New Additions…Celadon Quail!

So I have been intrigued by Celadon Quail for almost a year now. I’ve wanted some stock from a man who lives several hours away in another state. I figured it was a long shot, but I messaged him and he said he was actually driving through my area! It was pretty short notice and honestly really lucky. I finally decided to pull the trigger this week since the timing was right! I was lured in by their beautiful blue eggs haha. Once you have some animals, it's inevitable that you will at some point have extra cages, hutches, and other random animal feed/water odds and ends. Thankfully I had everything I needed for quail & just had to run to the store for feed.

When getting a new animal, it's important to figure out how much space each animal needs to be healthy. Quail need about 1 ft.² each after doing the math I knew that I had the available space for 12 quail to fit comfortably. I've had chickens for many many years though so I know bird math is a really thing LOL. In high school I grew up selling rare breed poultry. We often order from Greenfire farms and we had a lot of birds imported from Germany & Sweden. I am familiar of the needs of poultry so I figured Quail couldn't be that hard!

We picked up the quail Saturday morning. When I did night checks around 7 PM we had six beautiful blue eggs. I'm shocked! Usually chickens take a while to settle in and lay an egg. Maybe it was a fluke, and it'll take them a while to settle in and lay more eggs… regardless, I am over the moon to know that these birds will lay blue eggs! “Celadon” is a recessive gene so the rooster has to carry the blue egg gene as well as the hen to produce offspring that lay blue eggs. It's a little confusing but that's where the research comes in! Check out our Instagram to see more posts about our quail. Right now, we have them in cages in our bunny barn. Come spring or summer I'd like to make them a nice outdoor aviary. Stay tuned for that project!

Click here for our Instagram Celadon Quail Highlight

Basic Quail Needs

• Proper Housing

  Quail are small prey. They need a predator proof cage, hutch or enclosed aviary. They are vulnerable to arial predators as well as ground predators!

• Adequate Food & Water

  All animals need the right food & fresh water. Don’t go to your local garden nursery & buy birds seeds. They need food formulated for quail, it’s often labeled game feed. We like Country Feeds Gamebird by Nutrena.

• Enrichment

  Quail get bored just like any other animal. Offer enrichment activities such as sand baths, hideouts, foliage etc.