and fertilize new eggs. does she hold the sperm for like a few days or a few weeks lets say after a male might be dead. well that is one way to measure how long she stays fertile. I think maybe chicken hens keep good sperm alive and used for weeks. I think the same for ducks. but I am not sure on any of this. but i think the hen has eggs at various stages of growth. the egg gets sperm before the shell goes on. then the egg gets laid. and the hen still has to have sperm for the next egg in line. so to speak. I think a hen has lots of real tiny eggs just sitting there waiting. then as they move along they grow. so the hen would have several or a few eggs moving along the assembly line. hahaha. I just find all this info is very interesting. It makes the hobby much more fun and interesting to understand everything. it is like playing a game of chess. the more one knows about chess the more interesting the game becomes.

[@MyshireFarm]

I am not 100% sure. I don’t consider any egg to be fertilized after 3-4 days but I have not done the research on that.