Quail are not chickens!

[GemW]

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.

https://miniurbanfarm.com/how-to-butcher-quail-for-beginners/

 

[GemW]

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.

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.

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.

So this might not be the best place to ask it but since we're talking about the differences and you know more about chickens than I do, I'm gonna ask!

Is that behavior out of the males what I can expect out of my roosters when they reach sexual maturity? I got 2 accidental roos (out of 11) so I know that's not enough hens to go around. I'm working on finding homes for them a little but I would like to see them come in to their glory at least a little before they go. I am considering keeping one if I can...but are they going to escalate and start ripping each other apart if I hesitate on getting them out? Because that will be way harder for me.

 

[Charlie Wooster]

So this might not be the best place to ask it but since we're talking about the differences and you know more about chickens than I do, I'm gonna ask!

Is that behavior out of the males what I can expect out of my roosters when they reach sexual maturity? I got 2 accidental roos (out of 11) so I know that's not enough hens to go around. I'm working on finding homes for them a little but I would like to see them come in to their glory at least a little before they go. I am considering keeping one if I can...but are they going to escalate and start ripping each other apart if I hesitate on getting them out? Because that will be way harder for me.

Don’t worry, they will be fine.. they call it a peckin order for a reason.. let them work it out..

 

[Dinoroar]

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.

I’ve had several different batches of quail over the years and all of my previous ones were pretty wild/ uncatchable like you describe. But the ones I have now are much tamer. I can let them out to run around my garden and then just pick them up to put them back in their pen. It’s a stark difference from the others that that would have had me running around making a fool of myself with a net

 

[Coops Dad]

https://miniurbanfarm.com/how-to-butcher-quail-for-beginners/

What an excellent video! It makes me want to overwhelm my wife with even more animals!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

I’ve had several different batches of quail over the years and all of my previous ones were pretty wild/ uncatchable like you describe. But the ones I have now are much tamer. I can let them out to run around my garden and then just pick them up to put them back in their pen. It’s a stark difference from the others that that would have had me running around making a fool of myself with a net

Wow that’s amazing, I’m pretty envious!

 

[Dinoroar]

Wow that’s amazing, I’m pretty envious!

These are from eggs I got on eBay that were listed as jumbo brown. Before these I had silvers from myshire, locally purchased goldens and local plain pharaohs as well as some blue eggers from a different eBay seller. All completely wild. I don’t know if jumbos tend to be mellower or if the ones I got are a fluke.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

These are from eggs I got on eBay that were listed as jumbo brown. Before these I had silvers from myshire, locally purchased goldens and local plain pharaohs as well as some blue eggers from a different eBay seller. All completely wild. I don’t know if jumbos tend to be mellower or if the ones I got are a fluke.

I have heard that jumbos tend to have a more calm temperament! Mine definitely don't let me pick them up though, lol. My jumbo pearl from SWGB (very creatively named Pearl) lets me pet her head & back, at least

 

[Charlie Wooster]

These are from eggs I got on eBay that were listed as jumbo brown. Before these I had silvers from myshire, locally purchased goldens and local plain pharaohs as well as some blue eggers from a different eBay seller. All completely wild. I don’t know if jumbos tend to be mellower or if the ones I got are a fluke.

My jumbo browns are very docile and like attention, I can open the cages and they come to the front and wait for me to hold them, they stand in my palm and have always been different compared to other colors and standards.. no special treatment as chicks all handled equally on routine health checks while in brooder.. my main cages are hanging cages I built, 12 inches in back 10 inches in front, slanted for eggs to roll to the front and out of the “field of play” it helps from eggs being kicked around and birds peckin holes in em.. being at head and chest level and seeing me multiple times a day they get comfortable with me, but it’s only the jumbo brown hens, so I gotta ask why?.. and occasionally one will get out and fly around a bit and jump around but they are very easy to just bend over and pick them up no chasing at all.. the rest don’t ever come close enough to the doors to get out, they would be a challenge to round up I’m sure..

 

[Phlighter]

I have 3 families of jumbo browns and it's interesting that they don't all behave the same. They have all been treated exactly the same at all steps, but, you wouldn't know it from watching. 2 groups are flighty as is normal for quail. But, the third is very calm and wait eagerly for treats. They will jump out to meet me if I'm not careful. And when I place something into the cage, I may have to push them out of the way. They aren't at all scared and act very much like pets. I want more of these.