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Once your little birds are 4 weeks old, they are fully feathered and ready to go outdoors! Coturnix quail are a cage breed and do not range well. They are the oldest form of domesticated poultry (even before chickens!) and have been cage raised for literally, 1000s of years, dating back to before the Egyptian times. Since they have been raised this way for so long, their wild instincts are almost nil. They do not brood (sit on eggs), they will only flutter for a short distance if they get out and TRY to fly, and do not understand the need to take shelter in weather or hide from danger/predators. The benefits to this is a mostly docile bird you can handle easily and keep in a smaller space than traditional poultry.  

## Cages
Most standard coturnix quail need about 6 sq. in. of space per bird, and the jumbo variety will need about 1 sq. ft. Their cage height will only need to be 14"to 16" tall, and this prevents injury if they try to fly straight up. If the cage is too tall, they will be able to get more speed and hurt themselves hitting the top. Most cages use a 1/2"x1/2" hardware cloth for the floor, allowing the birds to easily walk on the surface and their droppings fall to a catch pan below. Food and water should be readily available for them to eat and drink at their leisure. You can keep all boys and girls together in the beginning however when they are mature at 6 weeks, you will need to determine their gender, and decide which to cull. 
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## Gender
You can determine the gender of your birds by 6 weeks. There are several ways to be able to decide the gender, and they are: 
     **Vent Sexing** : Turning the bird upside down to expose their vent is the usual way to determine the gender of your birds. If you give the area around the vent a small squeeze and a white foam comes out, its a boy, if no foam comes out, then its a girl.
     **Feather Colors** : In Golden and Pharoah type of Coturnix, it is easy to determine males or females (See my previos post on the colors of quail). If you are unable to determine by feathers, and venting seems like a hassle, you can try: 
     **The beer method** :
Crack open a 6 pack and just watch what your birds do. They will always expose themselves if you just take a moment to watch them. Boys will always be the noisiest. The make a distinctive "crow" which sounds a little like "bup-bup- BRRAAAPP". The boys also like to dance around the girls with their heads raised high, fight with the other males, and, of course, mate! Ladies are usually quieter, and will only really let out a really soft chirp (boys make this sound too, but not as often). The ladies will also start laying eggs at about 6 weeks, and the boys dont need to be around for them to lay. Females can provide you eggs all on their own! 

## Separating and Choosing
Once you get your genders determined, you can decide what you want to do with your birds. As stated above, you can keep all your females separate for eggs and cull your boys for meat if you choose. If you want to breed them, it is suggested you have one male (roo) to every 3-4 females (hens). If you are unsure if you have your ratios off, look at your girls. Signs of over mating are most feathers missing from the back of their heads, and in come cases, an open sore will form. If this is the case, recount your males, and keep an eye out of there is a bully amongst your group. 
Once your flock is sorted, you can continue to monitor them for the next 2 weeks, and when they reach 8 weeks, they are ready to process into meat! 

## Production
If you are keeping your quail for eggs, you will get around 300 eggs the first year, and about 250 the second and 3rd years. Quail have a life span of 2-2 1/2 years, and their meat will not toughen over time like larger poultry. Here on our homestead we will keep them for 1 year to 18 months before replacing them. Any extra males are processed right at 8 weeks for the freezer. I sell fertilized eggs to other homesteaders for income, however if I have too many I life to hard boil them or pickle them for a tasty treat! 

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