Processing Quail

[Whitehouse Quail]

All right, so I'm chicken... I don't want to process my own coturnix quail! But I want to eat them! (No making fun....

)

How much do you think a quail processing should be? That adds a lot more money onto it! But i'm not 100% sure I want to do it myself!

 

[sandspoultry]

I think the Quail are the easiest birds to process. They are so small you can easily hold on to them. And the "deed" is over in a matter of moments.
As far as the cost I have no idea we always process are own birds.
Sharon

 

[Bettacreek]

I've never understood why anyone would pay another person to butcher their poultry. It's usually around $2 per bird, which adds a considerate amount to the final product. Quail are super easy, you just take clippers and cut the head off. I do it in the kitchen sink. Just cut the head off into the trash can, then put them into the sink drain, "head" down. The drain will act like a killing cone, but the muss and fuss of clean up is almost non-existant. Another thing that makes them easy is that you can get away with skinning them out. You can pluck, but most people just skin them. I plucked one and then ended up skinning it anyways, because the dry skin on its back above the pelvis was too gross for me.

 

[CARS]

Paying someone to process quail does not dollar out. I think you can buy frozen quail for what it would cost to process. (that is if you can find someone to process them. None of the local processors will do game birds for me so I had to just "man up" and do it)

Like Bettacreek and Sandpoultry says, it is be far the simplest bird to process. If you haven't read up on the "how to" in the quail section, do it.

I have a sink in the basement that I used for my quail:

Mmmmmmm:

We've all heard about "beer-butt" chicken, but how about an 8 oz. can of pineapple juice??

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

The first birds my sister ever butchered out were when she lived in her first apartment. They raised 10 quail, kept the 4 layers (go figure 6 males) and butchered out the 6 males in her bathtub. My sister is pretty prissy still to this day. Poultry shears for the neck and regular kitchen knives for the rest. You'll do great!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Personally I'm thrilled to pay someone else a couple of bucks to do my butchering. They've invested in all the set up and tools, and have hired the extra hands to make the job go swiftly; I spend a pleasaant hour chatting with all of the "old folks" who have also brought in their birds, and go home with my meat chilled and bagged, as opposed to hours of fuss and muss at home with more cleanup to follow

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
I just can't see how anyone justifies tacking on an extra $2 per bird. That's just insane to me, especially considering that it'll take about a minute to do a bird. That's $120 an hour! Holy schnipes! You also don't need anything special. I used a set of $5 garden clippers and my fingers for my quail. I plan to do the same with the chickens, ducks and turkey. We are, of course, going to be borrowing a feather picker once we do the larger birds. Still, even if you rent one, or if you trade a chook or two for the use of a neighbor's plucker, it's much cheaper to do it yourself.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol I don't feel the need to justify how I do things to anyone.
I don't sew my own clothes, I eat in restaurants, I send my kids to college, while I raise most of our meat I choose not to be the butcher, and I choose never to ask anyone to justify their choices.
Life my way

to the OP, I checked and quail are 1.75 at my butcher, although I understand that this can vary from place to place.

 

[SamG347]

I've never understood why anyone would pay another person to butcher their poultry. It's usually around $2 per bird

When you say this are you meaning to do quail or any poultry period? The $2.00 I'm paying to get my broilers done looks amazing to me because...

#1...I dont have the plucker he does
#2...He can get a chicken done in a minute..would like to see anyone with the setup I use to do that.
#3...Once you go over about 5-10 chickens and you are doing them yourself and without anything fancy for machinery...it will become a day project.

Personally I do my own quail.....but once I get over half a dozen broilers they go to the butcher.​

 

[poultryhaven]

I processed my first 3 quail the other day. My dad did not think I would be able to do it. It wasnt hard. I thought I was gonna chicken out at first but the first one was the hardest and after that, the 2nd and 3rd one were easy! I got each one done in about 3 minutes (Took me awhile, it was my first time! lol) I just used Shears from walmart ($6) and my fingers. Oh! A bowl too lol. Here is an EASY way to do it. (These quail are already dead, its not too graphic)