Tasmanian Quail

Breeder Information

Here you will find helpful information on breeding your own Quail from what we have learnt ourselves and from others that have been so kind to help us along this fun journey of Quail Breeding.  

Helpful Hints For Breeders.

1. Quail laying starts in Tasmania around October and finishes around March.  King Quails & Japanese quails that hatch early in the season will lay later in that same season.  It is possible to get longer laying times under lights.

2. King Quail & Japanese Quail take 16 days to Hatch, Bob Whites & Californian 23 days.  If you are incubating the easiest way to keep track of what you need to do is this.....if you put King or Japanese quail eggs in the incubator on a Tuesday, put them in the hatcher on the Tuesday 2 weeks later exactly and they will hatch 2 days later.  With Bob Whites & Californian's leave in the incubator 1 extra week.

3. Give King quail a nest box with some dried grass in it if you want them to sit on their eggs....females like to be hidden.  Or the best is natural grass rather than in a cage.

4. Use a hopper style waterer or waterer with rocks in it when raising chicks so they don't drown.

5. For food,  we use Laucke Mills - Game Bird Starter (contact us if you want to buy) that is high in protein...grind with mortar & pestel (or other grinder) for chicks up to 2 weeks old.  For laying females mix 5% fine shell grit with food.

6. King Quail & Japanese Quail take 6 weeks to reach maturity.  Bob Whites & Californian's take 12 weeks to reach maturity.

7. For laying birds have a piece of Cuttle Fish for calcium.  Helps with shell strength to.

8. Feed chopped up fine milk thistle for better egg production.

9. If collecting eggs to incubate use gloves or tongs with spong on the jaws.  The bacteria on your hands can lower the fertility rates.

10. Use a wormer if birds are exposed to ground or wild birds.

11. When cleaning out cages its a good idea to wear a mask, otherwise you can breath in mold spores.

12. Don't keep anymore than 2 females with 1 male.  California's are best kept as pairs.  

13. When introducing males to females for the first time keep a close eye on them and if either attacks and draws blood remove that bird out until it heals.  Otherwise you will risk your quail getting pecked to death....and it is a mess! If you have a particular trouble maker quail it's best to take that from its cage an introduce it into another's territory as it is less likely to attack that way around.

14. Don't let males see each other if you have them in cages beside each other.  Hearing each other is good for breeding.

15. Quails LOVE their mealworms....you can easily breed these.  We sell those to.
16. Don't be tempted to picking up the young ones to much in the first 48 hours as it can cause them to get splayed legs.

This is one of our flight aviaries where we keep our quail.  THEY LOVE IT :o)