Keeping Ducks and Quail.

[poiuytrewq]

Can anyone help?!

Daughter was offered a duck that was being bullied a few weeks ago. She got all excited but nothing ever came of it. I've always fancied having a few quail but know little about either really.

What would we need in the way of housing etc?
We have hens who live in a little shed and are free range during the day as we are on a farm. The game keeper is pretty good round here and we have a constant supply of dogs around so have yet to loose one to foxes *touch wood!
Would a pair of ducks live as the hens do? Can I get a pair? Would two girls be best? In fact could they live in the same shed at night?

I know Quail need to be caged (at least I think I know!) so I thought one of those triangular type rabbit runs with a hutch end part might be good? Am I right in thinking they don't fly so don't need height particularly?

Any info on either would be great thanks

 

[Lanky Loll]

We nearly got some quail the other day but our record with the fox is not great
Mum and dad used to have some and they were lovely little birds, should do ok with a low run - we had a square one rather than triangular, you just need to be sure it's fox proof and of course you get their lovely eggs but only for a few months a year

 

[Lanky Loll]

dupe

 

[poiuytrewq]

I didn't realise they lay only a few months of a year. When is that? Summer I guess!
I've always liked them. I've seen some giant quail advertised locally. Not sure how giant the are compared with regular size quail!

 

[Lanky Loll]

From memory it's spring / summer - most birds have some seasonality but it depends on how they are kept One of our local pet shops had some chinese quail the other day they are super cute, but M&D just had regular ones

This looks quite useful http://www.quailfarm.co.uk/

 

[poiuytrewq]

Oh brilliant Thanks

 

[Clodagh]

I think some quail lay all year...but that could be rubbish!
Ducks can wander around like hens but runners would be best, anything else might fly off. They need water really, you can legally keep them with only a bucket to dunk their heads in but that is cruel IMO. A paddling pool or childs sandpit full of water works but a real pond or river is best! They do disgusting, copious poos, much worse than hens. Indian Runners lay amazingly well.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

make sure noone palms you off with more than one male-they fight until death from a very young age.

I keep ducks-what do you want to know? (only keep ducks if you can cope with mud and duck poop)

 

[PorkChop]

We have lots of ducks, love them. We have Mandarins and Indian Runners, they live happily with the geese and chickens and their care is essentially the same. However they will get messy in a small area.

Ours aren't messy, but we do have a large pond.

The Runner ducks are nice because you can herd them if you want to shut them away, they also can't fly away!

 

[Karran]

I had japanese quail at the bottom of my aviary, it is fenced in, and panelled at the bottom and they were fine, they mainly pecked at the budgie seed that the cockatiels dropped and I would chuck in dandelion leaves/flowers, bits of grass etc for fresh food and they were pretty hardy. (of course with a grit and water feeder at their height).
DO get a minimum of 3 girls to 1 male ratio. They are sex-crazed :-0 and the first time I tried to keep them, I had a single pair and the poor girl just got harassed all the time with no time to eat/drink/rest.

PS - they're not flyers as such but They do jump vertically so need a bit of height!

 

[lindsay1993]

For ducks I would recommend getting same sex groups/pair or 1 male to 4-5 females. We had a drake & 3 ladies for him. He was sex mad and one of the girls ended up losing an eye as he was so rough with them. We had a shed where the hens & cockerel lived on the higher perches & nestboxes fixed to the walls. The ducks lived on the floor, never used nest boxes and were quite happy. They had a reasonable sized plastic swimming pool with a little ramp for them to get in. They were smelly and the water was changed every 2 days, I think?

They were sold as mixed breed laying ducks. They couldn't fly, or never did as far as I was aware! Once they discovered our field they would wander off together all day, much further than the hens ever did. They found a stream and played about there all day, only coming back when it was getting dark. They weren't tame like the hens and were difficult to handle, but I think that was down to the fact that they were quite old and hadn't been handled much when we got them.

We moved to a smaller property that didn't have a field, so we sold them to someone who had a small-holding. If I had the space, I would have them again! I wouldn't IMO keep them anywhere without access to decent grass as they seemed to munch all day long.

They never really came into any conflict with the hens or the cockerel. I found our hens to be very inquisitive and wanted to be in your business, whereas the ducks always had their own agenda. They had a set routine that they stuck to and got very upset if there was any disruption to it. For example, open shed door, eggs were already laid, waddled out, went into pool in same order every day, mated and had a quick bath, had some wheat, got out, did some grooming, set off into field, used same route every day, played in the field, came home etc etc.

 

[The Bouncing Bog Trotter]

Quail = sex obsessed stinky things. Like rats with feathers. NEVER again.

 

[Nudibranch]

I've kept runners and calls with chickens and had no problems at all. Just make sure the ducks have a decent pool or tub you can clean the water easily from. It gets filthy very quickly!
I have 11 mandarin eggs in the incubator atm, all are fertile, so will hopefully have ducks again soon. They are great little characters.

 

[LCH611]

I do love my ducks but they are sex-obsessed stinky things that make a mess of everything! Do make sure that you have enough females for each male as otherwise the poor females get far too much "attention" which can result in them getting injured or even killed. Call ducks are pretty but noisy (and very poor mothers in comparison to chickens), and the Indian runners are prolific layers. Mine cover a phenomenal distance free ranging every day, and the drake is hilarious as he chases the horses, pigs and any dogs. He is also obsessed by a pair of wild mallards that come in and furious that they fly off whenever he gets close. He occasionally bosses the chickens around but by preference they all roost together at night rather than going in their separate houses