Incubators Anonymous

[dutchbunny83]

Thanks for the info!
I didn't realize people ate them, I guess that's why you'd need so many! Seems like a lot of work for a little meat, though I don't know I've never had one.
I love their little eggs.
Could you keep a few in with chickens?
(I have 8 pullets in a 6'x'6'x6 coop that opens to a run that's 20'x20' with bird netting over the top)
I do let me chickens free range the yard all day I'm assuming quail would fly off?

This is probably a silly reason, but I saw someone who blows the quail eggs out then fills them with chocolate. And it's the cutest little eggs ever......

 

[Penny Hen]

Thanks for the info!
I didn't realize people ate them, I guess that's why you'd need so many! Seems like a lot of work for a little meat, though I don't know I've never had one.
I love their little eggs.
Could you keep a few in with chickens?
(I have 8 pullets in a 6'x'6'x6 coop that opens to a run that's 20'x20' with bird netting over the top)
I do let me chickens free range the yard all day I'm assuming quail would fly off?

This is probably a silly reason, but I saw someone who blows the quail eggs out then fills them with chocolate. And it's the cutest little eggs ever......

You might be able to keep them with bantams especialy if a bantam broody raised them. But if you have a rooster he will breed the female quail. Chicken quail hybrids are possible.

A lot of people pickle quail eggs. Check the prices for a quail dinner at a high end restaurant. Quail may be small but are very tasty. Pound for pound you can produce more meat quicker with quail than with chickens.

I don't think the chocolate egg thing is silly at all. I have had an egg facination for years. I collect carved stone eggs. I blow them out and paint them for Christmas ornaments. So it only followed that one day I would own poultry.

 

[ozexpat]

Coturnix are possibly the best urban food factory

Your best leghorn chickens require 3lbs of feed per pound of eggs. Quail require just 2lbs of feed per pound of eggs. Thats about 60-80cents per pound of eggs!

I check the vent once they start laying to sex them. Its the most reliable.

If you are going to hatch eggs keep one male for each 3 females

I will eat males at 9 weeks.

Texas A&M are all white meat. XLD Jumbos are all dark meat.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I am seriously considering ordering some quail now!!!

I was vegetarian for years and years but once I had kids I had to get meat for them and started eating it again as well.
We've done our own meat chickens once so far. I understand why it's so important and I would much rather do it that way than through these disgusting factory farm chemical coated meats the grocery stores are selling.
BUT I can't kill anything!
I have to close all the windows, send my husband to do it alone, and once they're gutted and skinned (he doesn't want to pluck so since he does all the work, I let him skin them!) then I will wash them, break them down into pieces or debone and vacuum seal and freeze.
He unexpectedly deployed with the Army so we have 5 broad breasted white turkeys out there way over due for freezer camp! Eating $25/week in food and pooping everywhere! As soon as he gets home they are the first to go, but since they are so huge I know I will have to help with this one!

So quail are ready to eat around the same time frame as broilers (with obviously less meat)?
What is the age of laying?
Can I incubate them just like chicken eggs?

Sorry to sound so ignorant on all of this, most of it is new to me

 

[ozexpat]

I am seriously considering ordering some quail now!!!

I was vegetarian for years and years but once I had kids I had to get meat for them and started eating it again as well.
We've done our own meat chickens once so far. I understand why it's so important and I would much rather do it that way than through these disgusting factory farm chemical coated meats the grocery stores are selling.
BUT I can't kill anything!
I have to close all the windows, send my husband to do it alone, and once they're gutted and skinned (he doesn't want to pluck so since he does all the work, I let him skin them!) then I will wash them, break them down into pieces or debone and vacuum seal and freeze.
He unexpectedly deployed with the Army so we have 5 broad breasted white turkeys out there way over due for freezer camp! Eating $25/week in food and pooping everywhere! As soon as he gets home they are the first to go, but since they are so huge I know I will have to help with this one!

So quail are ready to eat around the same time frame as broilers (with obviously less meat)?
What is the age of laying?
Can I incubate them just like chicken eggs?

Sorry to sound so ignorant on all of this, most of it is new to me

They start laying at 6-8 weeks. I wait til 9 weeks to eat them as I want to only eat the males and I give them a chance to start laying.

I get one egg a day, every day from the females. They will go in the pot after 12 months, replacing them.

Incubating is the same as chickens but only 16 - 18 days. Mine hatch at 16.

There are down sides - they can be cannabalistic and aggressive to each other. A little extra space will help.

I use auto waterer nipples and 2" pipe self feeders. I have a poop board on an angle and the poop gets scraped off.

 

[ki4got]

Olive Eggers and black copper marans going into lockdown today

Question-- why do quail eggs come in such large quanities? Like even on ebay the smallest I've seen is like 4 dozen at a time. Do they have a low hatch rate??? I can't imagine what I would do with 50 chicks at once (though I'm not on a farm).
Quail eggs are so pretty though.
Are they noisy birds? Good layers?
This may be a stupid question but do the boys make any obnoxcious calls like a rooster (we live in city limits)

LOL no, if anything quail tend to have HIGHER hatch rates... it's just that they are very prolific in their laying, and quail rails hold a lot more eggs than the regular ones do. (20 vs 7)

it's not uncommon (at least for me) to get 80-90% hatch rates on shipped quail eggs.

 

[ozexpat]

Here are some Texas A&M and XLD Jumbo that we hatched












I had 2 trays on the big turner that held 120 eggs each (cant see hers) as well as an auto turner on the floor)

 

[dutchbunny83]

Okay I'm sold on quail!
That's quite the set up ozexpat.
I have a starter coop (one of those pre-fab coops/runs that was my first coop. Said it housed 6 chickens but once I actually had chickens realized they wanted much more room!
I usually put my chicks in there when they outgrow the brooder, but want them to be bigger before joining the flock.

I have 8 pullets right now in a 6'hx6'wx6'l coop that opens to a 20'x20' covered run and I let them freerange.
Can I put some quail in with them or do they need a set up like this?

I also have a 10'x20' covered run for my turkeys with a lean against type shelter that's 6' long 5' tall at peak and about 3' wide with one side completely open. I'd have to secure the pen better because it's that galvanized goat fencing and they could go right through, I guess run some hardware cloth around it?
Or so I need a more advanced cage type set up like you?

My turkeys are being processed in 12 days when my husband gets home...

 

[dutchbunny83]

Looks like for the coturnix on ebay eggs seem to be going for about 60 for $40 (with shipping) does that sounds about right???
That's the only I see besides some rarer more ornamental looking ones...


Actually just saw one person selling 120 for $40 with shipping... Says it's the same... jumbo brown coturnix.
I don't know that that many would fit in my incubator.... I don't have one of those huge fridge looking ones like you guys!!!

 

[ozexpat]

The easiest way to do quail is in cages. You can do home made or pre-fab. Mine have low ceilings as the quail will jump straight up when startled. The short ceiling does not give them enough lift ti get hurt.

I have heard of people letting them lose in a chicken coop but have no experience with it.

I also keep Chukar in the same cages but they are way less efficient.