Largest Quail Breed

[emvickrey]

I want to raise Quail for our freezer. Which breed are the largest and best for this? I've raised chickens and attempted quail once with no sucess. Had 17 eggs shipped, 3 hatched and they killed each other. They where like little pit bulls soon after hatching. I would like to buy some already hatched but don't know what breed of them to get for what I want them for.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Any type of bobwhite is bad for fighting unless you have plenty of space for them. That being said, the biggest breed of quail are the Georgia Giant bobwhites I believe, either those or the Butler bobwhites. One of the two is supposed to be about 2 1/2 pounds live weight, but they are both very big.

The jumbo coturnix are not as big, but they are also no where near as aggressive. But they only get to about a pound, if you're lucky enough to find them that big. But the coturnix don't take as long to grow out either. The time it would take you to grow some GG or Butlers to adult size, you could have grown 3 times as many coturnix.

So the butlers and GG are two to three times as big as the jumbo coturnix, but will take 2 to 3 times as long to reach maturity

 

[JJMR794]

Shelleys On The Right Track

Bobs Are The Lil Junk Yard Dogs Of The Quail World--- So Mean At Times They Dont Even Like Themselves! As Far As Biggest In General --- Lemme Stress In General Here So As To Not Take Too Much Heat From Other Folks Here--- In Zoological Classing Butlers Are Supposed To Be The Largest Of The Bob White Domesticated Subspeces. Followed By Ga Giants, Butler Can Reach Upwards Of 32 Oz In Mature Birds--- They Are Very (i Do Mean Very) Slow Maturing As Opposed To Any Other Bob White. In Most Cases A Large Ga Giant Will Get Upwards Of 24 Oz.

If You Do Not Have The Proper Facilities For Bobs Pass On Them!!!!! They Will Kill Each Other Faster Than You Can Hatch Them If They Are Not Housed Appropriately! If This Is The Case Go With Coturnix Quail As They Are Way Easier To Handle And A Lot Less Mean To Each Other--- They Tolerate Smaller Pens Much Better And Are Less Spastic In Demeanor As Well. They Hatch/ Mature/ Lay Faster Than Anything Else In The Edible Quail World.

 

[Pine Grove]

Quote:
2 1/2 pounds live weight? Any links to where anyone advertises Quail this big?

 

[SamG347]

Well the largest quail breed would be the Mountain Quail. But I assume your looking for a cheaper meal

You can't go wrong with getting some good Jumbo Brown/Golden Coturnix quail. Uglyduck aka Gloria of this forum has some great stock. I think she might have some of my original bloodline. And I know those were BIG birds.

 

[canter6]

I recommend any size coturnix quail. What they lack in size, they more than make up for in volume and ease.
They are just as suicidal as any species in the brooder, but they are not homicidal like most others.

 

[deerman]

Try the bobs and coturnix, to see which you like the taste best.

The coturnix are ready to be butcher by, 8 to ten weeks, bobs at 16 to 20 weeks.


Trick to raising large numbers of bobs is like ringeck pheasant. Large space, or place bits in their beaks. I know people will disagree, but better than a bunch of peck dead birds. Great for bird you are going to eat. No bits DO NOT hurt the birds!!!!!!!!

 

[jimmyboy]

New to quail raising . Would like to raise bob whites but I don't want a junk yard dog ......... what do you mean by BIT is this clipping the beak?