Urban Farming Externship - Week 6 (Quail!)

This week's externship work was limited to research, since I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday. It went better than I expected, but my face is still quite swollen and sore, so no outside work for me. 

I wanted to look into what to do with the space on the side of our house. Originally, we wanted to get chickens, but the Mesa Arizona Chicken Ordinance states that chicken coops must be 75 feet away from another residence, which isn't possible for us. Our next idea was quail! Specifically, the coturnix quail:

Aren't they cute? Since they aren't native to Arizona and aren't as loud and messy as chickens can be, there aren't any strict regulations with keeping them. Here are some quick facts about the coturnix quail:

• First domesticated in Japan in the twelfth century.
• By the early 1900's they were widely raised in Japan for their meat and eggs. (However, we don't eat meat, so we'd be raising them for their eggs only.)
• An adult male weighs just 100-140 grams, while an adult female weighs 120-160 grams - much smaller than a chicken!
• They lay small, speckled eggs that usually weigh about ten grams.
• Hens usually lay about one egg a day. 
• Nutrition:

Hatch or Purchase?

You can raise and hatch your own quail, but this requires more of an investment. To hatch quail eggs you would need an incubator and a special brooder. I think, at least to begin, we'd rather purchase adult quail. I have seen quail for sale for between $3 and $5. 

Getting Started - Checklist

Regardless if you hatch your quail yourself or buy adults, once they are 5-7 weeks old they are ready to go outside. Here's a checklist of what we'd need to adopt adult coturnix quail:

1. Aviary - Your aviary should be fully enclosed and at least 6 feet tall, also, have at least 2 square feet of floor space per bird. 

2. Containers for both feed and water - Consider having more than one container for water, in case one runs out or dries up. 

3. Sand - They like to take sand baths!

4. Feed

5. Supplemental oyster shell to provide calcium. 

6. Wood chips for bedding.

7. Provide hiding and play spaces - wood planks or even cardboard boxes work well for this!

For further reading, there's an excellent article on raising and keeping quail here: http://www.squidoo.com/raise-coturnix-quail-for-eggs-meat-and-profit

Our goal right now is to complete the wicking beds and get some vegetables going. After that, I'll be sure to document us building an aviary and purchasing quail!