Are Quail worth it?

[Cuttlefishherder]

What do you use them for? Are they better for eating or for laying?Will people buy a dozen quail eggs?
We could use some opinions and thoughts on the matter, we are considering other birds right now because we are going to be moving the chickens to a new coop in a few months and we will have a cemented in coop with no birds in it we are thinking of splitting it and having a side for quail or chuckers and the other for some thing else.

 

[Lesalynn]

Personally, I think they are very much worth it. Great for eating, and also for eggs. I pickle my boiled quail eggs. Haven't sold any, but then we eat all the eggs, lol. Great little eggs to top a salad with, too.

 

[J3172]

I think if you have to ask that questions it's probably not worth it, for quail I think you have to enjoy the birds themselves more then what they can do for you. To truly get anything out of them.

 

[byoung14ever]

Quote:
I would agree. They cost more in feed and time than they are worth!! I just enjoy having them and listening to them crow and watching them. A fish tank would be cheaper.(but fish don't make sounds do they??)

 

[GBov]

Mine are deff. worth it! The eggs are lovely either boiled or fried or baked inside a chicken (my kids love that one lol) and having just processed my smallest mean little rooster I am impressed with the meatyness of them. And as frozen quail cost HEAPS in the supermarket.............................

Well, worth it in my book anyway

 

[Bil]

Will you get rich off of quail? No. Can you come close to breaking even? Maybe.

I think J3172 hit the nail on the head, you have to enjoy them, and then the cost is worth it. We got our first quail last year at the first Oregon Chicken Swap. We purchased 1 dozen eggs for a $1 and just for fun tried to incubate them. 10 hatched and we fell in love. We now have 70+ with about 200 eggs in the incubator.

We sell some of our chicks, we use a good number for eggs and meat, and we do sell eggs. We go to a growers market here in town and last week we sold more quail eggs than chicken eggs.

Bil

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I am about to find out. My son in law has wanted us to raise quail so they could come for dinner and be sent home with more. He loves to cook and is making up a collection of recipes to prepare. Dinning out at expensive restaurants just to get ideas. Has actually prepared Quail at one of the restaurants that do that this is what you do lesson/meal thing. I do have that recipe somewhere. Can't wait till ours hatch and grow out. He can even cook the first ones but he will have to waite for the second hatching to take some home.

We had a friend once that raised them. Just could not bring himself to process them. So we did all of them for him and we had a regular feast and filled their freezer. We didn't live close so that was the end of it. So when I started raising chickens again, quail was on the list after ducks. Takes time to make all the housing, and we're older and slower now.

GBOV

The eggs are lovely either boiled or fried or baked inside a chicken (my kids love that one lol)

Have you tried making a row of Quail eggs in the middle of a meat loaf. I think I'll stuff some quail with their eggs, too. I know chicken eggs are good like that, its going in my Quail recipe notebook, which I am going to start.

Oh, the excitement of anticipation makes you feel all bubbly.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Cuttlefishherder.
Quail eggs are very small, if i remember it'll take 50-60 eggs for a quart of pickled eggs. Seeing I have 110 in the bator now, ya that's about right. People might buy a doz for hatching or to try them. 5 Jumbo or 6 wild Coturnix eggs equal 1 average chicken egg. So a doz eggs will make an omlett for 2 to try out. You could do that to see if you even like them. Buy a couple frozen ones from the grocers and try them. If you don't want to eat them, then it might not be a good idea for you to raise them.

Reason is, a hen will lay an egg daily, unlike a chicken, during their normal year (Mar-Sep). If you don't sell the eggs you eat them or give them to your other animals or hatch them for breeders or meat birds, which you sell or eat.

I choose the chickens and ducks that I have because they do well in the Heat in Southern Texas, the same with quail. I am still trying to figure out how to deal with rabbits in this heat. Have you thought about raising rabbits. Does the old hicken house have electricity so you can move air around?

 

[huntercf]

I started raising quail last year, I bought 5 coturnix when I bought my first chickens. Then I bought an incubator and built 2 brooders (small and large). Then i started buying eggs over the internet. Needless to say, I have over 100 quail (coturnixharoah, tuxedo, texas A&M, manchurian and bobwhite:northern, mexican speckled, tennessee red) and 120 eggs in the incubator. I have an aviary outside for the coturnix and I just built a raised split habitat for my bobwhites. The coturnix are egg machines and my hatch rate for my own eggs usually is in the 90 to 95% range. Do I make any money off them...NO. Are they fun...absolutely. When I have had a bad day I go sit outside in the quail aviary and they calm me down for some reason. Hatching them is alot of fun, but be careful they can become addicting to raise.
If you want to make money off them I would recommend bobwhites, you can usually get more money for them. The coturnix eggs are the ones they use in sushi restaurants and are excellent raw on masago (flying fish roe). The coturnix also mature much faster and hatch in about 17 to 18 days.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I love my pair of Buttons!
They are so cute and adorable to have. I have my own TV in my room! lol ( It's better than a TV really! LOL Ha Ha )
My female Button lays an egg everyday just like a chicken. I really enjoy hearing their sounds as well! lol