Many barnyard poultry owners will agree that raising quail and chickens together isn’t the best idea. There are just too many cons and not enough pros. But just because you shouldn’t mix them in the same space doesn’t mean space can’t be divided into two separate areas; one for the quails and one for the chickens.
You can raise quails with chickens, but it is essential to have them in different coops. This keeps the quails and their eggs safe from the chickens who eat the quail’s eggs and bully them due to the size difference between the two species. It’s best to install a chicken mesh fence as a separating wall.
The quail and the chicken can still see each other through the fence, but they should not be able to come in contact with one another. As we all know, prevention is better than cure, and in this case, the saying is ideally suited.
This article will discuss how you can raise quail and chicken together in a safe environment where neither party gets hurt.
Why Should Chickens And Quail Be Separated?
If you kept your quail and chickens in separate pens with a distance of 50 ft apart from one another, you would avoid the following things from happening;
1. The Spreading Of Diseases
Most deadly illnesses that are passed between birds are passed from wild bird species to domesticated birds. Some diseases from chickens could be deadly to quail if they were to contract it. Coryza is one of the deadliest diseases because it is complicated to detect the symptoms.
By the time you realize that your quail are sick, they are already at a stage where it is irreversible or untreatable, and more often than not, the quails succumb to this deadly illness.
Symptoms of Coryza include:
- Not eating
- Not drinking water
- Swollen eyes
- Swollen faces
- Lethargy
- Not laying eggs
You can treat coryza with antibiotics if it is detected before it reaches an advanced state. Keeping a distance between your quails and chickens is the best solution to prevent this disease from spreading from bird to bird.
2. Chickens Bully Quail
The pecking order in a coop is a very delicate matter. Chickens tend to get very rough and territorial, so when it comes to chickens and quail fighting over who gets to eat first, it is clear to see that the quail (the smaller of the two) will be the ones who get hurt if they do not allow the chickens to eat first.
The chickens will peck at and trample on the quail if they attempt to peck first. This causes injury and sometimes death to the quails.
3. Chickens Eat Quail Eggs
Due to a chicken’s inquisitive nature, they will peck at a tiny quail egg, and once they get a taste of its delicious richness, they will continue to go after them. So, if you were keeping quail for their delectable eggs, you need to make peace with the fact that you might not get any. As they say, “the early bird catches the worm.”
4. Chickens And Quails Have Different Dietary Needs
Quail are granivores, and they eat food that consists primarily of seeds and grains. The best food for a quail is a game bird feed. Chickens eat food much lower in protein, so because the pecking order goes, chickens first, quails last, you will find that the chickens eat the quail’s food before they even get their turn to eat.
Can Free-Ranging Be A Solution for the birds?
If you have the space to raise your quail and chickens in a free-range environment, there is a possibility of unison success. The chickens and quail will form their groups or “clicks” on the yard and will stay out of each other’s way most of the time.
However, chickens will enter the quails’ nests to see if there is something there for them to scavenge that the quails may have forgotten about. The chickens leave their droppings in the quail’s nests or the surrounding areas, and this is how diseases and harmful bacteria are spread amongst the birds.
What Is The Best Way To Raise Quails And Chickens Together?
After considering all of the options, it is clear to see that the best way to raise quails and chickens together is in separate coops. So, how do you go about it? How should you build or divide the coops to ensure that both parties are happy and safe?
Separate Coops
Firstly, separate the two poultry species from each other. Do not install a solid wall between them, but make sure that they can still see each other. This will give them a feeling of freedom, even though their space has been enclosed.
This is ultimately the best solution to raising chickens and quails together. You don’t need to worry about bullying, quails getting hurt, or the spreading of diseases. Your flock will be in complete harmony, and so will you.
Free-Ranging
The other alternative is having them live free-range together and, when it is feeding time, have a separating fence where both fowl can eat peacefully.
Once they are done feeding, remove the divider and allow the chickens and the quail to return to their nests.
The only problem with allowing chickens and quails to live together is the diseases that spread amongst them. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to worry about bullying and illness, but we need to face reality, and it is our responsibility to make sure that our animals are safe and protected.
Separate coops will allow you to install the correct feeder sizes for the birds—higher troughs for chickens and lower, more accessible feeders for the quails.
Be On The Lookout For Diseases
If the birds were to live together in a free-ranging environment, you need to do regular inspections to see if any of your quails or chickens are sick. Keeping their coop clean is vital, and they will need extra supervision.
It is also good to have an avian veterinarian do regular checkups to determine if their environment is healthy or needs to be upgraded.
In Conclusion
It would be lovely if all our chickens and quails can live together without any hassle, but we need to accept that nature is nature, and it will always take its course, with or without our interference.
So, now that we know that keeping these two different poultry species in their own enclosures is the option that will have the best outcome. Although there will be other problems, this is the safest option for chicken and quail.
If you are thinking of raising chickens and quail together, ask yourself if you are willing to go through the trouble of making separate coops for the birds. If not, it would be better to choose one type of bird and grow your flock with the same species or other animals that can live together.