Exhibiting Quail

[cowrancher]

My son decided to show quail this year for 4-H, while great in theory no one (us or our 4-H cooperative extension office) seems to have any idea how to exhibit them for showmanship or market competition. Does anyone here have a good lead or some knowledge on this? We've been with them from the beginning, incubating the eggs,hatching them, etc but they are still pretty crazy wild. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NYREDS]

The only way I've ever seen Quail exhibited is in a sealed cage with a mini environment [tree branches, etc]. I judge a lot of fairs/4-H shows & I don't think there are market classes for quail. I also can't imagine that one could be tamed well enough for showmanship.
By all means enjoy your quail, they're fun. If you son really wants to show chickens would be a better bet.

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

Our fair has a class for quail. Doesnt specify which breed. But I have never seen a quail there though. Ive seen doves, ringneck and diamond.. I was thinking about showing some. But I would put a cusion on the roof of the cage so they dont rip their skin on their heads by jumping when scared. If I was actually to show them. I would put cardboard on three sides of the cage so they cant see the other birds. And a sign saying. We get scared easily.

ETA. I had a coturnix quail that was tame enough to be brought out and played with by my kids..

 

[cowrancher]

Thanks - they actually have a market class and he will be able to sell a pen of three. The only thing that has everyone baffled is how to show them! So any judges out there with experience I would love to hear your advice (as I'm sure our 4-H council).

 

[cowrancher]

:d

 

[cowrancher]

Thanks - they actually have a market class and he will be able to sell a pen of three. The only thing that has everyone baffled is how to show them! So any judges out there with experience I would love to hear your advice (as I'm sure our 4-H council).

 

[cowrancher]

bump

 

[95yj]

if your wonder about fitting and show you have a few options. I feel like alot of times 4-h gets a bad name for its shows, and occasionaly they deserve it. but at alot of fairs, especialy 4h only fairs the birds are equal quality to the ones you see in the big shows. The members in my club regularly show (and place well) in all of the major shows in the area, this year that included the bantam nationals and some of the kids in the club did really well. as for fitting and show with quail its the same as any other gamebird, you can either leave it in the cage and the judge asks you a number of questions about the bird (thats what we do for pheasants and partridge). or you can remove the bird and your abilities at handling it by displaying various parts of the bird (wing, leg etc...) while the judge asks questions, for both of these you will be asked to name as many parts of the bird as you can. it would help to know roughly how old you son is, an eight year old would never be expected to remove a gambird from its cage. At least thats how we do it around my neck of the woods...

 

[cowrancher]

Thanks for the great feedback. William just turned 9 (so 4-H 8) and is a 1st year junior. Unfortunately in our area people are more focused on traditional livestock (which we have plenty of as well!). I'm hoping to get some good base information so that the cooperative extension can make some sort of decision before Fair week! Thanks again for all the help and comments!