can you make money on quail?

[prosand881]

I only sell live birds.

 

[aprophet]

almost everybody here gets $8 for a grown bobwhite the last price I asked someone on a chukar was $10 each I know a guy who knows a guy In NC which at this point we are smuggling birds across state lines LOL but he gets them for $7

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
And I felt too guilty today to ask $3 each for some "big" Bobs (that are frozen and ready to go)???

Of course, it was for one of my wife's co-worker's dad - in his 80's, and in bad health.......so I'm lettin them have them for $2. Oh well, way I see it, if I can make an 80 year old man happy that is cravin some quail, maybe somebody will return the favor someday.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
And I felt too guilty today to ask $3 each for some "big" Bobs (that are frozen and ready to go)???

Of course, it was for one of my wife's co-worker's dad - in his 80's, and in bad health.......so I'm lettin them have them for $2. Oh well, way I see it, if I can make an 80 year old man happy that is cravin some quail, maybe somebody will return the favor someday.

Flight-conditioned bobs for bird-dogging are sold here for $3 each. The last time some came through auction they were selling for $7-$8 a box...there were 15 adult birds (male and female) in each box.

 

[gamebirdboy]

Now would be a good time to train a dog, you can get bobs cheaper than ever. Too bad there aren't many left...

 

[Gumpwhite]

Just stumbled across this thread. I invested 1300 in my efforts to keep up with the demand. I have 750 chicks sold. Another 450 sold for the following month. Chicks are risky but eggs and flight birds are good money. 8 sell flight birds for 4.00 each, dressed out meat for 5.50 each. The average cost of raising the birds are 2.00 a bird by the time they are 17 weeks. I guess the trick is to do it all your self. Making a cabnet style incubator your self is easy and cost me about 200.00 vs 7.00. Build breeder pens and set up breeder trios to keep up with the demand. I do buy eggs but having my own saves be 60 cents a bird. Raise them And put them in a flight pen about 2 weeks before sale. Make sure the pen is long vs wide so that the birds are strong flyers and stay in the air longer. Hunters are looking for a bird that takes off fast and stays in the air a while. for me I know a lot of hunters. Most say that they have paid 6k or better for trips and ended up having to kick the birds in the air to get them to fly. Knowing this you can see how providing them with strong flight birds is the key to repeated and good profitable sales. Have fun!

 

[jeepster]

Someday I hope to actually make money with the quail but this year I am going to concentrate on getting the basics down and putting birds in the freezer.

I look at it like this my family eats lots of factory farm raised chicken. If I can raise quail in sufficient amounts to replace a good portion of that it will be a plus. I will know where the meat came from, what went into it, and how it was treated.
On the other end there will be eggs

 

[Gumpwhite]

That's how I got started. The quail meat is like crack to me. I prefer coturnix meat but I raise them too.

btw if you have a good bit of land you can host shoots and make 500-750 per person. I have one customer that makes bank.

 

[spotsplus]

Button quails are going for $5 per chick or adult in my area. I hatch monthly- small hatches (12-25 chicks) at $5 per chick. I sell them all within 2 weeks. I make enough throughout the year to more than pay for their bedding and feed. The small amount left over is a profit.
I also sell 4-6 batches of chicks of Coturnix quail which also bring $5 per chick and typically sell within 3 weeks. Chicken chicks also for $8 per chick sell within the 1st week.

So all in all it's a fun and slightly profitable hobby.

 

[jeepster]

Spotsplus,
I was wondering if you are selling them as pets? Or food or breeders?

I live in Texas just outside of Dallas and it seems that in this area people are selling their week old chicks for $1 each (what I paid for mine). I plan on growing them out for meat but want to eventually sell some so that they are self supporting or even profitable.