Winter Blues with Spring on the Mind: Raising Coturnix Quail during Winter

The days are short, the air bites, and the world outside feels tucked under a gray blanket. Winter always seems to linger a little too long here. The coop is quieter now, and even the quail seem to move slower, puffed up like tiny feathered snowballs against the chill.

I love winter and most winter months I'm jealously looking at everyone's pictures on Facebook. Here. in the south, we don't get your typical winter, with most days just being wet and cloudy with warm weather. As I'm sitting here writing this we are preparing for some serious cold weather coming in a few days. We have seeds started in the greenhouse and are hopeful our winter preparations are enough to protect them.

But even as the cold settles in, my mind is already wandering toward spring. I can almost hear the soft trills of the Coturnix quail chicks I’ll be hatching in a few short months — those bright, curious sounds that fill the brooder and chase away the last of winter’s gloom.

Raising quail through the seasons has a way of syncing you with the rhythm of life. In winter, the pace slows. Eggs come less often, if at all. Waterers freeze overnight, and chores take a little longer when your gloves don’t cooperate. Still, it’s a good time to take stock — to clean cages, plan pairings, and decide which birds will be your breeders when the days start stretching longer again.

There’s something grounding about it all. When the world outside looks asleep, I’m inside turning pages of my notebook, sketching out new pen designs, or double-checking the incubator. It’s like tending to a quiet hope. The work you put in now — the prep, the patience — is what brings that explosion of life in spring.

And if you’ve ever hatched Coturnix quail, you know the magic I’m talking about. One moment you’re staring at a dozen still eggs, and the next there’s a flurry of life — tiny feet, damp feathers, and those first brave chirps that make every cold morning worth it.

Ill Patiently wait till the days get longer and ill get to complain about the heat.

-Aaron