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Glad to meet you. Welcome to Back Yard Chickens. Best wishes with your birds and all your plans. Good for you for doing careful research ahead of time! You will be so glad you did.

I have both coturnix quail and a small flock of laying hens. They are both just wonderful. Quail are so easy to keep (though rarely broody). If you want to maintain a breeding flock, you will want to invest in an incubator. I have jumbo Pharoah Coturnix quail and think they and their eggs are just very pretty. (jumbo is relative - ;) - these are tiny birds compared to my standard size hens) I get an egg a day most days from each of my quail hens. I finally learned from another quail keeper here to buy Quail Egg scissors on Amazon to help open the eggs. The eggs were very hard to open otherwise. The quail make quieter noises than the hens, too. Even the males "crow" sounds much more like a songbird noise. But I love the crooning they make when they are happy, as when I give them a treat of mealworms or salad with cherries chopped in. I have not yet been brave enough to "harvest" the excess males, which I know I should. There are excellent instructions on how to from our wonderful quail expert member Nabiki.

It's hard to choose "best" breed for chickens. Are you in northern Ohio, near the lakes, or southern Ohio? or in between? Cold hardiness is one factor. You mention you are interested in both eggs and meat. You could choose to have 2 different flocks, or you could choose dual purpose breeds that could lay eggs and also be used for meat.
 

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