Quail Breeding? Should I?

[313759]

I have a trio of Northern bobwhites(1 roo and 2 hens) I have 25 eggs in the incubator now and I have been thinking about it throughout the incubation. Should I be a quail breeder? I mean I've been 'dreaming' of becoming a poultry breeder and now would be my chance. But of course I need more birds and different breeds. I don't have a large pen for the quail yet but want to upgrade the little pen to an aviary(if it makes a difference). I want others opinions, should I start breeding and selling quail, or should I just do the occasional breeding and incubating?

 

[quail raiser]

With bobwhites, you may need a permit to sell them as they are a wild game bird in many states. Coturnix quail on the other hand are not, and you get a faster turnaround on your investment because they mature in about 8 weeks vs 23 weeks with bobwhites. I keep a few bobwhites but i do it because i like to hear thier call in the mornings. If you want to profit from them get coturnix

 

[313759]

With bobwhites, you may need a permit to sell them as they are a wild game bird in many states. Coturnix quail on the other hand are not, and you get a faster turnaround on your investment because they mature in about 8 weeks vs 23 weeks with bobwhites. I keep a few bobwhites but i do it because i like to hear thier call in the mornings. If you want to profit from them get coturnix

Thanks for the info, maybe I should get coturnix, just I'm not sure about them. I mean I don't have any experience yet... but I'll try an assortment of colors. Well anyway, I have all these eggs in the incubator and if I get a good hatch I'll be selling all these chicks, and I also have a button hen for sale also. What should I do with the bobwhites, I was thinking of possibly selling the adults and keeping 1 or 2 of their offspring as pets.

 

[quail raiser]

Personally i prefer the bobwhites, they are a prettier bird and i love listening to them call every morning. I have bobwhites and coturnix now, if you can raise bobwhites you can easily raise coturnix they are the perfect beginner bird. They hatch in 18 days and in 8 weeks your getting eggs from them. Coturnnix eggs are twice the size of bobwhite eggs. The ONLY downside of bobwhites in my opinion is it takes six months to grow them out to laying eggs.

 

[313759]

Yeah I agree the bobs do take forever to start laying... Well out of this hatch, because I already found someone who might be interested in the adults, I'll keep 3-5 chicks and try to tame them more. The adults I bought as adults so they aren't very tame and friendly. So I'm hoping to get some pets out of them. Should I get jumbo coturnix or regular size, I wanna try both but I dunno

 

[quail raiser]

The jumbo and regular size coturnix are the same bird, only difference is size. So really that would just be whatever you wanted to raise. The jumbo are normally raised for dual purpose, meat and eggs. If your not planning on eating them you can get the normal coturnix, they are egg laying machines, and may not eat as much as a larger bird

 

[313759]

The jumbo and regular size coturnix are the same bird, only difference is size. So really that would just be whatever you wanted to raise. The jumbo are normally raised for dual purpose, meat and eggs. If your not planning on eating them you can get the normal coturnix, they are egg laying machines, and may not eat as much as a larger bird

Oh Ok, I wasn't sure thanks for the info

 

[313759]

How big are a jumbo' s eggs anyway the picture I saw was the size of half this guy's hand

 

[jstan]

I started raising coturnix this year. Not the jumbos. I now have around 30 and get around dzn eggs a day. Mine actually started laying at 6 weeks. I have them in a 8 X 10 pen. They are fairly easy to raise. Im going too hatch about 20 more soon. Also have several people that love the eggs. Havent sold any birds though. I have been told and read that bob whites are much more aggressive than coturnix.

 

[313759]

I started raising coturnix this year. Not the jumbos. I now have around 30 and get around dzn eggs a day. Mine actually started laying at 6 weeks. I have them in a 8 X 10 pen. They are fairly easy to raise. Im going too hatch about 20 more soon. Also have several people that love the eggs. Havent sold any birds though. I have been told and read that bob whites are much more aggressive than coturnix.

I dunno if they are aggressive mine are nice to each other and protect each other... I'm actually starting to think about getting pigeons instead. Just to try something knew and I've been wanting to get pigeons for 2-3 years now