King Quail

So I absolutely adored raising my chicks and wish we could have a rooster where we live so I could raise them over and over! Since caring for and breeding quails are similar to chickens, and they aren't classed as poultry, I decided to breed them instead. 

I experimented with incubating them and allowing their parents to incubate naturally. I sold lots of pairs but most people want females so I ended up with a lot of males and no more space since each clutch of males needed their own cage. I ended up selling my breeding pairs and now have around 15 males running together in the bottom of  "the quail shed". I have to say it is so much easier to have them on the concrete floor rather than having to clean a million cages, and they don't fight as bad now that they can get away from each other and have more room to run around and burn off that excess energy.

Let's face it, quails don't use all that space in the top of the cage so why not add finches! Most of them were given to me as they were special needs or disabled. Once I put all the quails on the floor of "the quail shed" I moved all the finches into one big cage, but still in the shed as it is mouse proof.

I had loads of fun raising them, but king (button) quails are not as friendly as chickens, they will snatch mealworms from my fingers, but they don't want to be petted, picked up or cuddled. The boys are between 2 and 3 years old so I don't have plans for more quail breeding for a long time!