Considering raising quail- need advice

[hillbillybill]

I'm looking into starting up a business of raising Pharoh quail. I would appreciate any advice as to what I'll need to start with. Also, I'd like to know what to expect as for marketing and profits. This is a new idea I'm just mulling around in my mind at the moment. The money available for starting an adventure as such is very limited as we are living off a meager disability check as the sole income, thus one reason for considering this project.
I have never raised any kind of fowl, although I have had indoor birds as pets and raised parakeets successfully. I got this idea of quails from my wife. Her late husband raised quail here several years ago. She said he did quite well at it.
I live in southwest Arkansas just about two miles from the Nevada Game Bird Farm which is a hunting resort. I shall go talk to them about possibly purchasing quail from me. My wife says her late husband used to sell them birds, but they are under different ownership now and she knows nothing about them anymore, other than they cater to clients from all over the world.
Can anyone tell me whether I need any kind of permit to raise and sell live birds?
I have been looking on line at equipment and think I can probably build my cages cheaper. Perhaps someone could give me the diminsions and specs for cage designs.
What would I need as a minimum to get started? I was thinking an incubator, eggs, brooder pen, and breeding cages, and of course the feeders, waterers, heat lamps, etc.. Would 100 eggs be too much to start with?
What is the best source for selling birds? I was thinking of using the local trade show on the radio and ads in the newspaper. Is the Internet a good way of doing this?
I'm sure to have many more questions in future posts. Thanks for any help you can give. BILL

 

[saddina]

hi bill. first at the top of the quail section, there's a sticky on cortunix, i'll grab you a link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102281

That will tell you all you ever wanted to know on coturnix. Now there's several kinds of quail, so you'll want to be sure of which kind the shooting club wants to buy. If you need a permit depends on the type of quail and your state, there's a link in the thread to that info. I use a 2X3X1 cage made from bits left over from building the chicken coop.

2X3 srcewed into a box, then a 1 ft box made on one end for hiding/nest box (mine use it to lay). Since hardware cloth comes in a 2 ft roll, that gave me my 2 X2 area to wrap in hardware cloth. Note I live in city limits, so mine don't need heave coon-proof cages.

There's a few people who do commercial sales on here, so they can help you with that.

 

[hillbillybill]

Thanks, I was just reading that link. Very informative.
I noticed you are from Desert, Ca. Where is that? I used to live in Palm Desert when I was a kid back in the 60's.
I look forward to future postings.

 

[Stellar]

There is an outdated sticky on some info but many experts can help ya out as well.

 

[saddina]

Quote:
You'd pass by if you drove from palm desert to san diego.

 

[hillbillybill]

Then I have passed by.