Quail are not chickens!

[eddie_van_quailen]

They are not completely different though. They do some things the same

They do eat and drink!

 

[The Birb King]

They do eat and drink!

They also preen, dustbathe, socialize, and other things

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Practically every single animals eats and drinks, most socialise too. Every single bird species preens and I am pretty sure chickens and quail aren't the only birds who dust bath.
You can't compare a chicken to a parrot (believe me I've tried ), so you shouldn't really compare chickens to quail. Different species.

 

[GemW]

The moral of the first story - you must be okay with butchering and eating your quail, or know someone who will. And before you think you can, finding someone to buy the roosters on Craigslist is just as difficult. It isn't like an ornamental chicken rooster. Anyone who you would think would buy them, most likely has a lot of their own to deal with.

Cannot stress this point enough. We came into starting our chickens and quail at the same time...we kind of approached it like we'll figure out what to do with the males when we know how many we have. We ended up with exactly a 50/50 ratio. And then we hesitated what to do. You likely won't be able to rehome the males. We took our time deciding what to do next and one of our males ended up getting scalped and blood spattered all over my freshly painted white enclosure...so be ready to do what you need to do or they will suffer for your hesitation. So, once we decided that we had hatched these birds knowing what we would be able to keep and what we were not and since we brought them into this world, they needed to fulfill their purpose.
That being said, the culling process was pretty simple so to speak and I even helped clean them. I dont clean fish let alone something I raised from an egg.

My 2nd tip (which goes with the first point) is not to underestimate how vicious they can be to each other. They are pure nature. We separated the boys out in a different pen when we were ready to cull and if we would have left them alone for 5 min they would have done the job for us.

My final tip as to how they are different than chickens..is that theyre not really great pets. They don't like to be held, they don't really get used to you. My kids kept asking to hold them when we would hold the baby chickens and they just can't. One of the birds will get hurt because they for sure won't be able to hold onto them and it's not calming and sweet like with chickens.

 

[BastyPutt]

Thank you so much for your contribution and taking the time.

My final tip as to how they are different than chickens..is that theyre not really great pets. They don't like to be held, they don't really get used to you.
Yes, this is a sad reality. They are very cute little things, but I am realizing that regardless of interaction, they are much more wild than chickens. I am looking forward to this in a sense though, to watch them just interact. Very relaxing in my opinion.

They are pure nature. We separated the boys out in a different pen when we were ready to cull and if we would have left them alone for 5 min they would have done the job for us

I keep hearing this everywhere I go. That they are absolutley viscous toward each other. Seeing a lot of pictures of roosters with their eyes picked out and their scalps removed.

That being said, the culling process was pretty simple so to speak and I even helped clean them. I

This was something that was huge for me. I watched a cortunix corner video, where Terry did a no nonsense butchering video. Up close and personal. In this video, he shipped the head off with scissors - and I was like "wow, that's it?"

We butcher 36 designated broiler chickens a year, and then some of the roosters our laying flock hatches. The broilers aren't too bad, because we buy them entirely for that purpose. The extra roosters are a bit more difficult, and I will usually attempt to rehome them first before butchering. But either way, the process of bleeding a chicken 36 times in a day, and having them thrash a bit in that cone, regardless of purpose, always leaves me emotionally drained for 4 or 5 days after.

With that said, the quail butchering, aside from taking just a few minutes from start to finish, seems far less dramatic. I don't want to sound like a sicko, but I am actually looking forward to it in a sense. Seeing how the meat tastes, providing another food source for my family, etc.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I keep hearing this everywhere I go. That they are absolutley viscous toward each other. Seeing a lot of pictures of roosters with their eyes picked out and their scalps removed.

They very much are. One of my boys was killed because I didn't realise breeding season was starting and seperate them in time. There was zero warning signs, I remember they were fine that morning and then he was scalped and had fly strike by the evening
A stupid mistake I won't be making again.

 

[BastyPutt]

They very much are. One of my boys was killed because I didn't realise breeding season was starting and seperate them in time. There was zero warning signs, I remember they were fine that morning and then he was scalped and had fly strike by the evening
A stupid mistake I won't be making again.

Holy smokes. Talk about extreme escalation. Yikes.

 

[GemW]

Holy smokes. Talk about extreme escalation. Yikes.

Mine was pretty sudden too. We thought we had 2 males in one pen with 3 girls and one that was deformed from a hatch that we assisted and shouldn't have. One seemed very dominant and the deformed one was getting picked on and had a few bloody spots on the side of his head. I removed it (don't know if it was a male or female) and all of the sudden we noticed one of the supposed females mounting everyone so obviously we now had 3 males to 2 females. The next morning everything was fine and by afternoon the one I thought was dominant was scalped.

It was/still is horrific. Thats the one we let live to breed us some more hatchling. I figured a reward for being scalped, he can live out the rest of his life alone with 5 ladies. But I have questioned that decision every day since we culled the others. Prob shouldve done him. But yes, also won't be making that mistake again. Once they start getting after it, it's time.

 

[GemW]

I watched a cortunix corner video, where Terry did a no nonsense butchering video

I watched a lot of his videos about the set ups and hatching but found a different one for the butchering. Really great video. Me and the hubs watched it a few times each and then were ready to go. I'll see if I can find it if anyone wants it.

 

[BastyPutt]

I'll see if I can find it if anyone wants it.