Gun Dog Forum

I recently built a pigeon coop. Now that I'm looking into getting my hands on pigeons, I found a person that sells breeding pairs of quail. For training purposes, which would work better? Is it easier to get pigeon to breed than quail? What is your experiences regarding this. My coop is 4X4X4 with shelves for nesting and "sunroom" with wire mesh. Can quail even be housed like this? I always see them in enclosures that incorporate the ground so they can run around.

David.

Oh, one more thing. Can pigeons and quail be housed together successfully? Thanks.

The quail will not breed. They will Lay eggs that you can remove and incubate yourself but the Quail will not hatch their own eggs in the pen. Pigeons will do it all by themselves. As far as whats better for training I prefer quail but they only work if you can can train within a few hundred yards of the pen. Pigeons you can train miles away from the coop. Don't know about housing them together, never tried it.

I have put them togther with no problem.

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like I'll have better luck breeding pigeon with the environment I have right now. I guess if I need quail for planting later down the line, I can just purchase them individually.

mudhunter wrote:The quail will not breed. They will Lay eggs that you can remove and incubate yourself but the Quail will not hatch their own eggs in the pen. Pigeons will do it all by themselves. As far as whats better for training I prefer quail but they only work if you can can train within a few hundred yards of the pen. Pigeons you can train miles away from the coop. Don't know about housing them together, never tried it.

If you can incubate eggs than the quail obviously bred.......They may or may not set tho.....Alot of folks will use Bantam chickens to set quail eggs or an incubator..

So strange, is there a reason the quail will lay them but not set on them till they hatch? Maybe it's not a comfortable environment for them to raise their young?

David

I was told that domesticated quail just aren't smart enough or have enough instincts left in them. My quail would lay huge nests of eggs, and then they'd scratch them all out of the nest and start over, never sitting on any of them long enough for a hatch. I got two young bantam hens this fall, that I'm looking forward to trying out next year. I have a friend who has done this very successfully.