We have both bobwhites and coturnix. We mostly use them for training our pointing dogs. We are probably in the minority on this forum using them for that purpose but if you go onto any gun dog or bird dog forum you will see most of us bird dog people use birds of some sort for training.
Like Monarc mentioned the coturnix are a bit tame (cept for when you try to catch them in the pen of course, lol) but we use remote launchers which keeps them out of reach of the dogs if the dog decides to misbehave. The bobwhites fly pretty good and act more "wild" than the coturnix so we use them most of the time as well as homing pigeons. We have found the coturnix actually recall to the pens better than the bobwhites.
Now that we've gotten into learning about a more self-sufficient lifestyle we're planning on keeping some coturnix for both eggs and meat. Plus probably selling some to bird dog friends. And they are interesting to watch too.
We have new quail chicks and they are a hoot to watch racing all around their brooder. I knew they would be cute but had no clue how much fun we'd have watching them. And I think I've sweated off a few pounds being in the "heat" zone of the brooder the past couple days! Kristi
