Animal Guides
Chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, quail, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, cattle and bees: getting started, housing, feeding, care and health.
Raising Chickens →How-To Guides
Step-by-step guides for every animal, the garden, orchard, pasture and compost: getting started, housing, feeding, daily care, breeding, health and harvest.
Garden and Land Guides
The vegetable garden, orchard, pasture and compost — with the key numbers and links to the trackers that keep your records.
Growing a Garden →Raising Quail
Coturnix quail are the fastest return on the homestead: eggs at 6–8 weeks old, meat at 7–8 weeks, all in a small space. They fit where chickens aren’t allowed.
- Eggs hatch in
- 17–18 days
- Start laying
- 6–8 weeks
- Eggs a year
- 250–300 per hen
- Space
- about 1 sq ft each
1Getting started
- Coturnix (Japanese) quail are the homestead choice. Bobwhite and other native quail need a game-bird permit in many states — check before buying.
- One male to 3–5 females.
- Quail are quiet; males crow, but softly.
2Brooding chicks
- Chicks are tiny: 95–100°F the first week, dropping 5°F a week; they feather out in about 3 weeks.
- Put marbles or pebbles in the waterer for the first week so chicks can’t drown.
- Game-bird starter (24–28% protein), ground fine for the first days.
3Housing
- Wire cages or an aviary, about 1 sq ft per bird; a sloped floor rolls eggs out to collect.
- Quail flush straight up when startled — keep cages under 12 in tall or pad the ceiling.
- Give a dust bath (a tray of sand) and cover part of the cage so they feel hidden.
4Feeding and care
- Game-bird or turkey feed (about 20–24% protein) for layers, with oyster shell.
- They need about 14 hours of light to keep laying.
- Clean droppings often; quail ammonia builds up fast in small spaces.
5Eggs and meat
- Five quail eggs equal about one chicken egg; a pair of quail-egg scissors makes opening them easy.
- Process males and extra birds at 7–8 weeks; skinning is faster than plucking.
- Keep a few young hens back each year — laying falls after the first year.
Space guide
For each animalFencing: Covered cages or an aviary — quail flush straight up
- Coturnix: about 1 sq ft per bird
- Keep hutches under 12 in tall or pad the ceiling
Rules of thumb — more room is always better, and breed, climate and local rules can change what you need. Sketch it out in the Barn & Garden Planner.
Put it to work
These free tools keep the records for you once you’ve made an account:
These are rules of thumb from university extension guidance. Breed, climate and your state’s rules change the details — your county extension office is the best place to ask, and you can find it on the selling rules page by ZIP code.