After keeping chickens for a few years, and having recently added some ducks to the mix we were looking to try our hand at raising something else. After a democratic family vote it looks like we will be raising quail on our homestead now.

Why raise quail? You can enjoy both their eggs and their meat just like chickens. However, they tend to lay at least one egg per day per hen. Also they eat far less feed than your chickens would, and grow faster too. They are also quiet, small, even-tempered birds.

We are going to start small, and keep this project budget friendly. So we have been scrounging around the homestead for materials we can reuse to build our quail cage or coop. Maybe at a later date, we can invest in building a bigger one. If you are going to buy your materials, you should not spend more than $50 for this project.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• quail eggs or chicks
• feeder
• small dog cage
• waterer
• feed or fodder
• lights
• straw (optional)
• incubator (optional)

We have built homemade feeders and waterers for our chickens in the past. We used those plans to build smaller versions for the quail. You could also just buy a bird feeder, from the local hardware store as well as small waterers. One of neighbors gave us five coturnix quail to get us started.

Luckily we had an old dog cage lying around out back so that is what we’ll use for now. The hubby just had to weld and tie some parts that had broken over the years. Using a cage allows you to move the quail outside during the day and indoors at night. Make sure that you keep the cage clean with a lot of light, water and food.

The hens will only start laying eggs in about 6 to 8 weeks, this is after they have become mature. I understand they need a lot of light to maximize their egg production, as much as 15 hours a day. The coturnix quail breed was the recommended one for us beginners. I think we are going to have a lot of fun raising these, good luck with yours.

You can follow step by step instructions on Wiki How, here…

How To Raise Quail On A Budget

You can watch the video below on how to raise quail on a budget…

You can watch the video below on how to hatch quail eggs…

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