Here’s a fun question to ponder: Can you have duck and quail as pets at the same time? Sure, you can–they’re just two different species of birds.
However, it is impossible to keep both quails and ducks in the same type of environment at the same time.
Ducks are much more destructive to their surroundings than are quails and fill their ponds with mud and debris.
Quails, on the other hand, can survive virtually anywhere and are much more likely to cause problems if kept in a bond with ducks.
Quail are little birds. The ponderous ducks and even an angry chicken could easily smoosh them.
It’s also not a good idea to combine quail and ducks. Wet birds, such as ducks, quail, and chickens, require a dry environment.
Quails fly and must be contained, whereas domestic ducks do not fly and require space to be happy.
Do quails and ducks get along?
Quail can be raised alongside ducks but they do need their coop section and aviary.
Make arrangements for the duck and quail coops to be separated so that the quail and ducks do not mix.
Run the quail separately from the ducks. Quail, unlike ducks, cannot be free ranged since they fly and do not return.
Can they be fed the same things?
Quail have a different diet than chickens since they are granivorous, which means they eat mostly grains and seeds.
They don’t mind a few bugs or insects now and again, but to grow, they require specially formulated food (Game Bird Feed).
It’s difficult to keep chickens out of quail feed and vice versa, so keeping them in separate coops is the best way to assure they’re getting what they need to stay healthy and productive.
Related: Here is an article I wrote on feeding quails bread
Can you keep quails and ducks in the same coop?
It is possible, but not easy, to raise ducks and quail together.
If your ducks and quail were grown together in the same brooder, they might get along.
They may not get along when they become older due to their differing instinctive instincts.
Some people have maintained quail and ducks together in this situation, but the issue of feed requirements has yet to be resolved…unless they are allowed to roam free when they are older.
Nonetheless, because quail chicks require a different diet than ducks chicks, ensuring that each receives the proper nutrition can be difficult.
If you’ve ever had a problem with ducks eating their eggs, you’ll have a much bigger problem with quail eggs.
Ducks are incredibly curious creatures, and a small quail egg is simply begging to be pecked. Because of your Ducks curious nature, you will lose a lot of delicious eggs.
When Ducks get a taste of quail egg, they will most likely come back for more.
Perhaps this doesn’t concern you if you don’t raise your quail for eggs; however, would it upset you if your hens developed a new undesirable behavior as a result of eating quail eggs—such as eating their eggs?
Because ducks recognize egg for what it is, it’s likely that after eating quail eggs, they’ll begin pursuing their eggs; egg-eating is a difficult habit to break.
Are there any environmental or health problems keeping them together?
1. Disease Can Be Passed From Duck to Quail
Disease transmission from one bird to another is unavoidable in poultry. From wild birds to domestic birds, some of the deadliest diseases are spread between species.
Humans have very little control over the situation when something like this occurs.
There are diseases that ducks can carry that have little or no effect on the chook but can kill quails if they contract them.
Coryza is a terrible disease spread by ducks and quail. It’s a sickness spread by ducks and quail.
When it comes to coryza illness, you may or may not be able to identify if your chickens have it—symptoms might appear in chooks, and they can also be carriers.
The following are some things to look out for in both ducks and quail:
● I’m not eating or drinking anything.
● Laying is no longer an option.
Antibiotics can be used to cure both types of birds, but the sickness will stay with them for the rest of their lives and can be spread from bird to bird.
The prognosis for quail is always death, as they are more difficult to treat than ducks.
In summary, you can take a chance by putting your quail near your ducks, but if you’d rather be safe than sorry, you’ll want to keep them apart.
2. Ducks Are Bullies
Everybody knows that ducks maybe a touch rough with each other. When it comes to the importance of pecking order, there is no difference between ducks and quail.
Your little quail would be at the bottom of the pecking order if you kept them alongside your ducks. A hostile hen or rooster may deny quail access to food, damage them, or even kill them.
Ducks may even enjoy eating quail, as terrible as it may sound; remember, ducks are omnivores.
Quail are simply too little to establish themselves among a huge flock of hens in a confined space. Give them their coop where they can build their pecking order to be fair.
3. Quail Fly High
Ducks can fly, too…sort of, but quail are more nimble and faster. You must be prepared to deal with the differing flight behaviours of both species if you try to keep them in a pen together.
Quail can fly straight up and out if you don’t have an appropriate “cover” for your coop. Ducks may try to awkwardly dodge their way out of the coop between your feet.
Worse, if they don’t feel like it, or because of the number of predators they’ll face once they’re free, quail may not return.
Can quails and ducks cross breed?
Ducks and quail do not mate naturally, although it is possible to artificially inseminate them.
These ladies, on the other hand, rarely live long, if at all. The majority of these fertilized eggs die in the early stages of development.
And the ones that do make it are mainly sterile males.
What about water for them??
Ducks drink from any water they find, whether dirty or clean. But for quails, they can’t take water except for a clean source.
Will ducks kill quails?
YES, as we said earlier, Ducks are big while quails are tiny. So it is easy for ducks to stamp on quails because of their tiny nature
Conclusion
We could go on and on about why keeping quail and ducks together is a bad idea, but we believe we have covered all of the major points and made my case.
Keeping quail and ducks in the same pen is only acceptable if the quail are kept separate from the ducks in their pen, which is how I have mine set up.
To put it another way, quail and ducks should be kept apart.
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