Are bobwhite quail worth it?

[itsasmallfarm]

hello there.

am looking at getting some quail for there eggs and meat, i plan on making an aviary type in-closer/paddock for my birds (if i get any) and as far as i can tell bobwhite quail are the only ones that i can legally keep. so are they worth a few hundred dollars to get everything set up for them. i have read a lot about quail and every thing seems to be about the corutnix quail not the bobwhite, i know they start laying around 20 weeks and only lay in the spring to fall as it seems. but does anyone else keep bobwhite quail and are they worth it to start up (this coming spring or next fall depends how things go) how much do they lay? are the eggs tasty? anything could help thank you for reading this, as my grammar sucks.

thanks itsasmallfarm out.

 

[poultrymad]

If it needs to be Hardy then yes they are worth it. But other wise get Japanese every time. The northern bobs lay fairly well but the eggs aren't that big, the rest don't lay very well. The eggs are smaller than a Japanese egg but I don't know what they taste like. Once they are 8 weeks old they are very Hardy but up until then you have to be careful. I'd of thought a couple hundred dollars would be a bit much unless your going into it in a big way.

That's my experience but I am not a great fan of them others might have gotten on a lot better than me with them.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

i would agree with you but i called my wildlife office and they said the only quail where i live that can be kept is the northern bobwhite quail still though is it worth a try (i have raised chickens before in fact this is my first year but my parents and grandparents raised pheasants and chukars before)

 

[poultrymad]

If they are all you can have then give it a go but I wouldn't want to spend that much money on it. If you can raise chuckas then you will be alright with bobs.

 

[Tony K T]

i would agree with you but i called my wildlife office and they said the only quail where i live that can be kept is the northern bobwhite quail still though is it worth a try (i have raised chickens before in fact this is my first year but my parents and grandparents raised pheasants and chukars before)

If you can raise bobwhites there you should be able to raise any quail.They probably meant you need a permit to raise bobwhites.Other species of quail(depending on where you are)usually do not require a permit.If you are looking for egg production hands down coturnix,they have a longer laying season where the bobwhites require 16 hours of sunlight(or artificial light)which in my eyes takes years off their life if you use artificial lights.I would say there is little difference in the amount of meat each bird produces,bobwhites with more but not much.
Yes hundreds of dollars would be a bit much.If your planning on years of this then it may be worth putting money into them,but you could build a good size pen with 100.00.Are you planning on a ground pen?Or raised on wire pen?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

If you can raise bobwhites there you should be able to raise any quail.They probably meant you need a permit to raise bobwhites.Other species of quail(depending on where you are)usually do not require a permit.If you are looking for egg production hands down coturnix,they have a longer laying season where the bobwhites require 16 hours of sunlight(or artificial light)which in my eyes takes years off their life if you use artificial lights.I would say there is little difference in the amount of meat each bird produces,bobwhites with more but not much.
Yes hundreds of dollars would be a bit much.If your planning on years of this then it may be worth putting money into them,but you could build a good size pen with 100.00.Are you planning on a ground pen?Or raised on wire pen?
In N.H.,Tony.

i called and here is sask the only quail we can keep is the bob white with out a permit needed as there not native and we don't hunt them here. i plan on making an aviary type in closer i like to keep my birds in a natural setting and i really don't like keeping animals in small wire pens. also can i keep chukars with them? as the guy who could supply me with them also sells chukars. (which we would also like to raise for the meat). am not sure what to do as am quite new at this.

thanks a smallfarm out.

 

[pkhunter]

i called and here is sask the only quail we can keep is the bob white with out a permit needed as there not native and we don't hunt them here. i plan on making an aviary type in closer i like to keep my birds in a natural setting and i really don't like keeping animals in small wire pens. also can i keep chukars with them? as the guy who could supply me with them also sells chukars. (which we would also like to raise for the meat). am not sure what to do as am quite new at this.

thanks a smallfarm out.

Do you live in the US if so what state? Sounds like you got the info backwards to me. No way that coturnix are native if you live in the US. You might want to call and talk to them again.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

Do you live in the US if so what state? Sounds like you got the info backwards to me. No way that coturnix are native if you live in the US. You might want to call and talk to them again.

i live in Canada and apparently coturnix quail are not approved here yet (in my province) they don't fall under live stock nor do they fall under wildlife you can keep. so they guy told me that right now there illegal to own in the province. and the only ones am allowed to keep are the bob white.

 

[pkhunter]

i live in Canada and apparently coturnix quail are not approved here yet (in my province) they don't fall under live stock nor do they fall under wildlife you can keep. so they guy told me that right now there illegal to own in the province. and the only ones am allowed to keep are the bob white.

Well I wish you the best of luck then. From my experience I can tell you the coturnix are about 10 times easier to raise than bob whites. I tried bobs but gave up after to many problems with them, all I have now are jumbo browns and Texas A&Ms. Anyway give them a try and good luck.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

thank you i might give it a try next year in raising them.