Raising Coturnix for meat

[EverythingDucks]

I want to raise quail for meat but I'm very new to quail in general. I want to have some for eggs and some I'll hatch as well. How should I go about doing this? Will I need multiple cops? I have no idea how many I would need to be able to make a profit off of it. I don't want to have a large quail farm though. Is it worth it to sell their meat?

 

[muddy75]

I want to raise quail for meat but I'm very new to quail in general. I want to have some for eggs and some I'll hatch as well. How should I go about doing this? Will I need multiple cops? I have no idea how many I would need to be able to make a profit off of it. I don't want to have a large quail farm though. Is it worth it to sell their meat?

i personally don’t sell the meat or eggs as I keep mainly for personal consumption. I keep around 60-75 adults year round in an outdoor aviary setting. I probably hatch an average of 150 per year and butcher 6-12 per month. processed quail sells for an average of $5 per bird packaged in 4 packs. commercial farms sometimes sell for less and more expensive areas can sometimes sell for more. eating eggs sell for $5-10 per carton and hatching eggs are typically around $1 per egg. I recommend that you watch some you tube videos from myshire farm and coturnix corner and check out the quail hatch a long thread by @Kiki. @Kiki , @Nabiki , and @RUNuts among others are a wealth of byc knowledge on raising and keeping quail.

 

[Kiki]

I want to raise quail for meat but I'm very new to quail in general. I want to have some for eggs and some I'll hatch as well. How should I go about doing this? Will I need multiple cops? I have no idea how many I would need to be able to make a profit off of it. I don't want to have a large quail farm though. Is it worth it to sell their meat?

No. It's not worth it unless you have many cages and many customers.

 

[Kiki]

 

[Kiki]

Lil D for real though... Check out Myshire's stuff.
He runs a contest for people like you.
Gives away stuff to get one started.
Tell him Muddy sent you.

 

[muddy75]

Lil D for real though... Check out Myshire's stuff.
He runs a contest for people like you.
Gives away stuff to get one started.
Tell him Muddy sent you.

yes!! you should look up his 18 and under monthly contest. it requires that you send an email to him or jenna explaining why and how you became interested in raising quail. They choose one winner each month to receive a wynola ranch cage and hatching eggs (i believe a 60 count)

 

[RUNuts]

Short answer, no. Too much time and infrastructure to go from hobby to profitable.

Stay small, enjoy the time with the birds. Start asking around about quail egg sales. There maybe someone you know with a chicken egg allergy that doesn't want to keep quail or ducks and will gladly buy the eggs. Specialty stores or advertising at the feed store may be the quickest way to connect with customers if word of mouth doesn't.

At small scale, the best you can hope for is the quail to pay for their food and give you meat and eggs for your family's table. The math just doesn't support small scale operations. If you find 2-6 reliable egg customers, your hobby may break even.

If you want to maintain a good breeding pool, lots of cages. If you are happy buying eggs and hatching those a couple times a year, fewer cages needed.

Best of luck!

 

[NY Coturnix]

I believe I read somewhere you need to have around 1000 birds if you're going make money off it.

The big issue is you need to know the local and state laws. Some let you sell live birds but they regulate the meat. If you sell over a certain number of birds then USDA needs to be involved.

I'm assuming you have the space so if you're looking to just supply meat, for the work that's involved, I'd recommend the meat birds chickens or turkey. Coturnix are fast growers and are great layers but for the meat you get in my situation I look at meat as a side benefit from the extra roos.

 

[FloorCandy]

I turn a small profit on the month to month things, but recouping my startup would probably take a year or 2.

The way to profit is to have multiple income streams, get someone who wants them to feed snakes and reptiles, and sell chicks and adults you advertise online. I think the best profit is to raise chicks from January to spring, and once they’re laying in March, sell adult laying hens. People are always looking for young layers.

I think selling meat will not net you much profit unless you have all the licensing and credentials needed, and even then, there’s more costs, like cartons and labels for eggs and tags and storage bags for prepared meat.

Also remember to take into consideration what you save by growing your own eggs and meat, calculate how much you aren’t spending on poultry and eggs because you’re eating quail meat and eggs.

Between housing, incubators, and purchasing my first hatching eggs, my quail have recovered only about 25% of my startup costs to raise them and it’s been about a year so far. But I have some hens growing out for March and once they sell, that will take me to recouping about 1/2 so far. If I can fill and sell out that pen of hens 3x this spring/summer I will have recovered my startup costs, and the chicks I’ve sold here and there, and as feeders have covered the ongoing costs, next year I should be thoroughly in the black.