Ours were the Japanese Coturnix Quail and they were actually my Mother's Day present nearly a decade ago. They were housed in an old rabbit hutch, a v. large hutch not one of those small things that the rabbit can't turn around in.
Quail will fly straight up if startled thus making it well nigh impossible to keep them free range, for their own safety. They like to scratch around the floor and don't need flying space.
They lay throughout the Spring and summer, usually one egg a day each, sometimes two. I'm told that one can tell which quail laid which egg by the markings on the egg as they are always the same. They don't go broody and they won't sit on their eggs so if you want to hatch them you'll have to use an incubator or a bantam.
We used to sell our surplus eggs at the farm gate for £2.00 a dozen. We never had that many so we didn't make a profit but it did mean that the quail paid for themselves. We found that lots of people wanted the eggs for hatching, ours weren't fertile as we didn't have a cock bird. It would appear that they are primarily hatched as food for raptors, in fact our birds were destined for owl food when we bought them. I understand that they are culled at six weeks.
Quail are endearing little characters and their call is quite charming however they really, really don't cope well with stress of any kind.
Stressful situations like overcrowding can lead to aggression which if blood is drawn can end in cannibalism. If you have a sick bird I'd always recommend separating it before the others literally peck it to death.
We had a "sick bay" where three hens lived peacefully together, each one of them had to be removed from the main hutch for a variety of reasons and it seemed safer not to try and re-introduce them when they were fully recovered.
We fed our quail on chick crumb, layers pellets, seed, corn, scraps etc. They loved a bit of greenery and I remember growing chard and spinach near their hutch just for them.
The hutch had flower pots turned on there sides for little resting places, leylandii branches for shelter and some old CDs/DVDs hung from the caging to give the quail something to peck at rather than each other.
Quail need constant access to water which can lead to a bit of a problem as they will walk in the water. The wet feet then pick up bits and before you know it you can end up with a quail with a ball of "soil" set like concrete on it's toe. This has to be carefully soaked and removed or the bird will end up losing a toe.
They were fun to keep and of course quail eggs are delicious but I wouldn't contemplate having them now we have a bird obsessed Miss Darcey Puffle Dog!
