Coturnix quail processing

[BaronRenfrew]

Oh yeah,

Quail do need more protein than found in chick starter (18% protein?) so you should be able to get turkey starter (28% protein).

I follow an old recipe from game bird breeders I know: 1 part turkey starter (28% protein) one part cracked corn (15% protein) leaving an average of 22% protein (which is exactly what you want). And its cheaper than straight starter feed. (If you're real sharp you'll see that 100lbs of cracked corn is bigger than 100lbs of turkey starter due to density. If you're mix is off a bit because of this its not a big deal.)

This is my feed for all birds: growing birds and breeders for quail and pheasants.

Also make sure that the turkey starter is not medicated. They can eat medicated feed but it takes a month to get out of their system before you butcher. Medicated feed will kill waterfowl so i don't get medicated feed at all.

 

[sweetshoplady]

To get the innards out, the way I was shown was to use a small spoon, like a teaspoon and go in along the inside of the breastbone. Kind of like you'd section out a grapefruit.

I took apart a chicken to get inside before I was shown how to do it this way.

We scald ours in hot water to make the plucking easier. When they're young, not many feathers to pluck.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Never thought to try a spoon, but my hands are tiny so I really didn't have a problem. Glad to know they can be scalded though. I was going to try that, but since their skin was so thin, I wasn't sure it was a good idea. The feathers were time-consuming but not difficult to pluck. Mine were only 6 weeks old; one was 10 weeks. I can't wait to try them!