Cost of raising Jumbo Coturnix vs Cornish X chickens for meat ????

[Wifezilla]

Mmmmmmm...guts!

Fried livers and hearts are pretty tasty actually.

As far as financial analysis, I prefer to remain in the dark

I did actually keep records last year and the thing that makes having ducks worthwhile is selling the ducklings. That kept things in the black...almost

The quail are so much easier than the ducks by comparison, I don't even consider them much of an expense. Of course I only have 5......so far....and the incubator is full.....

 

[Omniskies]

I normally go through one or two cans of broth a year. This changed over the past year when I found other recipes that use broth - at which point I never seem to have enough. I really enjoy Tomato Florentine, but individuals within the household swore they hated "tomato soup" and wouldn't touch it. I used the _exact_ same recipe, only added more noodles and called it Gulash. Suddenly it was a big hit and everyone was eating it.

Chicken tetrazzini, chicken pot pie, etc. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/379280/ten_uses_for_swanson_chicken_broth.html?cat=22 and http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/chickenturkeymore/tp/chixstockuses.htm have some great basic and exotic uses for chicken broth that are practical and will make things more tasty (plus MSG-free).

The more I started looking the less broth I had available. It's a good problem to have.

As for time, I agree - time is a big factor. However, I've yet to find someone who can genuinely put a price on the time I spend with my birds. Initially I was trying to do it as a "by the hour" fee. How much should I be paid per hour multiplied by how much time do I spend with the birds equals an additional cost. But that isn't a cost. When I am drawing, painting, or cooking dinner, I don't factor in how much time it took for me to make a meal or finish a picture. I don't sit down to a homecooked dinner, sigh, and realize that my $20 worth of time could have been invested at a restaurant, or that I could have bought a $100 painting at a store without having to do it myself.

It's not the same. Were I to factor in straight time, I spend 2-4 minutes per day in a broiler pen feeding and watering (a bucket of feed is dropped in the feeder - 30 seconds, the waterer is dumped, wiped and refilled - two minutes - then the time to walk to and from the barn). My cages are up off the ground, so the poo falls through the bars. Every few months I can go under a cage and scoop the waste out and use it on my garden (which doesn't count - an hour of scooping poo evens out buying compost at Lowes). Then if I put quail or chickens in a tractor and haul them around the yard, I'm adding more compost and getting rid of pests (weed seeds, grasshoppers, slugs, etc). What sort of fee do I put on that?

My extra time is all spent playing around, checking on everyone, holding my favorites, etc. I stopped putting a price tag on my time because, personally, I would rather be out in the barn than sitting at work. I may get paid more at work, but how is that worth it to me? Who here would prefer to be at work two hours more per day rather than spend two hours out with their animals?

Until I know how much I'd like to be paid for being at work rather than being in the barn, I can't set the price tag. As for butchering, 15 minutes to dress out a bird can be factored in (for quail, 5~ minutes per bird). I can factor it in as $5 and I'm still making out ahead on my processing.

If you won't eat guts, will you eat anything with the guts in it? I won't put liver in my stock, but I'll put the gizzard, heart, lungs, etc in there if I don't want to fry them. I got a new meat grinder for Christmas, so I may start making chicken sausage of some sort. Would you mix the innards into a sausage and eat them?

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
OMNI THIS IS FOR YOU

PS WIFEZILLA YOU CAN HAVE MY SHARE

 

[JJMR794]

Now As Far As Your Meat Grinder Goes.... I Have 2 Of Them. They're Great Lil Gizmos... May I Suggest Looking At Bologna And Hot Dog Recipes... Many Uses For Chicken In Those 2.

Tomatoe Florentine--- Uh Uh, Right There With Guts... Sorry Dont Do Tomatoes Either, So There Goes Your Goulosh Recipe Too.

While You Cant Put A Monetary Value On Your Time As You Say Others May Well Be Able To, And It Certainly Can Be Ax "x" Factor In The Equation And Should Be Considered.

 

[aprophet]

might just be me but it seemed like the rabbits pooped alot more then my birdies

I have been culling lately and folks want to buy the corturnix

course they are already getting other meat from me too they just did'nt know I had quail

 

[Robo]

I got some Cornish x's and some Buff Orpingtons for meat. I was going to figure out which one tasted better. If you want good tasting meat go with some kind of quail or a large breed of chicken. The Buffs tasted so much better and processed easy too. This is just my oppinion on what bird tastes better not which is more efficient.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I think it depends on where in the country you live. For cost of feed and what livestock you keep.
For instance my Muscovies don't really cost me much most months. They free range about the yard, eat a little scratch, most days I pick up their feed dish and they haven't touched it. But in the winter, 3 months- eat your hearts out northerners, I was one once - , they are eating machines. Don't you know, that is their favorite time to hatch their eggs. I just get my wallet out and buy those greens they need, and feed, and grains, and peas.

Rabbits, because of the heat, I would have to have them in an air conditioned room out in the garage. My DH would have a fit to have to give up space to rabbits. I would when I got the electric bill, running air conditioning for them 24/7. Yet, if we were 50 miles more to the south, they would be fine and I would have them, too.

So for me the Coturnix are the cheapest, 7 week turn around is the best and cheapest. I could even let them go 8 weeks and they would still be my cheapest meat that I can eat, bought or home raised.

Oh. I make chicken broth for chicken recipes and quail broth for quail recipes. Neither the two should meet. And I make Duck sausage and chicken sausage. We aren't going that route with quail. Might do some quail stew this winter, though, if I ever get out there and process any. As I need them, this time around. No freezer space. Now don't forget to add in that expense too - electricity for freezer storage. That's one thing that is not absolutely necessary with quail - with careful planning.

 

[NeilV]

My chicken sausage recipes don't have any innards.

What you could do is this:

1. Process enough quail to make a batch of sausage;

2. Make the carcases and whatever innards you use for broth into broth.

I've got some really good chicken sausage recipes that use chicken thighs and they would convert to quail just fine.

 

[GlitterBug]

This is all so interesting. I was wondering this myself.

 

[Wifezilla]

Another thing in the plus column for quail...

I have never heard of a quail collapsing under its own weight nor have my quail ever just keeled over of a heart attack. Both of these things can easily happen with the cornish x chickens if you wait too long to butcher them.