If you want to raise some birds, but you aren’t exactly a chicken raiser type of person then you may be considering raising quail and wondering how different this would be from raising chickens
This article looks into quail vs chicken raising.
Table of Contents
Quail vs chicken raising:
Chickens are usually the number one choice when choosing birds to raise but some people like raising quail. There are some major differences between these birds and how they are raised.
Here are the differences between raising quail and raising chickens:
Space needed:
Chickens may be small to us but they are quite large compared to quail, and for this reason, the chickens will need more space and quails will.
Each quail that you keep only needs 1 square foot of space, on the other hand, a chicken will need 4 square feet of space per bird. This makes quails perfect if you don’t have much space available on your property.
Places to nest:
Chickens and quails nest differently. While chickens need to perch high up this isn’t the case for quail.
Quail are ground-nesting birds so they do not need perches, however, if you’re raising chickens you’ll need to install some perches for your birds.
How much they eat:
Another difference between raising quail and raising chickens is the amount of food they eat, because the chickens are bigger they will need to eat more food and quail will be happy to eat less.
An adult quail will eat only 20 grams of food a day while an adult chicken will eat 120 grams of food a day. That being said, both of the birds are omnivores and will need to eat a balanced and nutrient-rich diet.
Quail don’t get as sick:
Quails may be small fragile-looking birds but these birds are actually quite hardy, in fact, they are more hardy than chickens.
Few illnesses will affect quails compared to the many illnesses that will affect chickens.
Your quail birds are not invincible but as long as they are given clean drinking water, nutritious food, and adequate shelter, the birds will be fine.
Quail lay eggs where they want:
You likely know that chickens like to lay their eggs in nest boxes, and that you need to give nest boxes to these birds, but this isn’t the case for quail.
Quail will lay their eggs wherever they see fit.
Quail vs chicken eggs:
If you’re wanting to raise quail for their eggs you can, quails lay eggs sooner than chickens. A chicken will start to lay her eggs at 18 weeks old and a quail will already be laying eggs at 6 to 8 weeks old.
Also, although quail eggs are small, one quail can lay up to 300 eggs a year so you can eat 4 to 6 eggs at a time.
More people accept quail:
Chickens are loved by their owners but they aren’t always loved by their owner’s neighbors, thus, chickens are not always permitted in certain areas in cities in towns but quail are.
Chickens are sometimes disliked because they are quite loud and rowdy, on the other hand, quails are not, and for this reason, many more people will be accepting of quail in their neighborhoods than chickens.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Quail Laying On Back, Quail Acting Drunk, Quail Acting Strange, Do Quail Spit?, Why Is My Quail Shaking, Turkey Chick Vs Chicken Chick, Baby Quail Can’t Walk, Baby Chick Won’t Put Weight On Leg, Newly Hatched Chick Not Moving
