Quail people , I have a few questions :)

[jkcove08]

Hey all. I have buttons which are great to watch and listen to but face it you certainly cant eat them. I am trying to find a small home business that I can do here on the farm and am considering raising coturnix quails. For those of you who already raise them do any of you do larger scale? What do you sell, eggs, and meat or just eggs? Who do you sell to, local busnesses, farmers markets, online? I really want to find something since I am a stay at home mom and do a small daycare. I love hatching birds and figured these would be great. I have a large corn crib that we were going to raise pigeons in but that has kinda gone to the poo bin, I am not sure if we are going to be able to do it or not so I figured I wanted to look into quail. You are the most informative so I wanted to ask you first. Thanks!!! Jenn

 

[ksacres]

I asked the same question on another forum, and have since decided to go with Texas A & M quail. They are all white birds with all white meat, and are supposed to weigh between 5 and 7 ounces dressed, at about 8 weeks old. They are also supposed to be very good layers so long as they don't get cold. I'm getting some hatching eggs from www.lakenvelderfarm.com but they sell adults as well. They have some info on their website, and were very helpful when I emailed them.

 

[cgjsmith]

before you start you should go to your local game preserve, Here in TN they can't grow enough to hunt so they often look for other to help. Crystal

 

[Dodgegal79]

I have some Cortunix quail and have hatched a bunch of eggs. I really don't want to do it anymore, mine seem to have problems with their legs and I have had to put a bunch down. Check and see what the hunting clubs needs. Their are lots of small game birds (quails, chukars) that they use.

 

[jkcove08]

Thanks everyone. I called our state DNR and found out that in a sense I am probably already breaking the law..lol Any quail raised in Iowa requires a game breeders liscense. I figured you would need them for bob whites and ringneck pheasants. I have button quail and the DNR fella said any type of quail require the liscense.... I will send in the application then and get started. I actually plan on trying to sell to our local asian markets and If hunting groups call that would be good too. Thanks again. If anyone has eggs on a 50 to 100 egg volume and want to sell some please let me know. Thanks Jenn