Growing out the birds

[LLRSandraMort]

I'm hatching 20+ coturnix quail eggs. I am interested in raising birds for meat, but I'm not figuring out the process. I want to keep the females for laying eggs, but they're also bigger than the males. I keep the biggest to breed and then process the others if I can spare them from my egg laying (for the table) group?

On the other hand, I have minimal use for the boys and want to process them.

So, how's this work? Once they're old enough to sex, I need to take the males away so the females don't get overbred. But then if the boys are going to fight, how do I bring them to full size? I am unlikely to have enough cages for one boy per cage. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Sandra

 

[Nabiki]

There's not much point in keep them more than 8 weeks. They will get a bit bigger, but not enough to really justify the amount they eat. You can keep a "bachelor pen" with all boys and they'll get along for a bit longer as long as they can't see or hear the girls.

I process the aggressive ones first.