I only keep bachelor pads for eating and breeding. So unless they are pets, it's hard to justify the extra work and such that goes into keeping a bachelor pad which also has antics unfold. They will mount each other still.I recently posted a thing about what to do with extra males, Nobody in my area wants Button Quail, Soo really my only option would be bachelor pad or eating, If people eat Button Quail, I know they are small but it would be about like eating Sparrow or Starling, Has anyone here ever ate them? And are they easy to clean?
I have spent time processing and eating bantam chickens, (most larger than quail).. making them into stock, casseroles, enchiladas, etc. Being used to the tasteless market chicken sponges.. the gameiness of fresh mature meat gets associated with rot (somehow in my mind) and is an acquired flavor for myself the family. Fresh processed birds last so much longer in my fridge (air cooled, not ice chest bath).. 2 full weeks and no slime!
I've also fed them (whole, dispatched) to my feral barn cats.
And I'm not above humanely dispatching and simply returning to the Earth, feeding the wildlife (donate to a local raptor rescue or zoo) composting (outdoors for fertilizer), dog food, etc.
Getting the innards out with my hands was more challenging than larger birds. Sometimes we skinned instead of plucking and sometimes just cut the meat off.. and/or removed the parts/pieces from the outer carcass not touching innards.
Now I'ma get nasty.. I'd even feed them back to the other birds (maybe plucked or cut up a bit), make a maggot bucket, etc.
There are many options and really none of them has to be considered wasteful.. but flock management is ALWAYS valuable, however you go about it!
One more quick note.. if you haven't harvested birds before.. best to age in the fridge a couple days for rigor to pass.. unless your very fast getting them cooked up after processing. Maybe it wont matter as much on that small a bird.. but pass on the leather for me. Hope you will update and let us know how it goes!